Plural Stories

This was submitted by beepbird! Thanks, beepbird!

"...we are a different kind of real. It’s a kind of real that adults don’t understand, so they just assume we’re imaginary.”

Blurb: Budo is lucky as imaginary friends go. He's been alive for more than five years, which is positively ancient in the world of imaginary friends. But Budo feels his age, and thinks constantly of the day when eight-year-old Max Delaney will stop believing in him. When that happens, Budo will disappear.

Why is it worth your time?: The entire book is told by an imaginary friend, and he's largely treated as a real person by the narrative; he has his own opinions, hopes, and fears independent of the kid imagining him, and he has an interest in his own survival. The power dynamic of being an imaginary friend is a central theme of the story, which I haven't seen explored much before.

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse intermediate focus, children, imaginary friends, on purpose, neurodivergence [autism], friendship, nonswitching

Content Warnings: Kidnapping, ableism against an autistic child, bullying, claustophobia, death and existential horror of imaginary friends, threats of institutionalization, abuse, grooming, gun violence, cancer and terminal illness, panic attacks and anxiety

Accessibility Notes: Available for purchase; it's been fairly easy to find at libraries in my experience, and it can be found on archive.org for free (https://archive.org/details/memoirsofimagina0000dick). Audiobook versions are also available (https://www.audible.com/pd/Memoirs-of-an-Imaginary-Friend-Audiobook/B008X9YLAU).

Misc. Notes (if any): Unfortunately, the imaginary friend does not survive the narrative; fortunately, he gets an epilogue that still treats him as a person after the fact, which was touching.

Submitted by erinptah! Thank you, erinptah!

"You saved me. I survived because I knew I wasn't alone. You were always there, so alive, so full of hope...You are the only real superpower I ever had."

Blurb: Steven Grant is an ordinary London retail worker, with an interest in Egyptology and a problem with sleepwalking. Marc Spector is a mercenary-turned-superhero, fighting evil as the Avatar of the god Khonshu, on one last mission to stop a divine genocide. And they were headmates (oh my god, they were headmates).

Why is it worth your time?: Possibly the most mainstream DID rep to get a ton of positive reviews from IRL systems. The headmates start out disconnected, spend some time aggressively clashing over their different values/priorities (not to mention Steven's instant crush on Marc's wife Layla). Then they need to lean on each other's skills to survive a classic superhero world-saving quest, get dragged through some magical trauma-processing, and ultimately figure out how to understand and appreciate each other. Oscar Isaac plays both of them, and (with the help of an amazing crew + diligent FX team) has amazing chemistry with himself. Avoids the usual Marvel settings to bring us to London and Cairo; it's the rare Egypt-centric series driven by IRL Egyptian creatives, and it shows.

Plural Tags: abuse intermediate-focus, cofronting, memory work, otherworld, people: imaginary friends, relationship: friendship, relationship: teamwork, type: medical, type: switching

Content Warnings: Genre-typical violence. Others contain SPOILERS, see comments.

Accessibility Notes: Streaming version has multiple translations, subtitles in multiple languages, and a couple of audio tracks with voiceover descriptions included. Also available on DVD.

Misc. Notes (if any): When the show's portrayal of DID gets criticized, it's mostly over aspects that have been simplified or dramatized to keep things clear for the audience. Example: at first, when we see Marc and Steven switch, it's physically exaggerated, like they're having a seizure...because new viewers need the visual cue that something disorienting and unusual is happening. The guys have more subtle and realistic switches later, when the audience has gotten the hang of how it works.

Meanwhile, the series takes care to get a lot of important dynamics right. Like "if one headmate is doing distressing things behind another headmate's back, it doesn't mean the first one's a horror-movie villain, it means they have different ideas about how to stay safe." And "friends/loved ones don't have to be perfect experts, or to disregard their own needs, to be a good supporter for a system." And "sometimes alters are based on fictional characters, it's fine." And "trauma holders deserve to be told the trauma wasn't their fault." And "healing with DID doesn't require keeping The Original and getting rid of everyone else, it's about everyone figuring out how to work together and support each other."

Submitted by matsushima! Thank you, matsushima!

"It’s clearly been a long time since you’ve spared a thought for me. I should hate you."

Blurb: A fictive imaginary friend discovers the truth about his existence as his human grows up.

Why is it worth your time?: Told from the POV of an outsourced imaginary friend (headmate? tulpha?) who blinks in and out of existence only when their human (host?) remembers them and grapples (some) with what that means.

Plural Tags: fictioneers, imaginary friends, on purpose, abuse not mentioned, nonhumans [catperson]

Content Warnings: off-screen character death, and this is a story about an imaginary friend having to deal with being a created being with a tragic backstory.

Access Notes: Free and screenreadable online. Read it here! (Back-up link here.)

Submitted by acorn_squash!

“We tend gardens in our hearts for others, even if they might never see the flowers.”

Blurb: “A story about feelings, told in the language of dreams.”

Why is it worth your time?: It’s a comic about psychopomps and emotional gardens that’s full of love. (The creator’s talked more about their psychopomps here.)

Plural Tags: creator speaks from experience, abuse not mentioned, otherworld, dreamfolk, imaginary friends, nonhumans [psychopomps, vultureperson], friendship

Content Warnings: None

Access Notes: Not screenreadable, sorry!

Read for free here! (Back-up link here)

Submitted by Anonymous! Thank you, Anonymous!

“- You’re somebody to me. - You’ll get sick of me, too. - You kidding? I wouldn’t even get sick of those silly little animated yellow guys you like so much. - They are funny… They like bananas… - They sure do.”

Blurb: “The adventures of three young adult animals just trying to get by in the big city!”

