At the Intersection of Memory, History and Story

An Exploration of the Nostalgic Feelings Which Arose When Listening to Oral History Archives as an Inspiration for Novel-Writing

Abstract

When I decided to write a historical novel about women based in my native East Midlands and set in the early twentieth century, I turned to oral history archives for inspiration. The subsequent listening process triggered strong feelings of nostalgia. This paper considers how I made personal connections with the oral histories that I listened to about women working in the local machine-lace industry. It looks at how I underwent a form of ‘imaginative reminiscence’, bringing together my past and the imagined pasts of my ancestors living and working in the East Midlands to inspire new writing. It explores the nostalgic feelings that arose, particularly for family members and places from my childhood; how triggered sensory responses shaped authenticity and imagery in my fiction writing; and how this led me to fictionalise gaps in my own family’s stories. The paper investigates aspects of my listening and writing processes and the transformation of spoken text into prose. It also sets out my ethical approach in balancing my roles as fiction writer and oral historian when working with other people’s memories.