Changed mind

Yeah, so, I changed my mind on what to do the book about.  Which is annoying because now I don't have a title.

Title

I've finally decided on a title.  I'm going to call it "The Plural Tense" (plurality is another term for multiplicity, but I think plurality is more inclusive or vice versa). 

Sound good?

Sorry

so, life got a bit hectic and I fell out of prepping for NaNo pretty quick, hence hte lack of updates (that and I'm just lame at blogging).  I'm still working on fleshing out characters, and have decided to leave most of the plot details until I start writing in November.

Titles and me

Titles and me don't agree.  We don't even try to, really.  So this story doesn't have a title.  Any chapters will probably be titleless. And I can't help but feel a little bit useless about it.  I mean, some people have the book cover up.  I can't even think of a title, and they've got book covers going.  

All I can think of is that maybe it could involve eyes- but that seems like it's been way overdone.  Maybe with the word "our" in the title.  UGh, I don't know.  I don't even know what I'd do for a cover.  I'm not good with this.

Dictionary

This is a basic list of terms related to Multiples that I'm probably going to use a few times.  A more complete glossary (and where I got these definitions) can be found here: http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/glossary.html

System - A group of persons in one body. Also, the operating system by which a group governs itself.

Front - Or out front, or forward . The mental position or state of mind in which one occupies or runs the body, interacting with the world-at-large.

Fronting - Being at the front; act of being out, using the body.

Age Slider - Person whose age changes, or who identifies as being different ages at different times. The range of age traversed by age sliders can have a wide variation -- they may change from children to adults, or from older teenagers to younger teenagers, etc. 

Headmate - Persons who share your group space, applicable if you feel you have "people in your head", whether they actively take the front or not. 

Integration - A controversial act where all the people in a multiple system merge into one. 

Multiple, Multiplicity - Two or more independent people who use the same body; the experience of sharing the body with others. Is included in plurality, but implies more separation and independence of people than being median. 

Multiple Personality Disorder - Prior to the recovered-memory movement and its subsequent scandals and lawsuits, anyone who was found in therapy to be multiple supposedly had MPD. The presence of more than one person in the body is and has always been defined by the dominant culture as a pathology. The most popular example of a person with MPD is Sybil. Both MPD and DID are described as fragmentation of a single, pre-existing "whole" personality after traumatic experience.

Natural Multiples - Multiples whose system came about as a natural part of their development, not as an outcome of abuse or trauma. Some natural multiples believe there may be a neurological predisposition involved, but there simply hasn't been enough scientific study to say anything for certain.

Personality - A word formerly used to describe a person in a multiple group. Many multiples now resist calling members "personalities".

Singlet - A person who is the sole occupant of their body; a person who is not in a plural system. 

Splitting - In MPD/DID classic, splitting is the act of creating new people or personalities from a core self. The process is supposed to involve dissociation.

So far

Right now I'm just in the planning stages.  Have a basic plot, a subplot, and the makings of a system (term meaning "a group of people in one body").  Systems can be annoying to portray because they're so diverse- you don't want to make it cliche, unbelievable, or overly perfect but do want each member to add to the plot somehow.  I wanted to add in a child personality because most (not all) systems have them, but realized that I was only adding it because I thought a system "had" to have one- not because it'd actually help the plot in any way.  (also, I can't write kids.  I haven't really listened to a child speak since I was in grade school myself)

I got out a few books on Multiple Personality Disorder, and it's kind of interesting.   I'm also going to use information I've gathered from LJ communities of multiples, about 3 months in a multiple chat room, essays written on the subject, and a few websites I've seen set up either for a specific system or to explain the general idea.  I'm probably going to focus more on the latter than the experts (I'd rather ask a blind man what it is to be blind than a sighted person who's been studying the blind all their life), but it's good to get both views.

this'll be for my nanowrimo.   more to come.

As some basic info on the novel, I intend to write someone who "suffers" from what is commonly referred to as "Multiple Personality Disorder".  Only without the suffering or integration.  As I said already, more to come.