5 MORE Tips for Writing About Dissociative Identity Disorder 

our system solved an escape room together

I'm so scared to write about ANY character that goes through ANYTHING I can't relate to because I'm so terrified of getting things wrong. Thank you for doing this and educating us!

I would love to see accurate representation of Persecutor Protectors. Seeing how they are actually protectors with so much trauma that they are misguided. A positive representation of this would have definitely helped our old persecutors feel a lot less alone. -Kai

for the longest time we've wanted to make a videogame (theyre very important to us and where all our fictives come from haha) about a did system where talking to and learning about other alters is how you unlock new abilities and stuff. it's a weird concept but we've always wanted to see more representation in our favorite medium! -emil

I have a book coming out next year about a character with DID. I did a LOT of research. Right now it's in the hands of a therapist who has DID being read for accuracy.

I absolutely agree that for the most part, positive representation is more important than accurate representation, no matter what you're representing

Someone should write a mystery where the alters all solve the puzzle together!

Just a little note ... Me and my system when we were back in highschool we didnt speak English very well ( Greek being our mother language ). Although we were taking classes , we just didn't seem to get it . So our English were pretty horrible . Then at some point , which i don't personally remember something changed. I wasn't aware of our OSDD back then so I couldn't explain it , but now I believe it was due to some split. After that our English improved significantly to the point that it now is the default language for our inner communication . So yes we didn't start speaking a foreign language out of the blue , but an alter was created fluent on English ( to the level that we were studying of course ) while the rest of the system straggled getting a foul sentence correctly.

Great video. I think of DID as a 100 dollars, but instead of being a 100 dollar bill they are 5 twenties or maybe 10 tens or even 100 ones. It's all still money and equals the same amount just in different denominations. I really love your videos btw. You are so very helpful.

Number 3 resonated most with us. When we were first diagnosed I was terrified about having an “evil alter” because of the way media had portrayed D.I.D.. I was so worried that someone in “my” body could have done something terrible during the times I had memory gaps. My anxiety was awful and it all could have been prevented if there had been positive representation of the disorder. Thanks for another great video!

I've had a story concept in mind for a while now and I would love some thoughts from those it would be representing. The basic concept is that it's a post apocalyptic world. Each chapter is marked by a number and a character name. Initially the reader is left to think that these are a group of survivors who are working together to survive. One of them barters for goods. Another hunts /traps while yet another keeps track of how many supplies there are and what is needed (each one does more obv but this is the base idea.) They have conversations with each other, though one or two may forget things from these conversations at times. As the story progresses it files to light that the whole group are sharing a body, that they are a system and that they are surviving the crazy world by working together and depending on each other. These are broad ideas and the story would have more to it than that. But I kinda wanted to run the idea by the community to see if it sounds decent or if it would be offensive.

Tip #5 is true even for systems writing systems! Just because we all experience things so differently, like I experience the inner world differently than others. The basics may remain the same but the detail can vary so wildly that what is a perfect description of experience for one system may be untrue for another system. And that’s okay! Brains are complex little things.

These are so helpful. I've had an idea for a character for a while and now I'm a lot more equipped to make them accurate. As someone who is a POC and has unstable mental health, I like writing positive representation for underrepresented communities, DID being one of them. Thanks.

I know that good representation is hard to come by and bad representation is more common and can be very damaging. Thank you for this video.

I watched DC Universe’s Doom Patrol. There’s a character that is named Jane, I think they did a pretty okayish job with being a character with DID. Of course, she’s a comic book character so there’s alters that have “metahuman” powers and there’s physical or sometimes subtle changes when she switches, but I think it’s to help the viewer recognize switches. But as a singlet, from what I’ve learned from Entropy System and others, basics are there. Plus, it’s a pretty fun show! 😝

I'm an author and although I'm not writing a book about DID, this is a really useful video for anyone who is! In particular the first point about how centering the drama around the DID leaves you with only a few conflict options. I hadn't thought of that but it's such a key point.

