Looking for some advice/inspiration.

I'm trying to start a fanfic where the main character has amnesia and I want to avoid the cliche "wakes up going 'where am I who am I?'" approach.

Thoughts?

Comments

[Illuminutter]

Well, that might be a bit tricky. The problem is that all the types of amnesia that would work for a story are caused by head trauma and trauma great enough to result in permanent memory loss would likely also result in unconsciousness or a coma. I guess you could try and make it more interesting by having whatever accident caused the trauma to be part of the story. Alternatively you could always go with some kind of magic related cause which would allow you to bypass the trauma and unconsciousness/coma that would accompany amnesia in the real world. Not really a writer myself, just through I would throw in my two bits.

[River Road]

You could always start the story a few hours/days/weeks in when he already at least settled into whatever place he ended up.

[Bed Head]

4917738
For all intents and purposes this would be "magical" amnesia.

4917741
This the option I've been trying to do, but I keep trying to write a flashback scene where the people he's living with found him. It feels like something I need to address, even if I start the actual story at another point, and that's where I get stuck.

[shirotora]

You could always have him actually remember his name. Despite how it's depicted in movies and such, amnesiacs almost always remember their names.

[Jake The Army Guy]

Have him wake up in an action sequence, or somewhere else where there's more important matters at hand.

[Speedy]

You could have his memory slowly fading. The longer he takes the more is lost. Basically gives him a reason to have amnesia while not entirely a blank book,

[River Road]

4917746
Is he a grump in the mornings? Because instead of the "where am I who am I" approach you could change it up with, for example, "stop making noise and being so brightly colored I'm trying to sleep off this headache" approach.

[Scyphi]

I'd start it just a little after the initial "wake-up" and have it start instead with the presumed doctor's visit that follows trying to assess the state of said amnesia, and while the doc's (or whatever) is ranting on, have the character inwardly reflecting on his situation through which you can fill in the details for the reader.

[TDR]

Perhaps the protagonist only forgets certain things. Like he recalls much of it but he won't recall what the color green looks like or if he has food allergies. It could make ponies think that they are just super forgetful. Though perhaps it makes them notice things they hadn't before.