Big Inspiration

By Annette Rey

Do you have lots to say and no time to say it? Ugh. Though this can be a deliberate avoidance excuse for procrastinating on your writing, this sometimes can be a truly legitimate claim.

I have been dealing with this lack of time yet I am brimming with writing ideas I want to share with other writers.

One sprightly idea is…

I am fascinated with the colorful history and rolling green countryside of Great Britain. The villages, towns, churches, castles, and footpaths have been dubbed with intriguing names that entice the creative and whimsical side of my brain.

You may be surprised I have not read any of the Harry Potter stories nor have seen the movies, but I have briefly seen and heard some of the names of characters and places from these works. These monikers are unusual (from my point of view) constructs, much like the rare-sounding syllables ubiquitous in the Star Wars series.

It seems to me that someone like British author J. K. Rowling has been greatly influenced by village names surrounding her and had no problem creating such ingenious names in her writing works.

So I share with you some names of places in England that I find titillating, tantalizing, and inspiring. These titles should appeal to your poetic side, the magical and musical side of you, and of words, that upon hearing them should awaken new ideas in you for your writing projects.

And remember, these are pronounced with a Great Britain English accent which, I think, makes them more alluring and romantic-sounding.

Quethiock            Pillaton            Henwood            Likseard            Marnhull

Bodinick             Uplyme            Bussage          Louth                Wragby

Goltho              Spreyton           Redlynch            Timsbury         Kington Magna

Shroton             Wealdway         Stithians           Veryan             Maiden Newton

Ansty                Uckfield            Haughley            Cattistock        Tollard Royal

Cotton Denham                        Bratton Fleming                      Frith Common

Combe Martin                          Lower Down                           Bovey Tracey

Kington St. Michael                  Bradford on Avon                    Clovelly

Derbyshire                                Frome Vauchurch                    Winborne Minster

The Mythe                                Chittlehamholt                          Creeting St. Peter

The sounds and appearance of these words evoke in me a sort of mental floating, a light magical feeling that opens my creative side. These names make me want to not just visit these places but to drink them in, to search out mysterious shadowed corners, to bask in the bright sunlight bathing the multicolored fields, to become a part of their history.

Much is in a name. You can draw readers in to your works by making serious effort to create names that hint at or scream your intended underlying message. You want to touch the intangible in your readers, their sensitivity, their sense of romance. Creating such names is one way of connecting deeply with them and making your work memorable to them.

The names on the above list seem other-worldly to me. Perhaps it is so with you and your muse will transport into the imaginations these names evoke. And that fleeting time will no longer impede your drive to finger paint your dreams on paper.

Am I the only one so affected?