on Career Authors:

So, your character has amnesia?

No doubt about it, I’m a plotter. I have a tried and tested process that works for me, and which I refine and streamline with each novel I write. No surprise then, that when I sat down and typed “Chapter 1” for my fifth novel, psychological thriller You Will Remember Me, I went in believing I was prepared.

Turns out, I wasn’t. One of my point-of-view characters, who carries an equal third of the book with two others, has amnesia and the story starts with him waking up on a beach not knowing how or where he is. The weeks I’d spent plotting and developing my characters hadn’t prepared me for how hard it would be to write a protagonist who couldn’t know the backstory I’d so carefully crafted for him, or to whom I couldn’t allow a single memory for most of the book. It’s probably one of the trickiest plotlines I’ve handled, and if you’re thinking of including an amnesiac character in your next project, here are some tips and tricks I hope will help you avoid at least part of the frustrations I experienced.