My novel The Equinox Stone features a hero who suffers from retrograde amnesia. Because I wanted to do a good job writing about amnesia, I did a lot of research on types of amnesia, symptoms, treatment, and causes (even though in my character’s case, the cause is not something that could ever happen in real life. I hope.) I hope it’ll all be useful if you’re figuring out how to write about amnesia. too.
I absolutely love the amnesia romance trope, because memory loss (even short term memory loss) makes a character inherently vulnerable, raises interesting questions about identity, and causes drama and conflict as they figure out their situation or as their relationships with others are affected.
I always like to share my writing research to save other writers time, so here are tips and helpful links for anyone writing an amnesiac character. If you’re writing a medically accurate story, this article is only a place to start. But if you’re working in a supernatural, paranormal, speculative, or fantasy vein, like me, this can give you details to make the imaginary feel more real.
If amnesia plots interest you as a writer, be sure to bookmark this page or pin it on Pinterest for future reference!
Retrograde Amnesia
There are different types of amnesia, including anterograde amnesia, which prevents a person from forming new memories. Anterograde amnesia was depicted in the 2005 film Memento.
In novels, TV shows, and movies, however, retrograde amnesia is the most popular. The person doesn’t have any memories from before a traumatic event, but they are able to form new memories without any problem. If a person’s recovering from retrograde amnesia, early memories (such as from childhood) may be easier to recover than more recent ones.
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Why An Amnesiac Can Often Remember How to Do Things
You might wonder why an amnesiac can remember how to talk or feed herself…or why Jason Bourne can still fight bad guys even if he doesn’t recall why they’re after him. There’s actually a good explanation for why this might be the case, and it’s because there are different kinds of memory.
Let’s talk about procedural memory, semantic memory, and episodic memory. (People sometimes use different words for these, but I don’t want to get too confusing.)
Procedural memory is remembering how to carry on a conversation (or how to use ballpoint pens and books as weapons if you’re Jason Bourne…or a scrappy writer in a fight.)
Episodic memory is remembering events you’ve experienced. A memory like this is really the sum of countless memories—visuals, smells, what people said and did, and so on—that all get stitched together in the hippocampus to create an episode. This is a very different process from storing the memory of a fact.
Semantic memory is remembering facts: the names of colors, who the president is, and so on. The frontal and temporal cortexes of the brain prepare these for long-term storage. Semantic memory does include facts we pick up from our episodic memory.
I’m writing supernatural romance with magic and demons, so not everything has a scientific explanation. But a character might get retrograde amnesia—where they remember how to speak and remember facts, and are able to form new memories, but don’t remember their own history—from damage to the temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex, such as a brain tumor, a stroke, a long history of alcohol abuse, or—the favorite choice of fiction writers and screenwriters—a hard blow to the head. Amnesia can also be the result of severe psychological trauma and PTSD.
Conversely, if you want to write a character with anterograde amnesia who can’t form new memories, you want to give them some damage to the hippocampus.
And if you want them to forget how to speak or have trouble with it, give them damage to Broca’s or Wernicke’s areas of the brain. Those control a lot of language functions.
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Retrograde Amnesia Treatment and Recovery
Retrograde amnesia from an injury frequently goes away without treatment (this is often the case with a concussion.) Tragically, sometimes it never goes away.
Triggers can help recover memories: family stories, photographs, music, and smells. That last one doesn’t surprise me, because smells evoke memories in such an immediate way.
Psychotherapy and hypnosis may be helpful.
There aren’t any drugs, as far as I could find, that can help treat retrograde amnesia.
Articles About Real People’s Strugges With Retrograde Amnesia
Retrograde amnesia can be a devastating condition, both for those who suffer from it and for their loved ones. Here are some fascinating and heartbreaking reads.
When My Husband Lost His Memory, I Had to Win His Love Anew.
This is a story about a truly amazing wife and her husband, who never got his memories back—and had to learn to face the future without them. He lost a lot of semantic memory as well as episodic memory.
ECT wipes out 30 years of memories
This is a horrifying case of electroconvulsive therapy (shock therapy) resulting in tragedy.
Amnesia and the Self That Remains When Memory Is Lost
This is a really thoughtful essay about a man meeting with a not-very-close friend who developed amnesia.
Man remembers who he was after 30 years of amnesia
Just a short news story, but so interesting: a Canadian man, Edgar Latulip, had been missing for 30 years, and then remembered who he was.
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And finally, here’s a very cute video of someone who has very short term memory loss after waking up from surgery. Okay, you’ve probably already seen it, but I’m reminding you of it, anyway.
Do you have favorite books or movies about amnesia? Let us know in the comments! If you have firsthand or expert knowledge of retrograde amnesia, or if you’ve come across interesting research or information about it, also let me know about that. I’m not an expert and I’m just sharing my own research on how to write about amnesia. I’ll update the post as needed.
