Just wanted to see if any of you have any thoughts/questions as to the place names I'm planning to use in future projects. Feel free to also chip in with your own place names. Or ideas as to good ways to deal with this part of story writing/development in general. Cheers. Here goes *takes deep breath*: Project Jack: Astronomical bodies: Hod - sun Wedge - planet Counties: Dampershire Harlueshire Forests: Fange Kembery Islands: Hokopo - cold and uninhabited Spreene - forested Foko - forested and uninhabited Zizzola - densely populated temperate island Vamble - large and varied temperate island Offe - cold and uninhabited Brimpelle - mostly deserts/beaches Petrii - mostly mountains and beaches Lotore - part desert, part forest Cities: Muchasleches - a small Texan town, name inspired by Aguascalientes, Mexico Gherkin - a farm town Green Grass City - self-explanatory Jason Pecke City - the planet's capital and most populous city, named for its founder Ziiz Ellissemere - renowned for shipbuilding and as a transport hub Ha Locktrial - known for piracy and business Wetley - known for fishing and technology Three Wings City - situated at the center of an island with three peninsulas Pleasant Beach City - hot, coastal city End Cliff City - located at the far point of a roughly rectangular island Two Shores City - borders two oceans Ashhandle Bomnasley Deeth Drinkwater Dunlun - inspired by London, England Gadmey Gardland Malikor Oklourgy Plath Rontford Skinkem Waitorshire - supposedly so named because when it was just a tiny town, it happened to only have waitresses, and was subsequently named in jest Wance Yogham Project Myth: Rivers - the name of a kingdom, a continent (named after the kingdom, which it contains) and a planet (named after the continent, which it contains); the origins of the name lie in a royal family, who through having secured control of the continents two main waterways became associated with it Ārım-Āltar-Lo - lit. "Companionship Freedom Foundation", transl. “United Altam Nation”; the Altam are the islands' native tribe Orstrōs - the Altam's capital city Sramt - an island Ēfrant - an island Spīda - an island Sālbatan - a lake Genz - a lake Nanagūla - a lagoon Project Quad: Jeremiah Quadrant - a vast section of space, named for the in-story historical figure Edmund Beregooth "Ed" Jeremiah Maryland Sector - a remote area of space containing a small solar system, named after its first governor, Captain Jason Christian Maryland
I got a pretty good laugh out of "Muchasleches". I'm trying to imagine the backstory to that name...maybe it's a dairy-farming town and one time there was such a bad glut in the milk market, that they ended up with pots, pans, bathtubs etc. of milk they couldn't sell just sitting around all over the place.
Hokopoffe - very cold and uninhabital I agree with NeighborVoid that this is quite a large list. Couldn't resist combing two of your island descriptions/names to create a new one; as a semitropical preference person I consider Iceland to be that way right now.
There's a large difference between Hokopo and Offe, I'll have you know. One is mostly ice with lots of rock and the other is predominantly rocky with lots of icy parts. And one's got more snow than the other. And one is to the northwest and the other to the northeast. If only I could remember which is which ...
The original idea I had was that an enterprising Bolivian family a few centuries back decided to travel northwards through the Americas selling various wares and grew into a pattern of giving their stops silly names, some of which grew into towns by people gathering there and setting up their own shops. The family business ended when the last family member was shot sideways through the neck as he was crossing into Apache territory. I suspect he must indeed have traveled with copious amounts of milk and caused a bit of a literal stink, alerting nearby tribes to his presence and not coming across as someone you'd want to spend time getting on a good footing with. They were wrong, I suppose, but the Indian who shot him lived to tell the tale, and I can't say I blame him for his actions.
Good. As it has been said already, these will be hard to remember. My suggestion would be, for the cold and uninhabited islands, to add some nasty-looking monsters to make them more interesting.
Done. Isn't there something to be said for realism in fictional geography, though? Does every island no matter its climate or population need to be just as interesting and focal as every other?
I wouldn't think so but if it is important enough to be mentioned in your story line then there should be something about it even if it is just a significant landmark for navigation such as avoiding shoals, etc. IMO. Plus don't a lot of mysteries reside in non-descript places.
The reason they're all mentioned in-story, and thusly here as well, is because they're on a planet with only nine islands, the rest of the surface being covered by ocean. Given that they're all relatively close to eachother and within the same order of magnitude when it comes to size, it makes sense to me that they would all be firmly in most of the adult inhabitants' minds as basic knowledge about their world. Additionally, several central characters, though not always including the MC, end up visiting each of the nine islands during the story's timespan, with important intelligence being brought back to be used to further their quest towards world peace each time.