I’m working on a short story, and for some reason, am at a loss at what to call a location.
The description of the town, somewhere in the Ozarks, is as follows:
(Name) wasn’t so much a village, then a small cluster of buildings tightly surrounding an old church of a Baptist derivative I wasn’t familiar with, not to mention a badly maintained road that provided the sole link to the outside world. Thick, occasionally hilly, woods surrounded the village, with a small lake providing a local landmark and a source of drinkable water for the people who lived in (name). The kind of place where your neighbor was just as likely to be your cousin as your friend, and whose better educated citizens knew that the war between the states had temporarily ceased 150 years before. The more politically astute knew that victory would soon come, and everyone was merely waiting for the Yankees to be lured into a false sense of security before they began marching north again. It was little wonder, with such fighting skill and intellectual prowess, that I was here at all.
The people knew that demons stalked the forest, and kept their children in at night. For years the local farmers had been losing animals to the things that walked beyond the torchlight, but whatever they were, they appeared to fear the light. Then something changed and a local man, or at least, part of a man, had been found in the woods. The man, Jackson, had apparently been on a midnight walk out to his miniaturized factory of the town’s premiere (and only) export, known affectionately as Jackson’s Revenge. Supposedly it was a clever reference to the Battle of New Orleans, but more likely, a combination of the bottler’s name and the fact that at least one person had reportedly gone blind after drinking it. Needless to say, it was available to a very select few, due to the volume produced and the fact that the only people who wanted it lived five miles away, in a similar conclave known as New Purgatory.
Based on this description, what do you think the town’s name should be? Real name or fake name, it doesn’t matter, but it should be fitting. I’m not sure if the town is a cliche or realistic, but it is fictional.
If it’s most distinguishing feature is the lake, then name it after the lake. Give the lake some sort of distinctive characteristic, like a shape, or a color, name it after that, and give your town the same name.
For instance, say the lake is shaped like a bull’s head. You can call it "Bull’s Head Lake and call the town “Bull’s Head”
Something with a biblical overtone would do nicely here - and most of the Ozarks could certainly be considered well ensconced in the Bible Belt. Might even let you introduce some creepy over the top religious vibe as well.
How about something like Jericho, or Bethel? For a more Pentecostal feel you could go with New Jerusalem or Nazareth.
I might be totally off base with the whole religious subtext theme, but to me it just seems to work with the narrative and descriptive style you laid out.
Being raised in a small southern city that was surrounded by a handful of small hamlets that sound vaguely of what you’re describing, I can tell you it’s overwhelmingly cliched. Places like that exist only in literature and people’s imaginations.
Regardless, it flows well and I like what I’ve read. What do you intend to do with the final result? Mind sharing it? I’d like to read the rest.
So far as a city name goes, I suggest something Indian since a lot of Southern cities have Indian names. Ocoee, maybe? Chilhowee? Winnepesaukah? Multnomah?
A lot of the towns in that region have …ville or …town/ton many have a Mount ??whatever as a prefix. You could go w/ a lake name as D/C mentioned. IIRC the is a Bull’s Head in Arkansas. I immediately thought of Jacksonville. A real name that everyone can probably familiarize themselves with. It could tie in with the character and even have ties to the civil war with old Andy Jackson.
You already mentioned a New Purgatory…the town could be the previous sight of the town say before the war…what would it have ben called? Why Old Purgatory of course.
I had another thought that might be even better. You could use an Indian name like Osceola (a real town) or whatever…then you’d have an aspect to the story to play on. Ghosts of dead indians…evil spirits…whatever. If nothing else it could be a diversion from the real mystery. I don’t know…I’m just throwing some stuff at ya.
good luck t/k
You might not like it but something just popped in my head…story and all.
The old town was called Choctaw Falls because it was the site where them damned yankees drove an entire tribe off a cliff…
sorry HPL don’t mean to dominate your thread here but that old church would’ve probably been an old Primitive Baptist Church, they call themselves hardshells. as in “I’m a hardshell baptist.” I know because that’s what my family was. There’s a thread from this week that describes them.
I’ll go now, sorry guys.
I was afraid of that. Looks I may need to re-tool it a little to make it seem more realistic
Well, the main character pays a visit and to say more would be telling. I misspoke. It’s less a short story then a small part of what may become a novel, or at least novella. A sequel to a story I had written before that. I have no idea how long it will be before I’m finished with it.
I like the Indian idea. I hadn’t intended to really use it, but now I’m thinking of fleshing it out some more with a " pissed off dead indians" idea.
Well, you could name it after its main industry. Since it’s the source of Jackson’s Revenge, you could call it Jackson’s Springs. Coppertown or Kettletown also bring stills to mind.
If the religious theme is to your liking, how about “Redemption Lake?” Folks probably got babtized in that little lake in the old days.
A really backwoods name might have “Holler” as the geographic reference. Whiskey Hollow, Hidden Hollow, or the such.
There’s a tiny little town here in Vermont where my Aunt used to live called Adamant. It’s said kinda like ADD-a-mat, but I’ve always thought it was a pretty and biblical-sounding-but-not-actually-in-the-bible type name.
Useless trivia: Adamant was called Sodom from the mid 19th century until 1905
My husband is from Missouri. That whole area is littered with small towns named after great cities – my husband is from Troy, for instance.
There’s also quite a lot named in French, from explorers coming up the Mississippi. Pronounced with Missouri twang, you wind up with places like Cuivre River (pronounced “Quiver”) and Versailles (pronounced “Versallis”).
My favorite, though, and thus my vote for your town, is a sign we pass on the way to his parents’ house, for the Salt Lick Baptist Church. Call that town Salt Lick, and you’ve got yourself a winner.