I was happily surprised to find out that Kaitlyn Snow from The Flash is depicting DID very accurate to what I've heard from you guys and other DID channels. I mean, she's still a fictional superhero, but that's a cool way to portray it. Also, Sense8

This is timely! A dear friend of mine, major support person, is an amazing writer and is doing a book where the main character is a detective with DID and her alter's points of view on the clues helps them find out what happened. We're helping her with accuracy but I really love how you put all these points. We sent it on to her already. Knowing our friend and the discussions we are having we're super excited about this project.

Ahhhhhh yes yes yes! I haven’t even watched yet and I’m so excited because I need all the tips I can get. Thank you thank you thank you!

I've been trying to write a DID character for awhile and really struggling with it. I had so many ideas while I was watching. Thank you! 🖤🧡🤍

I like all of your writing advice, Wyn, but especially especially the idea of not having DID be the focus of the story. Over the years I've found the best help for destigmatizing something (whether autism, Down Syndrome, Williams, or any other aspect that potentially places someone in the marginalized category of "different" and "them") is to simply show it as just a part of the person, not the core of their identity, no matter how well-inteded that spotlight might be. Lionizing can many times be as harmful as demonizing.

1- I love writing tips, specially about different experiences, so thank you for help! ^^ 2- I'M SEEING A CUTE FLUFFY TAIL BEHIND YOU, I LOVE CATS 😍

I don’t have DID but trying to write a ‘fix it fic’ fan fiction for a character with DID that was horribly misrepresented in the cannon of the series. I’m trying to make it less of a *convenient serial killer disease* and shed light on the other aspects of it as well as having her develop a better understanding of it and a better way of coping with it. (For those wondering the character is Toko Fukawa from Danganronpa) . I would just like to ask what would the best way for someone to greet an alter who has just switched into the front and for them to introduce themselves? (in your experience). I am wondering what it is like to switch to the front as in what questions would an alter have or how much knowledge do they typically have of the situation? Anyone who has DID that wants to answer that would be great thanks!

I actually once posted something on a forum to ask DID systems about their life as a system, and also their views on what they wish were represented about DID in medias. I got a few answers back, but some other people actually warned me to avoid writing about DID if I didn't have it. Being very anxious about it I just deleted my post, but I understood their concern afterwards, which is perfectly legitimate. Writing struggles you never experienced may be hardly relatable for people who did go through them... But I do want to write about it, just to help. Maybe introducing it to a public who don't know much about the disorder and can have a more positive view on it as an introduction, maybe. Even though I'm sure I will screw up some parts, no matter how accurate I wish I could be. You're the first channel about DID I discovered and I'm loving everything about you all. Your videos about writing DID also made me feel a little bit lighter about writing. Thank you very much ♥

I'm a singlet writer with a few systems in my stories myself, and tips like these are very helpful! Thank you so much for making videos like these. I actually have a playlist full of videos from you and other systems to help me build and develop my system characters, but having specific advice and encouragement really helps. Thank you so much again!

I am a writer with memory loss issues. The one thing I have consistent control of is my writing, since I can always look back at my notes and ideas and know I’m the one that came up with them. Because I put my own experiences into characters, a lot of them experience similar symptoms to DID, so I’ve recently debated creating a character with DID and using my experiences with memory loss to make it as accurate as I can. I’m still unsure, but this video was definitely encouraging

Thank you for this! Definitely given me a few 'I didn't think of that' moments whilst looking over what I've written so far. ❤️ I've had a concept for a stage play following a system for a while now but it's been completely on the back of my mind. The premise is that we're following two alters in a DID system and we see their progression as a system until eventually they integrate at the end of the play. The 'twist' of the play is that the two actors represent both the alters in the system and the people that the system meets throughout the play. We see them flip flop between the inner world and their experiences in the body. Whilst one actor plays the alter who is out, the other will play another relative in that system's life, for example, a therapist, a friend, etc. This means that one actor plays many characters throughout the duration of the play. I plan on making use of physical theatre, experimental dance alongside poetic verse to give it a wistful, dream-like atmosphere during the inner world segments, then grounding more in traditional theatre during the irl segments. The fact that the system has DID is unknown to the audience throughout also. This doesn't change the fact they do have DID and behave as if they are a DID system, but it's not explicitly mentioned until the end. I don't want to draw attention to the fact that they have DID; moreso that they are working together to reach that end goal which, for their system, is integration.

