NEW POST FROM WORDPLAY WRITERS' FORUM
Places should be Named as well as Characters
by wordplaywritersforum
Choosing setting is a murderous task
When we’re writing a story we always need a setting. A murder, for example, might be perpetrated in a library or a study (perhaps with a dagger or rope). A little too Cluedo? Perhaps, but the point is the setting is purposely made generic to avoid all sorts of problems that could be caused by the use of an actual place.
Of course, it could rightly be pointed out that many of the World’s most famous fiction is based in and around real places. Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code gathers pace when the curator of the Louvre is brutally murdered in the museum. Perhaps because it’s such a public place people understand that the fiction is just that – though apparently a few tourists each day ask to be shown the exact spot where the assassination took place.
Imagine, though, if that particular horrific happening had been set in an actual named primary school. It wouldn’t be long before the tears and tantrums began, as news of the ‘vicious throat cutting’ and the existence of ‘ghosts’ and a ‘mad, psychotic killer’ spread through the neighbourhood. I think you get my point.
Bedknobs battered in Cabot Cove
When we’re writing fiction we have to take care with situation and setting. Very often towns and villages are renamed to protect the innocent. The author bases a murderous series of events in and around Oxford, for example, but calls it Midsomer. And, by all reckoning, the most dangerous place to live is Cabot Cove, the New England town where 274 people have met their end with each murder solved by Angela Lansbury – a far cry from Bedknobs.
Authors often use real places for authenticity, and then rename those places. ‘Cabot Cove’ and ‘Midsomer’ seem to speak of what the reader is about to experience.
Real places - but do they tell us about their character?
And this brings me to a few place names that really do exist. What sort of stories could you write about the following places?
Middelfart in Denmark, Crotch Crescent and Crapstone in the UK. Another UK location that begs to be written about is Penistone, whilst the next 50 Shades saga might best be set in Dildo in Canada. I wouldn’t want to the author writing about Boring, in Orgeon, though Hell in Michigan should also be avoided.
I wonder if Frankie Howard ever considered a modern version of ‘Up Pompeii’? That could certainly have been filmed in and around Titty-Ho, or maybe even Happy Bottom.
Where is your next novel going to be set? A real place, or somewhere that speaks volumes about your characters, storylines, and plots?
wordplaywritersforum | October 14, 2013 at 09:00 | Tags: character and scene, how to pick a place name, how to write | Categories: Inspiration, Words, Writing Tips | URL: http://wp.me/p30G76-bN
Places should be Named as well as Characters
by wordplaywritersforum
Choosing setting is a murderous task
When we’re writing a story we always need a setting. A murder, for example, might be perpetrated in a library or a study (perhaps with a dagger or rope). A little too Cluedo? Perhaps, but the point is the setting is purposely made generic to avoid all sorts of problems that could be caused by the use of an actual place.
Of course, it could rightly be pointed out that many of the World’s most famous fiction is based in and around real places. Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code gathers pace when the curator of the Louvre is brutally murdered in the museum. Perhaps because it’s such a public place people understand that the fiction is just that – though apparently a few tourists each day ask to be shown the exact spot where the assassination took place.
Imagine, though, if that particular horrific happening had been set in an actual named primary school. It wouldn’t be long before the tears and tantrums began, as news of the ‘vicious throat cutting’ and the existence of ‘ghosts’ and a ‘mad, psychotic killer’ spread through the neighbourhood. I think you get my point.
Bedknobs battered in Cabot Cove
When we’re writing fiction we have to take care with situation and setting. Very often towns and villages are renamed to protect the innocent. The author bases a murderous series of events in and around Oxford, for example, but calls it Midsomer. And, by all reckoning, the most dangerous place to live is Cabot Cove, the New England town where 274 people have met their end with each murder solved by Angela Lansbury – a far cry from Bedknobs.
Authors often use real places for authenticity, and then rename those places. ‘Cabot Cove’ and ‘Midsomer’ seem to speak of what the reader is about to experience.
Real places - but do they tell us about their character?
And this brings me to a few place names that really do exist. What sort of stories could you write about the following places?
Middelfart in Denmark, Crotch Crescent and Crapstone in the UK. Another UK location that begs to be written about is Penistone, whilst the next 50 Shades saga might best be set in Dildo in Canada. I wouldn’t want to the author writing about Boring, in Orgeon, though Hell in Michigan should also be avoided.
I wonder if Frankie Howard ever considered a modern version of ‘Up Pompeii’? That could certainly have been filmed in and around Titty-Ho, or maybe even Happy Bottom.
Where is your next novel going to be set? A real place, or somewhere that speaks volumes about your characters, storylines, and plots?
wordplaywritersforum | October 14, 2013 at 09:00 | Tags: character and scene, how to pick a place name, how to write | Categories: Inspiration, Words, Writing Tips | URL: http://wp.me/p30G76-bN