In this Prologue Day session, novelist, journalist, and book coach Lindsay Marie Morris shares her process for turning family history into compelling historical fiction. Drawing on the real-life inspiration behind The Last Letter from Sicily, she shows how to move from scattered facts, inherited stories, and archival discoveries to fully realized characters, scenes, and emotionally grounded narrative arcs.

Blending research strategy with practical story development, Morris offers a clear framework for writers who want to honor personal history while still giving themselves the creative freedom fiction requires. From interviewing relatives and tracking down records to structuring a novel from raw material, this session is an encouraging and actionable guide for anyone working with family-based historical stories.

You’ll learn how to:

• Interview relatives in ways that uncover vivid, usable story material

• Research family history through archives, records, newspapers, and genealogy tools

• Build character dossiers from real people and develop fictional counterparts

• Turn names, dates, and documents into emotionally resonant scenes

• Use Lindsay’s “scaffolding” method to structure a historical novel

• Balance historical truth with imaginative storytelling

• Handle gaps, contradictions, and unanswered questions in family history

• Navigate issues of privacy, naming, and permission when writing about shared ancestors

Whether you’re inspired by a family legend or sitting on a box of old records you’ve never known how to use, this session offers a practical and empowering starting point for turning personal history into powerful fiction.

Bonus Resource: Download Lindsay’s companion workbook to help you begin shaping your own family-history-based story. Get the workbook