Yes! Thank you so much. I am currently in the process of writing a spin off and my main character I planned was to have DID. I have been so skeptical about doing this tho because I didn’t want to get anything wrong and make the stigma around DID worse. But this has really helped me thank you

This is so useful to me! I've been planning out a superhero kind of story that included characters with more stigmatized disorders to at least create something a little more positive 😅 I already had a hero with my own disorder (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and I had an idea for a hero who was part of a function DID system but I was really hesitant about it because I didn't really know how to go about it. This is super helpful to that end. Thanks for this video Wyn!

Y’all really don’t understand how much we love your guy’s channel. I always recommend y’all to my fellow systems

As a writer, I've found your channel and others like you to be invaluable. I shared this video within my writing groups to give people some extra perspective. Thanks for trying to help us to not play into stereotypes and stigmatize you. I think most people genuinely want to write good stories, and are sometimes misguided in what's real and what's *movie magic.*

Ohh my goodness, I clapped when you said "What If It Works"!!! We loveeeee that movie!!! ~The Chameleon System

Thanks so much for this! I'm currently writing and creating a D&D character with DID, and my DM and I are watching a lot of your videos to educate ourselves and portray this character the best way we can. I do not have DID, but I find it fascinating, in fact, I find it amazing how the brain can create so many different people to efficiently deal with trauma. I hope you are doing well, and have a nice day! :D

Makes me feel better about doing a story involving 5 roommates (where one roommate, main character I think, has DID) and how the 5 interact during a 6 month period. Going to take a long time for me to actually get to writing and drawing it about. But thanks for this!!

This is sooo good. I've been playing around with the idea of having a character with DID, but I keep hesitating because I'm not sure how well I'd be able to represent them. I'd love to see more of these videos. I personally have PTSD and watching your and others' videos have given me a better understanding of my own condition and I love watching your system work together to make life as good as it can be. Thanks for all you do!

these 'writing tips' videos are so helpful. it's really, really nice hearing directly from someone with DID (and many others via the comments) what they would want to see in media, and what sorts of things to avoid.

we are a super covered system and I sometimes wish there was a representation that shows how normal that can look and how often people miss it. I hate that people think that 'if they knew someone with DID they would KNOW they have DID'. the most telltale sign in us is that we are organized like crazy and always on time. when we are not on time we had an accident or something. the way we make sure never to forget anything is actually what makes us stand out, singletons mess up more often than we do.

When I first learned of DID from a supernatural book as a teen(Persistence of Memory by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes) I'd always considered a character with it. When Split came out I started researching more and educating myself. Most of the representation I've seen is usually supernatural based, completely inaccurate, or negative and I would love to be one of those that change that. I'm not sure if I'll ever actually write a character with DID but I've decided that if I do I want to handle them as respectfully and accurately as I possibly can.

From the little I know about DID the novels Les Gestionaires de l'apocalypse (the Managers of the Apocalypse in English, my translation of the title) do a good job representing DID. The character with DID has a violent alter, but is from rage, not evil. That alter fronts when there is a trigger of recent trauma. The doctor in the book said that alters are created for specific tasks, which means that in a way, people with DID are better adapted than other people.

