“Memory is a tricky thing,” writes Kristen Lamb in a recent blog post. “We like to believe our brains are like a video camera recording every detail of every event with perfect precision. But, aside from memory making us martyrs, it serves many other useful purposes in life and in fiction.”
Memory can play an important part in your fiction, far beyond flashback and backstory, Lamb says. For example, what a character remembers can influence their personality and choices. When two characters remember the same event differently, memory can also cause conflict. If the past event had high stakes or created trauma or division, the tension can be that much higher.
Memory can also play tricks. Physical trauma can erase memories or make them more difficult to access. Your mind might combine two events or assign elements of one memory to a different one. Our wounds color our memories.
Emotions also play a part, Lamb says. Memories can become hazier after we’ve been in a fight. “Because our brain floods the system with stress hormones like adrenaline, cortisol and the like, it impacts how our brains then code the memory,” Lamb writes. “Too often, we’re upset [while] trying to piece together what happened using bits of our own memory and maybe some accounts of those who witnessed the events.” These memories won’t be photographic, but flawed.
Memories don’t always surface as thoughts, but as physical reactions. A person thinking about a bad day at work might lash out at someone at home. Sane, grounded, responsible people act out when put under pressure, Lamb writes. Why shouldn’t your characters?
“Memory is what makes paper-doll characters come to life,” Lamb says. “Too many new writers stop at surface description. Why is your character brooding, dark, mysterious? Did your character choose their profession willingly or as some sort of compensation?”
What baggage do your characters carry? How do they behave under stress? Consider the actions your characters will take as a result, not merely what they might think or remember. “Fiction should be full of all kinds of emotional triggers that will FORCE the protagonist to deal with demons they’d rather ignore,” Lamb says. “The story is the crucible, the fire that forces those bad memories/feelings/traumas to the surface. They won’t want to remember, but they will have to.”
