Writing names, by Deborah Jenkins
How do you choose names for the towns, roads and shops where your characters spend their time? It may not seem an important exercise but in my opinion, to make our work authentic, it's important to get them right. I said to my daughter-in-law recently that I think she and my son have moved to a 'posh-sounding' road. She asked me to explain. I said that Oakwood Drive has a definite ring to it, oak and wood conjuring up images of ancient woodland crowned with towering trees. As for Drive , this sounded somehow smarter than R oad or C lose , and more imposing than Crescent . So the combined effect, for me, conjures up images of detached houses in a leafy road with little traffic. I am, in fact, partly right. But the point is. the name made an impression, giving me a mental picture of the place before I'd even seen it. The names we choose in our writing can do the same. As a 'nature person', always aware of my environment, always looking out of windows for trees...