The last one is so important. You have to have that grounding and that logic to think "I may be getting this wrong" just so you can get it right. It keeps your mind open to mistakes rather than you just going in, doing it all and not allowing anyone or yourself to doubt a scene or situation within the story. You can use that doubt as a tool to make your story more accurate

I read Kim nobles book it was written by the host of her system who doesn't remember any trauma apart from having a lot of babysitters and this one guy eating bread he dipped into beer this leaves so much to the imagination and I feel it's more effective than going into detail

Thank you for this, I’m wanting to write a character with D.I.D but I don’t want to it to be what the story is centered around about so this is super helpful!

Perhaps if the story is a first person pov on the person with DID, you could write them in alternating chapters. Like how Rick Riordian write some of his books

I think it's real important to write about systems that aren't like the ones often depicted! Like our system, we have no host, none at all, not even a group of main fronters. We all just share! But you don't ever really get to see that in media a lot, and it's kinda sad, cause I wanna see more people like the way we work. Representation's important, you know? -BB

My first experience in media seeing an 'inner world' was on YuGiOh of all places, when the friends went into Yugi's mind and saw one door with Yugi's (simple and childish) mind and the other door being Atem's (gigantic, and friggin booby-trapped) mind. I forget WHY they had entered his mind but I remember the scene vaguely

Perfect timing bc I'm playing a system in a dnd campaign! (Had lots of system friends help me out, but this is also very very helpful!)

Thank you so much for this!! After subscribing to your channel, DissociaDID, and Team Piñata for a while, and being frustrated by all the fanfiction in the Marvel fandom that portrays Bucky Barnes as having "DID" without much adherence to what DID experiences are like in real life (at least, as far as I can tell as someone who is not a system), I decided to write as realistic as possible a story about that character's experience as possible. In the story he doesn't have actual DID, since he doesn't have childhood trauma, but given all the supersoldier serum handwavy fantasy stuff, I have him diagnosed as having something very similar to DID and use DID as a model, while also trying to make it clear to readers that DID is specifically a result of childhood trauma. When I was writing it, one of the challenges is that I didn't feel comfortable reaching out to friends who are systems to beta read because some of the content is explicit and I don't really know who does and doesn't read explicit fanfic, but I tried my best to use what I've learned from activists' experiences to inform the character. These tips are super helpful and will inform writing I do in the future, including in the same "verse." Thanks for taking the time!!!

Heck yeah, this is NEEDED.

I'm currently working on a 'self-help' book for DID. I have been diagnosed with DID, but I was wondering what you (& your system) would like to see in the non-fiction section aimed towards DID? I have never heard of that movie before, I am going to go find it. I love finding positive representations as well of this disorder. I don't know that I have any further insight or advice. You did such an amazing job, another great video. Thank you for all that you and yours do for this community!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this video! I've been slowly fleshing out a system for a sci-fi story I'm writing, and videos like this and your channel are really great for education on the subject. I hope they'll be added to the list of positive representation whenever I finish!

I would like both stories about overcoming trauma and living post-trauma. Having an overcoming trauma story these past couple of months would have been really nice. Also all those struggles you said at the end, it would be cool to see them addressed and processed/overcame in a story. Also, the thing you mentioned about feeling like you are your trauma. Seeing a protagonist overcome that in an empowering way would be awesome imo. But I would want all of those things I just said written by other systems, probably. It's just that none of them are very casual themes, ha.

