Back in May I blogged about the difficulties faced when naming characters and the things writers often have to consider. This time I’m looking at naming places.
Writers are concerned with creating worlds. The more authentic and convincing that world, the more involving the read. Often writers choose to create completely fictitious settings. I do it all the time. There are distinct advantages to inventing your own town, village or city (or even planet) which I’ll return to later.
I love books set in small communities. I love to read them and I love to write them. Back in the day, one lesson I taught was about how settlements grow over time. Using squared paper, the children drew in the natural geographical features, a river or hill say, and then added plastic counting cubes (if you’re a teacher or parent you’ll know exactly what I mean). We began with red cubes for a Roman town putting in the bathhouse and barracks, yellow for medieval adding a market hall, blue for Victorian with factories and mills, terraced houses and railways, orange for modern day development with its out-of-town shopping malls and housing estates. You get the picture. Yes, it was simplistic, but it gave us all a clear idea of how towns have a chronology and, if you look closely, you can still see it. Always a good tip; look up above the modern-day shop fronts!
The next step was for the children to name their creation. Again, turning to history (and a good map) helps. Anything ending in chester is Roman. Bury, ton and ley suffixes indicate an Anglo-Saxon heritage. Minster indicates a onetime religious settlement and usually has an important church. Regis shows royal patronage or a royal charter. Newtown is, well, a new town, Newquay ditto.
Regional variations fascinate me too. Dorset is a county rich in fantastic place names. It’s been invaded by most and the place names reflect its rich history. Who could resist Corfe Mullen, Sturminster Marshall or Winterborne Zelston? It’s also a county which loves its double-barrelled place names! Somerset and Powys have a few bobby dazzlers too. Kingsbury Episcopi and Evenjobb anyone?
The challenge for a writer, when naming an invented place, is to reflect the history and geography of the area it’s in – but to do it convincingly. How many books have you read where you just haven’t believed in the place name? Denton in the TV series A Touch of Frost always stands out, although I’ve just discovered there are real Dentons in Greater Manchester and Norfolk. Apologies, it just doesn’t sound like a real place! Similarly, in a couple of my early books, I invented a little market town based on Bromyard in Herefordshire which I called Fordham. Never convinced me, although it means a settlement on the ford in a river so it should have been okay.
Berecombe arrived after a little research. Combe always says Devon to me (it means a hollow in the hills) there’s the village of Beer, and also a hamlet called Beercrocombe in Somerset. To me, Berecombe sounds absolutely as if it’s a real seaside town in Devon. Readers have often asked me where it is. Sadly, it only exists in my head and is actually based on Lyme Regis. Which is in Dorset. But only just!
When I had to invent a whole new town for a new series of books, I decided to look slightly further east for inspiration and set the books in west Dorset. I kept playing with variations, including Melbury and Melbury on Sea but they didn’t feel authentic. After scouring a map for inspiration, I eventually came up with Lullbury Bay which not only sounds melodic but has hints of Lulworth Cove.
So, if deciding on a fictitious name is such hard work, why bother? Well, when using real towns and cities there is the inevitable pressure to portray things correctly. Quite rightly so. It’s more than a little irritating to have a writer get a real city wrong in some way. Imagine Oxford with a beautiful sandy beach, or Birmingham without its canals? As well as the need to portray the feel and reality of the place, you’re limited to what is actually there. I could write about Lyme Regis (and have done) but I have to remember there is no longer a bank, a post office or cinema in town. Plus, its notoriously unstable coastline limits where I can put my characters’ swanky cliff top houses! Readers are quick to criticise inaccuracies. One pointed out the unlikelihood of finding a sea front car parking space on a Bank Holiday in Lyme – and she was right! Lullbury Bay has a strong resemblance to Lyme but has bits of Beaminster and Bridport mixed in. It’s has a ruined castle too. This features hardly at all in the first two books in the series but it’s there should I need it. As the town only exists in my imagination no one knows if I’ve got anything wrong!
I love creating my imaginary worlds and filling them with the sort of people (and dogs!) I like. I don’t think I’ve ever really outgrown that geography lesson with the squared paper and counting cubes …
If you’re intrigued by Lullbury Bay and want to spend some time there, New Beginnings at Christmas Tree Cottage is published this September, with the second in the series coming out next February.
Love,
Georgia x