I need your help! Does She remember or Doesn't she?

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   ThompsonPenposted 9 years ago

   I need your help! Does She remember or Doesn't she?
   
   I have this character that I see going two different ways. I'm trying to figure out which way to go. She could be fully aware of this awful thing of her past, or she could not and that can be an added depth to the story where she regains her memory of it....Any thoughts? If she does remember it, then she can either a) still be engaging in actions which are a residual result of said past thing though showing little signs of mental/emotional anguish of it since she has a release or b) be completely mentally/emotionally jarred from it.
   Professional/Reader opinions?

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2. 59

   MasterworksFAposted 9 years ago

   Instead of answering, I recommend reading Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irving Welsh http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039331 … XKAHAIAU6P .
   Within the first few pages, the reader is taken into two different worlds with a hint of past and present, while following a man dreaming his way out of a coma.

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      ThompsonPenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That's fascinating! I"ll give that a look! Sounds like a great story

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   Diana Leeposted 9 years ago

   It doesn't hurt to have a touch of mystery to any story. You can keep the past event from the reader for as long as you keep it from the character. Only hints are needed to spark interest and hold the audience's attention. My opinion is that of a reader, not a teacher. Good luck.

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      ThompsonPenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I appreciate it! I had considered this as well, but the problem is that the character that does know is going to ask the main character to do something based on this particular event, and it's from there that the story  actually gets going.

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   The Examiner-1posted 9 years ago

   Add mystery by letting her go on without remembering while someone close to her knows about it but do not reveal it. At the end, surprise the readers saying that she had something such as "mental" amnesia (i.e. - hiding it from herself), burying it inside all of these years.
   
   Or stretch it out to other "chapters" until you decide to end it, then reveal it.

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      ThompsonPenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the input! I had thought about this, but I don't think there's any way around revealing what the past was any later than halfway through simply because the rest of the plot relies on her eventually figuring it out (if she doesn't remember

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      The Examiner-1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Have you thought about rearranging your plot so that it would work?

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      ThompsonPenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      ...I haven't...though that is definitely a good idea. As it is, I'm playing with different writing structures to portray different perspectives/times, so maybe I could rearrange it in that way. Very interesting idea

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