I had a story idea I made back when I was a freshman in high school and I’m wondering if I can get thoughts on it. I didn’t have access to the internet for a long time and I was really worried I would depict it inaccurately or accidentally be offensive. Basically a guy named Grey in college befriends Sarah, Daniel, and Vera. A system with Sarah as the host. They didn’t have any other friends because people at the college saw Sarah and the system as being strange. They decide to go on a camping trip for the summer and while there they’re assaulted by a drunk man but when Grey finds them he sees Vera (the trauma holder) accidentally killed the man in self defense. Grey is confused why Daniel (the protector) isn’t there to protect Vera and Sarah and she tells him they’re gone though she’s very disoriented at the time. Grey thinks that because of harmful stereotypes they may be taken somewhere for being “dangerous.” Panicking he hides the body and passes out from exhaustion. When he awakes he finds out that Sarah’s body has completely changed. It’s Vera. For reasons unknown Vera, Sarah, and Daniel split and manifested into their own bodies and Vera thinks they went back to where they came into being or back home. Thinking this they drive across the country back to the places Sarah had lived as a child, worried what will happen to Sarah without her system to protect her. Unbeknownst to them they’re being trailed by a secret organization. Vera had gone to this organization, headed by a man with DID who claims he can separate systems into their own bodies through science, not telling the others. Vera had fallen in love with Grey and wanted to be with him and thinking they had a good life now that Sarah didn’t need her or the trauma she carried, deciding to become her own self to be with Grey. The man running the organization himself is Asian and had super strict parents. He was a very smart person but his parents pushed him to be the smartest person in his class. Using mental and borderline physical abuse to make him the best student because it was all that mattered. He eventually developed his first alter who had savant like intelligence. In fact his alter who had helped him in the beginning felt himself superior and wanted to have his own body to himself so he developed the science to Split systems. I really wanted to make a story where the DID wasn’t the problem but the organization that wanted to use them as experiments? Idk it was a really rough idea

A cat tail wishes to battle

As a fanfiction writer, one of the plot bunnies that had come up recently is a main character having did, but it was preceded by me wanting that same character to be a villain. The second the did came up as an idea, I knew that it wasn't going to work out, so I split the ideas into two stories, one where he became a villain with a traumatic backstory but no did and another where he becomes a hero with did. Fleshing them both out is fun, and although I have yet to really dig into the alters for the hero one, I've figured a lot out about reactions to things and people and how some arcs are going to go! On a side note this isn't just two stories. There is also a third where he is a hero but never experienced amnesiac walls as a kid, so no did, but he still is traumatized and boy oh boy does he get doted on while he has no idea what is going on, the bab.

This is so helpful, I'm a young aspiring author and I always wanted to write a book on different mental health issues including DID, I've watched channels such as DissociaDID to get a good take on it. I'll keep this in mind when I write.

I’d like to see some representation for OSDD1B where the character doesn’t realize they have it (very common IRL) and comes to accept and work with their system.

As a completely personal preference, most of us (within our system) feel wholly uncomfortable consuming DID content made by writers who don't have the experience. If they were to tackle it anyway, for whatever reason, this is a great place to start getting educated.

*Pays close attention* As an aspiring author, I love this. I want to write about other characters to round out my body of work.

As much as I love representation of DID, I actually don't like how many of them show up as "superheroes" Like, I get that it's one of the easiest ways of developing a character: you have a person, they have a 'magic' ability and then they fight a bunch of monsters and villains with it. DID isn't magic or some superhuman ability. It's fine if you want to go this route but make their story about something other than their DID. Wonderful video, Wyn! I hope you all are doing okay right now. Much love

Thank you for this video! I found your first one extremely helpful and sent it to friends and people I write with. This second one is just as intelligent and accessible as the first, and I think everyone needs to hear that last tip :)

Might need a tw? Everything is spot on but sometimes still isn't enough. I have DID and am a writer so I thought to take on representation a few months ago, particularly in the thriller genre where DID misconceptions run rampant. It was wonderful idea focusing around three alters: a cop, a detective, and a vigilante. The cop and detective try to help a little boy out of a bad situation but the justice system works against them so the vigilante takes things into her own hands. The cop and detective are then put on the case to fins out who did it. I put it on the back burner because I was afraid readers would focus on the one alter killing (even though the victim was a really really really bad person) and ignore the stuff about living a relatively normal life, system responsibility, etc. I kept all my notes, outline, etc and probably will until I die but can't finish writing let alone publish it knowing people would zero in on that one part and use it as justification for their misconceptions. The sad thing is if the thriller wasn't about someone with did and just three different bodies, readers would probably root for the vigilante but because of stigma, the perseption suddenly changes

We are a system. And writing about a character that has did. It felt kind of wierd being told we couldn't understand did. Just a little jarring. All of us are going to help write the book.

