http://clnorman.com/2009/07/27/maps-and-names/ Of Rogues and Writing Sat, 14 Aug 2010 03:56:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://clnorman.com/2009/07/27/maps-and-names/comment-page-1/#comment-4 Paul Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:06:20 +0000 http://clnorman.com/?p=22#comment-4 I tend to tie my place names to the history of the place. I ask myself who lives there and why are they there, and who was the first person they knew of to view it and what they would have called it. For some reason it is always easier for me to come up with what a character would name a place than to do it myself. I like my places to have a bit of history, and that history informs my place names. Sometimes when thinking about names, I come up with the history instead. Ironically, I just came across a detailed world map last night that I had developed 25 years ago. I don't remember coming up with any of the names on the map, but most of them resonated very deeply with me when I read them, so I must have spent a lot of time thinking about them. I like to think that my characters have the same sense of strong emotional response to their local place names that I do to names like America and the Columbia River. I tend to tie my place names to the history of the place. I ask myself who lives there and why are they there, and who was the first person they knew of to view it and what they would have called it. For some reason it is always easier for me to come up with what a character would name a place than to do it myself.
I like my places to have a bit of history, and that history informs my place names. Sometimes when thinking about names, I come up with the history instead.
Ironically, I just came across a detailed world map last night that I had developed 25 years ago. I don’t remember coming up with any of the names on the map, but most of them resonated very deeply with me when I read them, so I must have spent a lot of time thinking about them. I like to think that my characters have the same sense of strong emotional response to their local place names that I do to names like America and the Columbia River.

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