Saturday, August 15: Mississippi Mud
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
by John M. Floyd
As readers and writers, we talk a lot about the importance of choosing appropriate names for fictional characters, and the fact that those names sometimes (if the author is extremely fortunate) go on to become a part of our language.
The same might be said for fictional settings.
Household Words
Some we know well: Gotham City, Mayberry, Shangri-la, Yoknapatawpha County, Metropolis, Camelot, Lake Wobegon, Dogpatch, Castle Rock, Sleepy Hollow, Xanadu, and many others. My mother has read so many of Jan Karon’s novels, she’s probably as familiar with the make-believe village of Mitford as she is with her (my) own hometown.
Fictional cities, regions, etc., are occasionally so essential to the storyline (or so cool-sounding) that they become titles as well. Examples: Centennial, Empire Falls, “Twin Peaks,” Lonesome Dove, “Pleasantville,” Peyton Place, Cannery Row, “Spencer’s Mountain,” Duma Key, Appaloosa, “Raintree County,” Treasure Island.
Where in the World is Dave Robicheaux?
Settings of course don’t have to be fictional — and sometimes work better if they’re not. Readers across the globe have come to feel almost at home in certain places via the work of authors like John Sandford (Minneapolis), Laura Lippman (Baltimore), Nelson DeMille (Long Island), Martin Cruz Smith (Moscow), Robert B. Parker (Boston), Carl Hiaasen (Florida), Tony Hillerman (the Southwest), Greg Iles (Natchez), Elmore Leonard (Detroit), Joe R. Lansdale (East Texas), Dana Stabenow (Alaska), James Lee Burke (Louisiana), and Janet Evanovich (Trenton). Real-life settings can range from tiny (Plum Island) to large (Caribbean) to huge (Space). And I often find myself learning a lot from these kinds of novels and stories — sort of like The Discovery Channel with a plot.
Trivial Pursuits
Okay, time for a quiz. See if you can come up with the novels/stories/movies/TV shows that go with the following fictional towns. (No Googling allowed!)
NOTE 1: Many of these are easy, some are so-so, and a few will be recognized only by the weirdest of Trivia Freaks. (Why are all of you looking at me . . . ?)
NOTE 2: Answers will be featured in next Saturday’s column.
1. Bedford Falls
2. Paradise, Massachusetts
3. Sparta, Mississippi
4. Isola
5. Cicely, Alaska
6. St. Mary Mead
7. Greenbow, Alabama
8. Fernwood, Ohio
9. Derry, Maine
10. Bayport
11. Amity, Massachusetts
12. Hadleyville
13. Rock Ridge
14. Hogsmeade
15. Hill Valley, California
16. Gibbsville, Pennsylvania
17. Rivendell
18. Hooterville (please, no jokes)
19. River City, Iowa
20. Bedrock
21. Cabot Cove, Maine
22. Wineburg, Ohio
23. Santa Teresa, California
24. Mayfield
25. Clanton, Mississippi
26. North Fork
27. Haddonfield, Illinois
28. Desperation, Nevada
29. Zion
30. Maycomb, Alabama
What’s your favorite — or most appropriate, or neatest-sounding — fictional location? Mine, I’m afraid, is not listed above. It’s the setting for “Spongebob Squarepants.”
How can you top Bikini Bottom?
Only 10 out of thirty! I am less well-tutored than I thought.
No, Larry, you just waste less time on that kind of thing than I do.
My favorite fictional locations are Cabot Cove, Maine, Stars Hollow, Connecticut, and Neptune, California . . . mainly because of the three charming female lead characters.
Oh, and of course St. Mary Mead. *grins*
Only thing that can top Bikini Bottom would be the rea-life Bikini Atoll (Not a town!) My favorite might be Collinsport, Maine, which has to be somewhere near Jerusalem’s Lot
And there’s really a “Eureka” here in Kansas…
How about No Bikini Bottom Atoll?
John, I prefer real places and think it is a downright shame that no one writes about Knockemstiff, Ohio or Gnaw Bone, Indiana.
During last year’s presidential campaign the candidates spent a lot of time in Chillicothe but not one traveled down the road a piece to Knockemstiff. How do you explain that?
If you’re going to do real places, why not Frog Level, VA or Cut and Shoot, TX?
Dick, YOU’re the one who needs to write a story about Knockemstiff. That’s too good a name not to use.
Here in Mississippi we have real towns named Zero, Whynot, Soso, Chunky, Bobo, and Hot Coffee (actress Stella Stevens’ birthplace). And in my IBM days I once called on a bank in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico — but most everyone’s heard of that place.
Knockemstiff still gets the prize . . .
John: “Groaaaan!!!!” (RE: “No Bikini…ect.”)
Jeff, you set me up for that one — couldn’t pass it up . . .