So some backstory: I'm currently working on a short story involving two blokes trapped in a featureless white room with no memory of who they are or how they got there (they theorize that something about the room made them forget what was going on upon entering), but it's slowly coming back to them, moreso for the protagonist, Brenton Devaux, than for the other. The only thing in the room with them is a collection of objects: a book, a couple toys, and a suitcase. These items, combined with a few items Brenton has on hand (a wedding ring and a wallet), will help Brenton piece together their story and hopefully give them an idea on how to escape the room. Each item contains two memories: one that Brenton finds cherishable, and one that focuses on one of Brenton's friends, Alexander Abrams, who he no longer speaks with. The book details Brenton Devaux's work with quantum physics, namely how he "proved" the Many Worlds theory (yeah I know you can't actually do that but play along) and reminds him of how he beat Alexander to the punch. The toys and wedding ring tell remind Brenton about his wife and children, and remind him of how Alexander was very jealous of his homelife. His wallet contains photos and personal information. And the suitcase is a surprise. In order to get proper help with the plot holes, however, I have to explain the story's "twist" (I hate calling them twists because it makes it sound contrived, which I'm hopefully avoiding). Turns out, the other man was Brenton Devaux all along, and our protagonist was actually Alexander Abrams. Using Devaux's and his own research on transportation between alternate realities, he stole the original Devaux's life out from under him, and basically was in his life for so long that he forgot he was ever Alexander in the first place. The white room is the true Devaux's ultimate revenge; turns out the suitcase contains a gun, which Devaux promptly ends his life with, trapping Alexander inside the room until he eventually dies of dehydration. All the items in the room were brought by the real Devaux to remind the fake Devaux of his life, which would actually trigger memories of the real Devaux's life, since he would need to remember he's getting revenge on Alexander and why. ...I hope that all makes sense :X As you can imagine, there are a few holes (stories involving alternate realities almost always have holes), so I would like some help in closing them. First of all, if all these memories that the fake Devaux is bringing up are also familiar to the real Devaux, how come he doesn't just suddenly stand up and say "Wait, I remember that too!" How does he know to keep his gob shut? And how come the real Devaux brought a whole bunch of items into the room to trigger memories, when he could have just brought a note that explains everything? I'm not asking you to answer everything for me; if you can just help me brainstorm, that'd be great
That sounds like an awesome story, right up my alley ! I'll admit I found it a little hard to follow your explanation - no doubt when expressed in a longer form it will be much clearer to the reader. It's hard to plug those holes, but I wonder how much they need to be plugged? In stories like this, you need a bit of "faith" in knowing that it just could not have been - perhaps by shifting realities, this impacted the memories that could be created. Perhaps the memories were all before the life stealing moment: his jealousy was such that he had to steal the life, so maybe its only the earlier memories that are being triggered? As for the note: why bring a note, when you could make him relive all the memories so vividly with meaningful objects? Seems like a good enough reason to me. I'd be interested to read it when it's done if you're intending to share!
Okay, it seems you're really tangling with meta-physics here, so, naturally, be ready for quite a lot of plot holes. Anyhow, first of all, it does sound like an amazing story - one which could be prudent in terms of twists and intrigue in the audience. Furthermore, know that no one can really help you with this theme - it is meta-physics after all! The rules of alternate dimensions and time and all that are quite unclear to us, so I'd suggest this: break them. If you have recently visited the gaming world (as I have) you probably have heard of a game called Bioshock Infinite - now, this game is meta-physical intrigue at the core. The ending, if nothing else, is utterly shocking, tragic, and beautiful at the same time. However, the game ignores an abundance of rules regarding the logical flow of it. So, ultimately, I'm saying this: if the ending is good (which from what I read it is), and if it's well-executed (which depends on your skills as a writer), you can ignore a decent amount of rules. I'm not saying to defy all rules - that'd be disastrous. However, for the sake of the plot, you are free to play with the meta-physical rules, mostly due to the fact that they are not tangible. Hope I helped and it really does sound like an amazing story, hope you finish it soon so that people can read it!