I am writing a story about a system with DID, but it's not the main focus on the story. Instead the plot is about a kidnapping that happens later in their life that they are trying to solve. Originally there are 3 alters, but the kidnapping leads to the creation of an introject of someone they know since this person was very motherly to them and after the kidnapping they kind of needed that. The main focus however is not their alters or their DID it's them trying to find their kidnapped friend. Before getting to that story though, I feel I need to write kind of a prequel about the character and how they're aware of their DID and why their system can communicate so well. That way I have something to reference when writing the other story and I feel it is a story that could help with representation. Especially representation of persecutors (There is a persecutor, but they're not a villain or the main conflict even in the prequel, they are mostly angry at the world since they're the one who holds most of the trauma) they are not a persecutor in the story (instead they're a protector now).I was wondering if this is okay? If there is anything here that I should be cautious of? Is there anything that I should add because you would like to see it? Anything I should exclude? (Little note I don't plan to go into detail about the trauma at all. I will give vague hints as to what happens until it paints a clear picture, but I would never want to trigger someone so I am being careful about including the trauma) This is open for anyone with or without DID to respond to :3

Thaaaaank you! This helps me in my writing process. All the best from Germany!

I'm planning on writing a love story where the protagonist learns more about DID and how to live with his DID partner... Pure fluffs and I'm enjoying it XD

i started writing this story before finding your channel, one of the characters is named Kit. what a cool coincidence!! edit: the story was originally about the system fighting (legally not physically lol) against someone who is discriminating against them for being a system, but i didnt know enough about the legal system. so im now making the story about them finding out theyre a system

The only thing I would tweak is that it is possible for a single member in a system to be better at something than the others. For example, we seem to have dumped a lot of our math skills as we grew up (I suspect it is tied to childhood stress and maybe trauma), but we recently discovered that one of us seems to have retained/has access to way more of those math skills. We also have noticed that a lot of the kids have more energy somehow? And one teen in particular is better at running and playing spots than the rest of us, and he's definitely way more into them xD Now, he doesn't run as fast or well in the body as he feels he should, but he can still access some deeper level of endurance and joy in the act than the rest of us. So it's not like a magic superpower or whatever, but it is possible to have noticable differences. Not like someone will have a skill that the body never encountered, but they may be the only one with that skill or just the best at it.

I’m glad this video came out when it did. I’m currently planning on writing a novel that features a character with DID

For us it would be amazing to see the inner world, system dynamics, and switching can be used in a non-overt way (like an easily overlooked side story) to help a character(s) navigate a situation/life. Yes, trauma can play a big role in character/system development but it is how a system: comes together, works on their dynamic, overcome issues, and grow/change, that makes them who they are as a character. Truth be told there are similar narrative about overcoming or using disabilities to your advantage (like Toph from ATLA).

I've been waiting for this!! Thank you!!

We are writing a book series about the experiences of our inner world and alters within it, but we love this video! We hope to have a positive representation with our book series. We are also writing a script for a independent tv series that we plan to act in, direct and film starting this year. We will portray a "blind" character who has DID and hope to show it all as a positive rep.

Always nice to watch videos like this about things I'm trying to represent in my art and finding out I already had the right idea!

