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Caspar · **04-18-2017, 06:49 PM**

(04-18-2017, 04:36 PM)Nero Wrote: Amnesia as a plot point works, but I wouldn't particularly call it interesting. 90% of the time
it's a paper-thin character device that basically says "the plot/character advances whenever the writer wants it to advance" and is subject to intensely arbitrary conditions. At best, it's a minor footnote justifying some of a character's eccentricities and at worst, it's a character's sole defining feature.

Amnesia is going to be something glossed over. You can argue that treating it so inconsequentially is a bit meta game-y and you wouldn't be wrong, but I can't feel invested in an amnesic character or the dilemma of a character's amnesia because more often than not it's just a railroad, so there's no point in trying to go off the tracks.

I think no character advances without the writer's will, since after all, they don't do anything without you moving your fingers. Even in regards to the interactions with other characters, it's still the writer deciding who affects their character and how. Isolating the character, or putting limits on how far they can develop through things like memory loss controls information, but frankly gratuitous retcon use, or simply limiting RP to select people/motifs serves the same purpose. If that's the case, I question whether it's a problem with amnesia as a motif and not creative control, as so many hot button topics on this forum end up being about. Granted, it's not my favorite motif, but I'll use it when I feel it's suitably entertaining for others.

Pretty much every RPer I know who has a "personal storyline" advances it at their convenience, so this is hardly uncommon, nor limited to amnesiac characters. Just not being IC alone is the most effective method of creative control.

[Discussion] Amnesia as a plotpoint

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