Why is it worth your time?: Bailey, the yellow cat, is explicitly stated to have Dissociative Identity Disorder and a couple of pages depict Bailey with their alters. Even though DID is shown mostly as a struggle, Bailey also has a personality outside of that (they are the goofiest member of the main trio). If you want a humorous slice-of-life comic where one of the characters happens to be plural, it’s for you!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned (but DID is specified in the tags and additional material), non-switching, mostly enmity but occasional teamwork/friendship, visions and voices, children, imaginary friends, maybe more tags??

Content Warnings: N/A

Accessibility Notes: no alt text/plain text/image descriptions. Paper issues #1-3 for sale at time of entry, or read it online here! Back-up links:

• 1-11 (images incomplete?)
• 11-20 (images incomplete?)
• 21-30 (images incomplete?)
• 31-44 (images incomplete?)
• 45-50
• 49-57
• 58-65
• 66-72
• 73-82
• 83-91
• 92-101

Misc. Notes (if any): the authors were interviewed by Alexandrite System about Secondhand Soup and DID

"When children are playing alone on the green,
In comes the playmate that never was seen."

Blurb: A short poem about imaginary playmates from a century ago.

Why is it worth your time?: It's short, whimsical, and fun.

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, imaginary friends, children, friendship

Content Warnings: Frenchmen are losers in it?

Access Notes: Robert Louis Stevenson is famous, so finding a copy of A Children's Garden of Verses shouldn't be too tough. It's also easy to find for free online, since I'm pretty sure it's in the public domain by now. This link has both screenreadable text and an audio reading. (Back-up link; both text and audio work in it)

Alim:
She still keeps plastic on the furniture.

Cary Grant:
It keeps the evil fresh.

Blurb: Alim seems to have it all: a great career, a handsome boyfriend, and a personal guide in the spirit of Cary Grant. And living thousands of miles away from his mother, Nuru, and his family in Toronto, he can keep his lifestyle hidden. But when his mom pays an impromptu visit, Alim needs to reconcile these different sides of himself.

Why is it worth your time?: It's good and bittersweet! This is a rare time I will put a story on this list where someone has to leave their headmate behind. Cary Grant and Nuru simultaneously represent parental figures and different sides of Alim-- Cary is racist but wants Alim to be happy, while Nuru is more abrasive on the surface but also more able to change. Alim's relationship with them both can be fraught. Nuru steals the show, if you ask me; she's sympathetically complicated.

Plural Tags: imaginary friends, nonswitching, other world

Content Warnings: homophobia and racism, both external and internalized, past parental death, strained familial relationships

Accessibility Notes: Available on DVD, probably streaming somewhere. Subtitles in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai

“Sometimes there are births. When an Earthling human believes so strongly in a living, nonliving or otherwise fantastic creature that he sees in his dreams, that creature is born from the river. These Earthlings are called Creators. If the Creator of the creature ceases to believe or forgets, then the creature will no longer exist and it will be as if he had never been."

Blurb: A suicidal young lucid dreamer joins forces with her dream man, two winged telepathic unicorns, and another lucid dreamer to save the Earth's dreamworld from destruction. Based on Julie Brady's own long-running lucid dreams.

Why is it worth your time?: For most people, it isn't. If you want a plural story that really takes advantage of the dream setting, watch Paprika. As a fantasy novel, Dream a Little Dream is not very good--simultaneously grimdark and schmaltzy, with a dragging plot, and the Piers Anthony trademarks of boobs and vampery. That said, it may scratch your id for escapist fantasy about the power of dreams and fantasy to help someone survive a brutal reality, and it's of historical interest as Julie Brady's dream diary.

Plural Tags: dreamfolk, in-system romance, imaginary friends, otherworld, creator speaks from experience, abuse intermediate focus

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; in comments below

Access Notes: Available in paper, ebook and audio book forms.

Misc Notes: In the Author's Notes, Anthony writes, "An aspect of [Julie's] mundane [real-life] existence is in Nola [the main character], just as her dream existence is in Kafka [the setting of Dream a Little Dream]. Julie has the talent of lucid dreaming--that is, knowing and controlling one's dreams. This story took form gradually as she recorded those dreams. When it was ready, I took it over and reworked it into a formal novel. As with all of these collaborations, the story is the collaborator's; I merely do what is necessary to make it presentable."

Brady herself says, "I enjoyed writing this book, which, incidentally, was taken from a serial dream of mine over the course of a year or so. I used the serial dreams I had to escape the horrors of my life. [...] At first, the idea of publishing my journal seemed crazy. I don't consider myself a writer [...[ The main thing that appealed to me was to share what I had seen in my sleep with you. The idea of my dreams living in print thrills me no end and is as close as I may ever get to an achievement I could be proud of."

“I... we... we're so fragile... so unlikely... so precious. ...eh, rat?”

Blurb: An abused teenager with a synchronistic link to Beatrix Potter, runs away from her London home, accompanied by her pet rat, who later becomes an imaginary friend who stays with her the entire book. With the help of her rat, her art, the works of Beatrix Potter, she does her best to survive and find a better life for herself.

Why is it worth your time?: It's really good. Both art and story are intricate and well-crafted; we have reread this book countless times and still find little visual details and motifs that we hadn't noticed before. It rewards rereads. This book has apparently been used with abused teens in the decades since it's been out, with good effect. There's a reason it won multiple awards.

Plural Tags: imaginary friends, nonswitching, introjects, abuse high-focus, nonhumans [rat]

Content Warnings: In comments below; contains spoilers.

Accessibility Notes: Available on paper, ebook, and in many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, and Polish I think.