![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_4053.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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\u2019ll return to later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019re a teacher or parent you\u2019ll 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!
<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nRegional variations fascinate me too. Dorset is a county rich in fantastic place names. It\u2019s been invaded by most and the place names reflect its rich history. Who could resist Corfe Mullen, Sturminster Marshall or Winterborne Zelston? It\u2019s also a county which loves its double-barrelled place names! Somerset and Powys have a few bobby dazzlers too. Kingsbury Episcopi and Evenjobb anyone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The challenge for a writer, when\u00a0naming an\u00a0invented place,\u00a0is to reflect\u00a0the history and geography of the area it\u2019s in \u2013 but to do it convincingly. How many books have you read where you just haven\u2019t believed in the place name? Denton in the TV series A Touch of Frost always stands out, although I\u2019ve just discovered there are real Dentons in Greater Manchester and Norfolk. Apologies, it just doesn\u2019t sound like a\u00a0real place! Similarly, in a couple of my early books, I invented a little market town based on Bromyard in\u00a0Herefordshire\u00a0which I called Fordham. Never convinced me, although it means a settlement on the ford in a river so it should have been okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Berecombe arrived after a little research. Combe always says Devon to me (it means a hollow in the hills) there\u2019s the village of Beer, and also a hamlet called Beercrocombe in Somerset. To me, Berecombe sounds absolutely as if it\u2019s 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! If you\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Georgia x<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Back in May I blogged about the difficulties faced when naming characters and the things writers often have to consider. This time I\u2019m 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[845,929,717],"class_list":["post-3864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-writing-fiction","tag-writing-technique","tag-writing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3864"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3878,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3864\/revisions\/3878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The next step was for the children to name<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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.\u00a0I kept playing with variations, including\u00a0Melbury\u00a0and \u00a0Melbury\u00a0on Sea but they didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
So, if deciding on a fictitious name is such hard work, why bother? \u00a0Well, when using real towns and cities there is the inevitable pressure to portray things correctly. Quite rightly so. It\u2019s more than a little irritating to have a writer get\u00a0a real city wrong in some way. Imagine Oxford with a beautiful sandy beach, or Birmingham without its canals?\u00a0As well as the need to portray the feel and reality of the place, you\u2019re limited to what is\u00a0actually there. I could write about Lyme Regis (and have done) but\u00a0I\u00a0have to\u00a0remember\u00a0there is no longer a bank, a post office or cinema in town.\u00a0Plus,\u00a0its notoriously unstable coastline\u00a0limits\u00a0where I can put my characters\u2019 swanky cliff top houses!\u00a0Readers are quick to criticise inaccuracies. One pointed out the unlikelihood of finding a sea front car parking space on a Bank Holiday in Lyme \u2013 and she was right! Lullbury Bay has a strong resemblance to Lyme but has bits\u00a0of Beaminster and Bridport mixed in. It\u2019s has a ruined\u00a0castle too. This features hardly at all in the first two books in the series but it\u2019s there should I need it. As the town only exists in my imagination no one knows if I\u2019ve got anything wrong!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
I love creating my imaginary worlds and filling them with the sort of people (and dogs!) I like. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever really outgrown that geography lesson with the squared paper and counting cubes \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n