Picking up on the Bloomsbury thread, but going off at a tangent and not wanting to disrupt that thread...what do people think about using real locations in novels?
My story location is both real and not. Key features are inspired by the Malverns, as would be apparent to anyone reading it who knew them. But I've cheated and taken big liberties, not wanting to be contrained by the real life geographical constraints. Choices, choices. To use a real town, as many authors do, grit and veracity and a local tourism marketing angle thereby, Morse and Oxford now go together for Morse fans, but with the risk of having every error pointed out, or someone deciding that your character is based on them (and is maybe libellous :) ) Or make it both harder and easier on yourself....with a landscape invented from scratch, though there is nothing new under the sun, so unless it's speculative fantasy, people might still try guessing the 'real' location. anyway. More pros and cons, people?
It's 'Puente del Miedo' - Bridge of Fear (or Fear Bridge if you prefer). Just northwest of Rueda...honest!
Not really, but plenty of Spanish towns are named for their bridge, and the other part was simply to introduce a slight element of disquiet for anyone who understood. But it also meant I had to invent a bridge which becomes submerged when the river's in flood, and that made me think more about what the rest of the town would look like. And no, it wasn't easy. I tried four or five different names and went back to this one after deciding my original choice (Road of Fear) was a bit too...yeuch!
Any help?
Pertinent comments, all, and very helpful and interesting. Many thanks.
Jonathan, did it come easy, how did you set about deciding the name for your fictional Spanish town?
There are plenty of precedents for using a real location and giving it a fictitious name e.g. Cranford or Barchester. I can think of only one possible difficulty with using a real name for a town or village: if you then describe one of the residents in such a way as to make him/her identifiable. e.g. if you made the local village doctor a serial killer, or if the landlord of the village pub in your story is described as a thieving rascal who beats his wife.