diff --git a/lib/sof/occurence.rb b/lib/sof/occurence.rb
index 79b4f30..225cde9 100644
--- a/lib/sof/occurence.rb
+++ b/lib/sof/occurence.rb
@@ -4,13 +4,14 @@ module Sof
     def initialize object , level
       @object = object
       @level = level
-      @referenced = nil      
+      @referenced = nil
+      @written = nil
     end
     def set_reference r
       @referenced = r
     end
     attr_reader   :object , :referenced
-    attr_accessor :level
+    attr_accessor :level , :written
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/lib/sof/writer.rb b/lib/sof/writer.rb
index 6b20507..beb82ff 100644
--- a/lib/sof/writer.rb
+++ b/lib/sof/writer.rb
@@ -18,9 +18,14 @@ module Sof
       end
       occurence = @members.objects[object.object_id]
       raise "no object #{object}" unless occurence
-      if(level > occurence.level )
+      #puts "#{level} ? #{occurence.level} : ref #{occurence.referenced}"
+      if( occurence.referenced and (occurence.level <= level) )
         #puts "ref #{occurence.referenced} level #{level} at #{occurence.level}"
-        return SimpleNode.new("*#{occurence.referenced}")
+        if( occurence.written.nil? )
+          occurence.written = true
+        else
+          return SimpleNode.new("*#{occurence.referenced}")
+        end
       end
       ref = occurence.referenced
       if(object.respond_to? :to_sof_node) #mainly meant for arrays and hashes
@@ -36,7 +41,7 @@ module Sof
       end
       head = object.class.name + "("
       atts = {}
-      attributes_for(object).each() do |a| 
+      attributes_for(object).each() do |a|
         val = get_value(object , a)
         next if val.nil?
         atts[a] =  to_sof_node(val , level + 1)
@@ -55,6 +60,6 @@ module Sof
       writer = Writer.new(Members.new(object) )
       writer.write
     end
-    
+
   end
 end
diff --git a/test/test_all.rb b/test/test_all.rb
index ba5e4d5..d3ea870 100644
--- a/test/test_all.rb
+++ b/test/test_all.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 require_relative "test_basic"
 require_relative "test_object"
 require_relative "test_ext"
+require_relative "test_refs"
diff --git a/test/test_object.rb b/test/test_object.rb
index 33875fc..77e3c71 100644
--- a/test/test_object.rb
+++ b/test/test_object.rb
@@ -57,6 +57,6 @@ class ObjectSof < MiniTest::Test
     object.extra = ObjectWithAttributes
     ar = [object , ObjectWithAttributes]
     @out = ar
-    check "-ObjectWithAttributes(:name => 'some name', :number => 1234, :extra => *1)\n-&1 ObjectWithAttributes"
+    check "-ObjectWithAttributes(:name => 'some name', :number => 1234, :extra => &1 ObjectWithAttributes)\n-*1"
   end
 end