Character Memories by Allison Symes

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. 

One thing which makes a character, and their story, more real to me is when they have memories. I  think it is a great way to ensure your characters aren’t cardboard cut outs. A character recalling a memory is showing something of themselves, which shows they have more than one dimension.

Memories can be played on by the character to generate sympathy. Memories can be used against a character to make them fall into line with what someone else wants - emotional blackmail. Characters can use memories to blackmail others in the more traditional ways too.

Sometimes, as in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, memories can be used as a tool for redemption. Scrooge didn’t want to face up to his past but until he did, he could not move on.

 

In The Lord of The Rings, memories dictated what elf leader, Elrond, wanted to happen to the Ring of Power. He knew it was what should have happened before but, due to the weakness of men, did not. Memories can be a major turning point and drive future action.

I often use my characters’ memories to help me work out who they are and what motivates them, even if those memories don’t end up in the story. I sometimes use a template. Asking a character what their most precious memory is and/or what memory do they don’t want anyone else to ever know can reveal so much about them.

I find when I know my character well enough I can write them and their story with more conviction. I remain convinced something of that comes through to readers. 

Also, I ask what will a character do to protect themselves from having shared memories with someone else used against them. What we are prepared to do shows a great deal about us after all. 

Just as our memories can shape who we become, this is also true for our characters. A character whose memories are mainly of being made to feel inferior can go one of two ways - fit into that persona, the memories have shaped them, or rebel against it and the memories which hold them back, determined they won’t be shaped.

Looking at character memories will also help you envisage other characters. Your main character may remember a special place but who or what made it special? They are even more likely to remember people who are special. Who are they? Why are they not with the character now? All sorts of ideas can come from those thoughts.

Naturally, on the sadder side of the coin, there are characters with failing memories. How do they cope? How do those around them cope? Ironically, having written some dementia stories, I’ve found while these are inevitably bitter sweet tales, there is something about them which resonates with readers. 

Character memories, in various ways, can tap into our own and encourage further empathy. No bad thing that, I think.