"As Shakespeare said, “What’s past is prologue.” What if the voices of your ancestors could help you tell your story? What would change? What would stay the same? Our lives are bound to the lives that came before us, and if we’re able to listen, we might find our dead have been speaking to us all along. Speculative memoir is an umbrella genre in which the questions of the memoirist’s book are addressed through speculative elements, which may include ghosts, metaphors, what ifs, imaginative scenarios, and fantasies. Using the speculative to imagine the lives and inner worlds of our ancestors can unlock powerful connections within our stories, both on and off the page. We’ll look at a few examples of speculative memoir, explore ways to use the device in your own work, and do some generative writing exercises. Come with writing materials and an open mind!

Laraine Herring is a retired professor of creative writing and psychology. She’s the author of a trilogy of writing books: Writing Begins with the Breath: Embodying Your Authentic Voice; The Writing Warrior: Discovering the Courage to Free Your True Voice, and On Being Stuck: Tapping into the Creative Power of Writer’s Block. Her most recent memoir is A Constellation of Ghosts: A Speculative Memoir with Ravens, and she edited the anthology Becoming Real: Women Reclaim the Power of the Imagined through Speculative Nonfiction. Find her at laraineherring.com

Prescott Writers is hosted by Central Arizona Writers and presented with funding from the Friends of the Prescott Public Library."