Thank you so much for reading, and have a good week!
Thank you for posting this! It was very interesting. It’s amazing how complex yet delicate our brains are. 🙂
Complex yet delicate…that is such a good way to put it! Thanks for reading!
You’re totally welcome! 🙂
I have a character in my ongoiong story who has had her memories magically taken from her. She has memories up to a certain point, but all of her childhood memories are gone. The people who stole her memories destroyed them. So, she can’t ever regain them.
Oh no! This sounds so tragic! And what a good villain move…
Thank you! It was one of those wonderfully inevitable things that my villain just had to do. 😀 And, just for bonus points, he did it out of spite.
Nice post on amnesia types, Bryn! I’ve been enjoying re-watching Carol Danvers’ retrograde amnesia in Captain Marvel (out on Blu Ray last week) and I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out for your character (I won’t say who, because spoilers) in your next book! Queued up a link to this post on my Tumblr for this upcoming #Write it Wednesday
Ooh, I didn’t realize Captain Marvel is already out on Blu-Ray! I loved that movie. Haha, thanks for avoiding the spoilers! And thank you so much for sharing—that is so awesome of you!
This is really helpful. I have an outline for a future story of a girl with PTSD caused amnesia. It is a mystery so trying to figure out how to have her memories slowly come back to catch the antagonist.
Diana, that sounds so good!
Thank you for sharing this. My favourite drama about amnesia is Boys over flowers. I have a book where the main character lost her memories after a traumatic incident and a fatal accident. The closest I have experienced of amnesia (if I can call it that) was losing my memories of certain people especially after I was terribly hurt by them. I looked at their pictures and had no clue who they were and the worst incidents was losing fresh memories as they were made. It was a depressive period but I thank God for helping me through that hard time and it is all over now.
Hi, Bosede! You know what, someone was just recommending Boys Over Flowers to me not long ago. I really need to check it out. I am so sorry to hear about those painful memories, and it sounds like your brain was trying to protect you from hurtful people. I am glad you are through that hard time.
Thank you very much. I hope you will enjoy watching Boys over flowers as much as I did. God bless you.
With an aging population and the prevelance of dementia, I can see a lot of scope for writing about amnesia. There’s also early onset dementia, with quite young people losing their memory. A lot to f food for thought here, thanks Bryn.
That’s true, Naomi—sadly, there are a lot of ways this can come into play. Thanks so much for reading, and for commenting!
That is super interesting, Bryn. Thanks for sharing.
Aw thanks, Erin! Hope everything’s going well with you. 🙂
So interesting, Bryn. Thanks for sharing.
One of my fantasy series includes the use of forget powder.
I learned something about the sense of smell when my granddaughter was born two and a half months premature. Babies can smell even before they are born.
“Forget powder”—I love it, Jessie. I did not know that about babies! That’s amazing.
Hi Bryn! My favorite movie about amnesia was the one from Hallmark, Falling for Vermont. I hope your week is going excellent.
Hi Savannah! (Late on responses here, sorry!) I actually never saw that one! I’m sure I’d like it. Amnesia story, romance, and autumn, what’s not to like? Hope THIS week is going great for you!
Thank you, I hope this week is for you to and that you’re feeling better.
Invaluable post, Bryn – many thanks. My WIP – a police procedurals – has a detective MC with concussion. So I have been researching amnesia, and this adds to the information. I look forward to your novel.
Oh, thanks, Roland! I’m so glad it’s helpful. Good luck on your story! It sounds great.
I’m not sure if you do awards or not, but I’m nominating you for the blogger recognition award. It’s up to you if you want to do it or not. If you do, here is the link:
https://ambroseandelsie.wordpress.com/2019/06/20/blogger-recognition-award/
Oh, I just saw this! This is so nice!! I’ll do it. Thank you!!
You’re totally welcome! I was reading over the explanation for the award and I was like “This is so Bryn. I need to offer it to her.” 😀
I too think it’s a service to readers to share the sources of your research with them, Bryn, and apprciate your doing so. A very comprehensive post. Thank you
Aw, thanks, David! I figure, if I’ve already dug into it a little, why not save someone else some time? 🙂 Nice to see you!
Real story: in 1975 I woke up as if waking up in the morning, but quickly realized I had my motorcycle helmet on, I was getting wet and there were a lot of people around. Oh, I was in a deep ditch. I had no memory of that day, even in the hospital where I was checked out. over the course of months, I recalled everything up to the point where I couldn’t make a left-hand turn, (my side stand was down and I couldn’t lean left.) I never did recall going into the roadside ditch and sliding across the farmer’s field to a side ditch.