Thank you so much for doing this video! I have a system set of OCs that do ghosthunting for a living and the story is narrated through the notes of all the alters. They function just fine through this concept of writing to each other tiny chunks of the investigation - the persecutor sometimes makes this work harder by talking down on them or trying to destroy the notebook where they write it, the gatekeeper is trying to keep him on track though, but other than that the taking notes work just fine. It's just a bunch of shortstories about the system going to haunted places and trying to figure what's wrong with it! They develop and change throughout the story - the gatekeeper reaches his breaking point for a couple of days, for example, he's very stressed - but I want to make the main focus to be the ghosts, demons or whatever they are searching. They live in Brazil during 1886 so they don't really get a diagnosis in the story, but I hope I can show it in a way where it's very obvious what's going on :") Thanks for the tips, because they help flashing them out!!

always thankful for this channel! you guys rule

Thank you for these awesome writing tips about D.I.D. I hope there will be a part three. I am not all too familiar with the disorder, but one of my goals is to create a comic that portrays the right representation of D.I.D. I hope to make it light and funny, accurate as possible.

Thank you for the last point!! After finding your channel and a few others in the DID community, I really wanted to write a story about someone with social anxiety meeting a DID system. I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if someone constantly anxious of meeting new people suddenly found themselves wanting to befriend a system and get to know the different alters... Idk why, but that idea fascinated me, but I was really scared that I'll get it all wrong. Not only am I not part of a system, but I've never experienced real trauma and it's a difficult and important topic that I don't want to mess up. But now, I feel as though I could perhaps give it a try! So thank you!

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I have a character who has DID, And I'm terrified of portraying it wrong because I'm a singlet.

I haven’t even gotten past the intro, but knowing you guys, this video is going to be so awesome and maturely educational, and hopefully it’ll be spread around to get the information out!!

thank you for these tips! i think i still need to do more research to be more confident in writing characters with DID, but channels like yours is a big help for learning about DID and the very much real individuals who experience it. hopefully in the near future i'll be able to write a character with DID to help with destigmatizing the illness.

Thanks so much for these tips! I personally don't have DID, but your channel (amongst others) has brought to light for me how misrepresented DID often is in the media, and it has inspired me to at some point write a story featuring a character who has DID. I'll make sure to take these tips, and the ones from your previous video on this topic, into account when I get down to writing that story!

This was very helpful thanks! Your videos are in general so well done and I am learning new things with every video!

hey! thank you so much for making this video. i put a lot of research and effort into one of my characters who has DID, and the reminder at the end that I’m not gonna get everything spot on was honestly really reassuring.

heyo! osdd-1b system here. i really loved watching this video and pondering relevant aspects of my own oc system- you bring up some interesting points, definitely with valuable nuance! the system i write about live in a fantasy setting, loosely based off of some d&d settings, so there is a liiiittle bit of handwaving for some things due to magic- like, they have an enchanted mirror they can use to basically video chat, so the person fronting can speak directly with someone inside if either of them have trouble with thought-sending. i made these characters a few years ago, before i knew quite as much about how vastly different systems can be, and i definitely want to update them. i also find it really valuable to talk with others about persecutors and their experiences, as there are a few persecutor-protectors in this fictional system who have made trouble in the past, before they and the rest of the system were really able to pick apart where their anger (even occasional defensive violence) comes from, and how it could be redirected into protection in a healthier way. this comment's sort of getting away from me due to switchiness but tl;dr is i'm super glad you've brought up these points, i love to think about the ways i could frame my story to make the system sympathetic/relatable/etc.!

This has been so helpful and I have really learned a lot from this. Thank you.

This and the last video regarding DID in fiction are very helpful! My ideas for the plot of my story may change in the future but I plan on writing about a detective with DID whose alters all help with solving crime cases. The comment by The Elysian System has inspired me to also include a persecutor alter who also helps the system solve crimes. (It was also a pleasant surprise to see a comment about a system solving an escape room xD That is super neat! Just thought it was a cool coincidence since my story involves solving mysteries too). But again, thank you for explaining this all so well! 💖

Make as many parts to this series as you want to! I think it's especially valuable how the parts of your system connect with media in general and how that further applies to how you analyze how DID can be conveyed through it.

I love your mug!!

