Tips for Writing an Amnesia Romance Novel
The first step in writing an amnesia romance is to forget everything you know about amnesia romance.
Now that that joke is out of the way, let me clarify that this is in fact the opposite of what to do. The amnesia trope has a long history in fiction, and only by understanding how the trope is employed can a writer put their own unique spin on it.
It’s tricky to accomplish effectively—layering the past and present, balancing the mystery of lost identity with the rest of the plot, navigating the changes it brings to relationships—but it can be a great tool for character development. (So long as the writer and reader both accept the inherent absurdity of the premise—this is not a realistic trope by any stretch of the imagination the way it’s utilized in most romantic fiction.)
The amnesia trope plays a central role in A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch, the second book in my Glimmer Falls fantasy romance series. In the first book, the demon Astaroth was the villain, determined to steal the heroine Mariel’s soul. In the second book he finds himself punished for his failure and ends up banished to Earth with no memory of who he is. He’s immediately discovered by the witch Calladia Cunnington, Mariel’s best friend and Astaroth’s nemesis from book one.
After a demon attack, Calladia reluctantly ends up on a quest to help Astaroth recover his memories. Along the way the two fall in love—but what will happen when Astaroth remembers how and why he became such a despicable demon to begin with?
So how to write this trope effectively? Read on for my best advice.
Read (And Watch) Widely
The best way to do justice to a trope is to understand what it accomplishes. Which means reading other amnesia romances, watching TV shows, or otherwise absorbing how this plotline has been executed in the past.
My first encounter with the amnesia trope was in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, which I watched as a child. I remember almost nothing about that show except being heartbroken when Lois forgot about Clark in season three. How can a love story recover when one person can’t remember it?
When I started reading romance in college, I encountered the trope again and became fascinated by the mixture of angst, mystery, and high drama it provides (it pairs well with evil clones or secret twins, for instance). A few examples of amnesia romances beyond the two I’ll discuss below are Someone to Watch Over Me by Lisa Kleypas, Heart of Obsidian by Nalini Singh, Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole, and 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall (bonus point for fake amnesia!), but there are many, many more.
Why Amnesia?
Romantic fiction is full of tropes because they serve specific purposes in developing a love story. “Only one bed” forces characters to confront the attraction between them, “snowed in” forces characters to rely on each other to stay safe and warm, and “fake dating” adds a layer of emotional tension to a relationship as the characters struggle to tell which feelings are real and which are not.
Here are two examples of how the trope can be applied in romance and what it accomplishes in each case.
The Amnesia Trope as HEA Disruptor
As I learned when Lois and Clark’s love story was briefly interrupted, amnesia has high angst potential for ruining existing relationships. A relationship can be wiped clean in an instant, and the characters then have to learn how to move forward in a love story only one of them remembers. Whether or not the amnesiac recovers their memory depends—most amnesia books I’ve read do have them remember in the end, but some don’t. Either way it throws a spanner in the works and forces the relationship to grow in a new direction.
Ruby Dixon does this well in Barbarian’s Heart. After the alien hero Pashov is injured, he wakes up with no memory of his mate Stacy or their child. It’s frightening and upsetting for him to lose this chunk of his identity, but Stacy is also hurt deeply. Is her mate even the same person without his memories of the life they built together? Both characters feel depressed and guilty, and they have to grapple with how to move past grieving a lost love story to create a new one.
The Amnesia Trope as Character Arc Disruptor
Amnesia can also serve as a reset button for a character, allowing them to veer from an established life (often one of villainy) and find a better path forward.
Meredith Duran does this well in A Lady’s Code of Misconduct. Corrupt politician Crispin Burke spends the first few chapters of the book menacing the heroine. Then a knock on the head from an unseen enemy effectively transports him back five years–he doesn’t remember his recent crimes, which means he doesn’t understand how he transformed from a young, idealistic liberal politician into a jaded conservative one who would sacrifice anyone in the name of personal power. The heroine Jane, who despised Crispin but fabricated a marriage to him after his likely-fatal injury (thus freeing her from her terrible family), suddenly finds herself married to a man who isn’t such a tyrant after all. The amnesia trope allows Crispin to confront his sins and travel the path of redemption, while Jane finds herself able to fall in love with this new version of him.
Amnesia as character reset for a villain is what I utilize the trope for in A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch. Calladia does not have any kind of established romantic relationship with Astaroth and in fact hates his guts. In order to provide Calladia with a chance to understand and fall in love with Astaroth the person, I had to first strip away the layers of Astaroth the vicious demon. Which also forces Astaroth to confront his misdeeds and grow into a better version of himself. There’s also that edge of suspense—what happens when a villain remembers all his villainy? Which version of himself will he choose to be?
Check out Sarah Hawley’s A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch here:
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Don’t Forget to Have Fun!
These are two examples specific to romance fiction, but there are plenty of ways amnesia can enhance a plot. It can add mystery and suspense (The Bourne Identity) or play with reader expectations by subverting well-known stories (Once Upon A Time). The amnesia trope is as versatile as it can be difficult to write—so as you figure out how to include it in your romance novel, remember to embrace the campy fun that makes it so enjoyable to read.