Writing about DID

This was originally posted in r/DID but they removed because of some rules I didn’t know of.

Hello everyone, aspiring author right here!

(I’m Danish and under 18 so there might be a couple of grammatically errors.)

So, as I said before, I am an aspiring author, who is currently writing my first book. I have only written 10 sides, and have not written the character with DID in my story. I would like to write info here, and get a TON of feedback and critical feedback, so I know what is good, and what needs to be different about the character.

I will start by saying the character, Osvald, is NOT evil in any way, he is the most sweetest human on earth, and is the uncle to the MC whose name is Alex. My book is written so the readers never will get to know Alex’s real gender, since it could be a shortening for Alexandra and Alexander.

Every chapter is a new year, about somewhat of a new character, which means that even though Alex is the narrator, it is more about the people around them, and not so much themself.

When Alex was 11 his parents had a very long and bad breakup with “coming backs” and jealousy. At that time, he moved in with Osvald who was 26 at the time. Alex was supposed to move out again, but since they and Osvald kind of got a father and child relationship, they never wanted to move in with their parents again.

Osvald’s background:

Alex’s father, Oliver, was 14 years old when Osvald got born. Before, Oliver’s father had found another younger woman, who was a drug addict and very abusive, she is the mother to Osvald and stepmother to Oliver.

Oliver moved out when he turned 18 so he didn’t really know how horrid the home had gotten after some years.

When Osvald was 5 his mother began to sexually abuse him, and his father was very neglectful. He also got emotionally and of course physically abused. When he turned 15 - 16 he moved in with Oliver.

When they lived together, Osvald did show very clear signs of C-PTSD and DID. Oliver knew something was wrong so he forced Osvald to get a psychologist and some help.

Now Osvald lives in a small apartment with (maybe) a dog.

Osvald’s DID

Since we follow Alex’s thoughts, there will only be subtle and clear hints of Osvald having DID. Alex does not see him as a “special” or “different” human as anybody else, they see him as kind of their best friend and father.

Of course they will narrate about the things Osvald and the alters do, such as: “sometimes he would binge watch all of lord of the rings with me, even though he had before said he couldn't even stand the movies. Other times, he would ask me to brush his hair, and I would never know what to do, since he has very short hair.”

It never gets fully said that Osvald does have DID, but Alex will narrate that their father had said that Osvald is not completely like others (or something like that.)

Osvald has 5 other alters than himself, since I will not write switches, I will write scenes where another alter is there.

I’m gonna write the alters and I would like to know if they are believable and could be seen in a real person having DID. I have written about them in my notes but they are of course in Danish so i will not be writing every finest detail here.

Torben: One of the caretakers, 35 years old, speaks in a jysk accent (type of Danish accent), very caring, loves history and always reads historical books when he can.

Kvist: Kind of the troublemaker, 15 years old, speaks with a loud and fast Copenhagen accent, funny, loves comedy movies with a pinch of horror, hates everything related to love and is scared of women.

Majken: She is very sassy, 17 years old, talks A LOT, likes cheesy romance movies, does not like to drive the car, likes to go out in clubs, loves colors.

Simon: He’s very quiet, 28 years old, does not speak a lot, loves fantasy movies, his favorite is lord of the rings, he likes drawing portraits of dogs, is scared of loud noises, therefore he never watches movies on high sound.

Ronja: She’s very depressed and has hurt them all before, 20 years old, speaks in a low voice, sleeps a lot, does not like to be touched, fears abandonment, likes feel-good series though she had never finished one, likes to collect plushies.

Then there's of course the host, Osvald, and if you guys would like to read his personality phile i will send it to you in the comments, though it is in danish as said.

Why i’m writing about a character with DID

I LOVE to learn, and i LOVE to learn other people about things that are very misunderstood or just unknown, like DID, or people, or other stuff.

My mother was very abusive too, and I have suffered too a lot of trauma, so I do know how it is to not have the “pitch perfect” life, though I still do not know absolutely everything about DID, and I never will.

I’m not trying to write a perfectly accurate character with such troubles, because if I was trying to do that, I wouldn't even have ever begun to write. I know that I will never be able to understand DID to the maximum, but I will try my hardest to understand it so much, that it will be a very accurate and good character.

My questions

Is it a good representation? I was planning on killing him off by suicide, but as much as it annoys me when straight authors and screenwriters kill off their lgbtq+ characters, i figured it would make my stoy horse shit if i killed him.

Is it believable? Is the alters believable? Have I read too much into it, or not enough?

Is some of it even possible to happen? Now I don't know if anyone here is from Denmark, or has lived here for a long time, but is it possible that Alex lives with Osvald?

What should I change?

What should I keep?

My thanks

And then I just want to thank all of you for reading this, and writing feedback to me. I really appreciate help, I of course have seen a ton of youtube videos, documentaries, and read many articles written about or by people with DID, but still, i want all the help i can get.

Thank you guys again for reading my post!