Thank you so much for this video! I've been wanting to make a character with DID but I get so worried about misrepresentation, I know it'll never be fully accurate cuz I don't have DID but at least one person saying that it being somewhat inaccurate isn't the end of the world gives me more confidence to make this character whether or not anyone reads the story. Love your channel by the way, I've only just come across it recently but I find what you all have to say interesting enjoyable to watch, keep up the great work!

I have a DID system in a novel I’m looking to write someday, so this was really helpful and I’m glad you posted it!

Thank you for doing this video! I'm a german writer and I don't have personal experience with DID. Recently I did a lot of research for a short story and I would love to write more about it. I watched your videos, followed other channels, talked to people with DID from germany and got great feedback. I didn't do well in the beginning, it's been a lot of work. While talking to different systems I learned that all of them had an other perspective on my story. It was very inspiring and so is this video. About your last point: I don't feel well writing something that is not quite correct, even if it is positive. Maybe that's just my inner perfectionist, but I want my characters to be as real as possible. For my short story I searched for proof readers with DID and they did a great job in teaching me, what I still misunderstood. Sometimes even positive representation can be misleading and create some kind of cliché. I know that I can't write a story that everyone can identify with. But I'm doing my best to show it as good as possible. And thanks to videos like yours, I am not afraid of trying :).

I think this was actually quite helpful, because when I write I try to include groups of people that are discriminated against or commonly misrepresented. I am not part of a system, and while I have done a fair amount of research there's still things I'm unsure on writing about. This was helpful because I didn't want to write it if I couldn't do it justice, but I did want to provide some form of representation.

Thanks so much for this! This is perfect and needed advise because I myself have been brainstorming a thriller/drama focusing on a DID system in which the alters within the system work together to help the host escape captivity. We've been watching y'all's videos about DID representation and it got us thinking what would make for more positive fictional depiction of DID, and the concept we came to is: the portrayal of system cooperation; normally DID is portrayed as chaotic and nothing more than a disruption on the host's life, and we think it would paint a better outlook on this disorder, by portraying it as a system of parts working together for the purpose of protecting the whole, rather than just messing of their life.

Omg, it’s like you read my mind. 🥺💖 Thank you for this. I’m planning on writing a story with a team of characters who unite through hardships and become good friends. I want them all to be very different, with one of them having a system. I’m not going to make it all about trauma or pain, I want it to be positive and about connecting with people through hard times.

These videos are so helpful to me because as a writer I want to do everything I can to represent those who feel misrepresented!! I would love to see more videos of this nature. Thank you so much for this!!

Thank you it is really helpful! Thank you for saying it is okay to get things wrong because I stopped writing the story i'm working on because i'm scared i'll get it wrong and it was stressing me out during quarantine too much so i had to stop. After watching video i might get back to it some day.

Thanks for creating a better representation for DID. You really help people understand DID on a more accurate level.

Two of my favorite series have characters with DID. Both series are really neurodivergence/disability positive, but I’ve always wondered how accurate the DID rep is. I know the character in the series written in the 90s is horrendously inaccurate, but even the more modern series seems like it might have been more taken from textbooks. I agree with you though that it’s more important that the representations are positive, and in both series happiness comes from the characters making peace with their other problems (because neither book is actually about their DID) and from coming to terms with their multiplicity (both character realize they have DID mid-series). I don’t have DID, but I developed chronic conditions recently mid-way through college, and the fact that these series are disability positive alone has gotten me through so much. Anyways, I hope that the DID rep in media will become more accurate, and honestly I would love to read some ownvoices rep for DID just because it is such a unique life perspective to be multiple.

This is all great, but that # 3... Wow. What an insightful way of explaining. Thanks! 🌻🌷

Thankyou this is very very helpful. Ive learned alot from you guys and looking forward to putting these tips into my story. Also i dont know who it was but one of the systems on youtube once said Persecutors are just misguided protectors. And i like that because it suggests that Persecutors are not inherintly evil. It kind if suggests that they need help. Which they do.

yes yes yes yes yes yes to EVERYTHING in this video!!!!!!!!