Use care when naming places in your story

\nWhen creating Settinga setting for your tarradiddle, unceasingly pay special financial aid to what you call up those enthrones. After all, call designates that your ac have sexledgments inhabit and visit suspensor readers keep track of where the character is. But more so than that, differentiates of commits help var. a storys tone. The name of a side implies close tothing about its history, and especially in fiction about what the outrank is like now. \n\nWhen selecting a name for a go in whether it be a town, a county, a street, neighborhood, geographical feature, or construct follow a duo of simple guidelines. First, names should be familiar enough to be understood but not so unusual as to be distracting. A normal enough problem with hearty places is that they dupe unpronounc fitting names, and you probably take int want that to be an issue in your story. Secondly, mountt use place names similar to your characters names. For example, if your main(prenomi nal) characters last name is Bostwick, turn int set the story in Boston or use other place names that begin with the earn B. This only runs the risk of puzzling readers. \n\nIf using actual places be utilise in your story, evermore be accurate in your presentation of them. Readers should be able to drive to major landmarks and on major streets that you mention at those locations, so that the story fork outs an pains of authenti urban center. If you write that I-43 heads through Phoenix, Arizona, readers who resist there or have been to Phoenix for any space of time testament know thats inaccurate and let it a distraction. Readers familiar with the argona, however, will delight in perceive the location accuratly described. \n\nShould you need to feign up a name for a place, there are a number of strategies you qualification use. With examples of actual city/county names, these approaches let in: \ng Historical figures sometimes a place is named by and by a settler, military leader, Indian chief, or president. Examples include capital of Texas (for Stephen F. Austin), Houston (for Sam Houston), and Washington (for George Washington). \ng Geography/geology Often communities are named after a prominent, close feature on the landscape, such(prenominal) as Detroit (for the strait in Lake Erie), Sacramento (afte the Sacramento River), and flavor Lake City (Great Salt Lake). \ng Flora/fauna Likewise, communities much are named after a plant or living creature that dominates an area, like Hickory (in atomic number 7 Carolina) or Albatross (in Missouri). \ng Beloved individuals Many places are named after beloved wives and daughters or for religious figures; for example, San Francisco (for angel Francis), capital of Georgia (daughter of a railroad magnate), and San Diego (for Saint James). \ng Economic gumption If a town was founded to knead some resource or was a center of some industry, it might be named for the mineral or product there , such as Orange County (in California) or Portland (in Oregon). \ng European place names Settlers sometimes named their confederacy after the place they came from in Europe or on the East Coast, like new(a) York City, New Orleans, and New Haven. \ng Natives names Often European settlers used Anglicized versions of the natives name for an area, as was the case with Chicago (the Miami-Illinois enounce for wild onion), Miami (the Calusa say for big water), and Tampa (the Calusa news program for place to gather sticks). \n\nWhen selecting a place name, incorporate it into the backstory of your fictional place. Ask how the town came to be given that name. In addition, deem about the moment of the places name and converge if it can be used as a attribute your story. For example, Guthrie is an English surname meaning windy place; maybe in your story, the wind plays an central role in establishing the tang of a place or as a type in the story, making Guthrie a good name for a town or county.\n\n requirement an editor? Having your book, business put down or academic piece proofread or change before submitting it can put forward invaluable. In an economic mood where you face heavy competition, your typography needs a atomic number 16 eye to give you the edge. Whether you enumerate from a big city like Los Angeles, California, or a small town like Hell, Michigan, I can provide that second eye.