: Re: How to write a book about an amnesia patient properly? I am writing a book about an amnesia patient. I do not know much about amnesia, which is quite shameful, but I want to know how to

@Kevin153

Vote Up Vote Down

I think amnesia is a pretty commonly-written-on medical condition, you can even find forms of it in thrillers like the Bourne Identity series, so if you wanted to search for books involving amnesia and read your 5 favorites to see how others have portrayed it that wouldn't be a bad start.

Building in research on amnesia itself should also be a big part of your writing process. Just like you would read about a location or machine you want to use in your story, find out the basics of what amnesia is and how it works while you're outlining/writing. The scientific journal papers may be a little dense, but there are plenty of mainstream nonfiction books on psychology and psychiatry in which I'm sure you could find some cases of amnesia in a more understandable form. For example, Oliver Sacks once wrote about a very interesting case involving a musician, I believe. Also read about H.M. (we can use his name now but I forget what it is), who lost some memory-forming abilities after a brain surgery to treat his epilepsy.

If you can access a doctor or professor of psychology, while they could not discuss patient cases with you they could probably speak in general terms about the symptoms and habits of amnesiacs. Your character might adopt some of these habits, like perhaps keeping a diary, and examining their days from different points would help keep the story from getting repetitive if that's the way things are in her mind.

It is not my area of study, but as I understand it there are two main types and a great range of forms/effects amnesia can have so you will have some creative freedom in how you portray it.

(0)

Login to post a comment!