When I think I'm Being Original, Until Google Bursts My Bubble

[Pureotica]

I named a Tavern that my MC works at the Broken Spoke, a name that had no real world association whatsoever for me.

Turns out that half the bars in Texas, where I've never set foot, beat me to the punch. There's also a semi-famous band with the name, and at least one Lit user has it as a profile name. Funny part, I totally made it up because it sounded good. I hate when google points out that I'm not as creative as I thought.

I renamed it, mainly because Broken Spoke associates too strongly with Texas, and the rural setting I'm writing is intentionally obscure. I think of it as generic farm country that I can place according to the needs of the story. Detailed enough to ring authentic, but vague enough that I won't place some bit of flora or fauna where it doesn't occur naturally. I refuse to google the new name. Living in denial trumps adequate research.

Anyway, this thread serves no greater purpose. I'm procrastinating because I needed a break from my Nude Day project.
I just thought it was funny that a name I plucked from the air had so many real world associations. Not just one or two. There must be dozens. Maybe I acquired it subliminally and don't remember. It happens.

 

[HordHolm]

I named a Tavern that my MC works at the Broken Spoke, a name that had no real world association whatsoever for me.

Turns out that half the bars in Texas, where I've never set foot, beat me to the punch. There's also a semi-famous band with the name, and at least one Lit user has it as a profile name. Funny part, I totally made it up because it sounded good. I hate when google points out that I'm not as creative as I thought.

I renamed it, mainly because Broken Spoke associates too strongly with Texas, and the rural setting I'm writing is intentionally obscure. I think of it as generic farm country that I can place according to the needs of the story. Detailed enough to ring authentic, but vague enough that I won't place some bit of flora or fauna where it doesn't occur naturally. I refuse to google the new name. Living in denial trumps adequate research.

Anyway, this thread serves no greater purpose. I'm procrastinating because I needed a break from my Nude Day project.
I just thought it was funny that a name I plucked from the air had so many real world associations. Not just one or two. There must be dozens. Maybe I acquired it subliminally and don't remember. It happens.

Just did the same thing, calling my invento-bar/restaurant The Golden Wheel (quite a common heraldic symbol). Turns out that there's one in Prague and another in Berlin. Plus a bicycle company in China, but I'm not so worried about that.

The funny thing is, with other stories I've written (not for Lit) I've often used common British pub names, and it hasn't mattered (I suppose it's like calling a bar McClusky's or Brannigan's for a story set in Chicago or Boston).

But here, I thought I was inventing something. But no...

 

[MrPixel]

Heh. Just like my "Brewed Awakenings" idea for a fictional coffee shop. Cute and fun, but there are dozens IRL.

I sort of gave up on the inventiveness with my most recent story, going entirely in the opposite direction using very real places with very real details as the backdrop for the fictional characters.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I named a bar O'Malley's Bar because, duh, there must be thousands of them, generic Irish flavoured bars. Some peanut tried to accuse me of plagiarising Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, apparently not realising Cave wasn't original either, in terms of pub names.

 

[Priscilla_June]

There is nothing new under the sun.

I also fell prey to this. My most recent story for Nude day I should have researched the title a bit closer because Maternity Hall Pass was way to close to about a 100 other stories titled “_____ Hall Pass”.

 

[Voboy]

I love it when I come up with a business name I can't find on the internet. It makes me feel like I won the game.

 

[Pureotica]

Just did the same thing, calling my invento-bar/restaurant The Golden Wheel (quite a common heraldic symbol). Turns out that there's one in Prague and another in Berlin. Plus a bicycle company in China, but I'm not so worried about that.

The funny thing is, with other stories I've written (not for Lit) I've often used common British pub names, and it hasn't mattered (I suppose it's like calling a bar McClusky's or Brannigan's for a story set in Chicago or Boston).

But here, I thought I was inventing something. But no...

Wasn't really the commonality of the name that made me change it. Just that it seems so strongly connected to Texas. It was the wrong association, because the story has a more mid-west-y/deep south feel. Texas is its own universe, so I'd only set a storyu rhere if it genuinley needed the conneciton.

 

[Priscilla_June]

Wasn't really the commonality of the name that made me change it. Just that it seems so strongly connected to Texas. It was the wrong association, because the story has a more mid-west-y/deep south feel. Texas is its own universe, so I'd only set a storyu rhere if it genuinley needed the conneciton.

Deep south: Mama’s Porch

 

[Pureotica]

The harder challenge is naming an Urban Fantasy strip club, where the dancer's are elves.

The story straddles some gritty tones and dark humor, so I want something that has a seedy connection, but still hits the fantasy theme, preferably with a dash of humor. So far, I'm rolling snake-eyes.
It's a back burner project, so maybe something will rattle loose by the time I'm ready to write it.

 

[TxRad]

The harder challenge is naming an Urban Fantasy strip club, where the dancer's are elves.

Speaking of rattling loose. How about, "Beers and Ears."

I'm in a sleep deprived silly mode this morning.

 

[NightPorter]

Very little is actually "new" and that's ok. Put your own spin on an idea and wear your inspirations as a badge of honor. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is a master piece and George Lucas blatantly ripped off not only pulp magazines from the 1930's but a little remembered movie by the name of "Secret of the Incas."

The harder challenge is naming an Urban Fantasy strip club, where the dancer's are elves.

How about "sensual öra".

öra is the Swedish word for ear but the pronunciation sounds like the English word aura. So the name would be Sensual Aura in conversation but Sensual öra on the sign in reference to Elf ears.

 

[mirafrida]

Very little is actually "new" and that's ok. Put your own spin on an idea and wear your inspirations as a badge of honor.

Finally got around to watching Tar not that long ago, this brings to mind her exchange with Andris
- "I keep hearing something and getting excited only to catch myself in pastiche."
- "Well, it's all pastiche."

 

[gunhilltrain]

I named a Tavern that my MC works at the Broken Spoke, a name that had no real world association whatsoever for me.

Turns out that half the bars in Texas, where I've never set foot, beat me to the punch. There's also a semi-famous band with the name, and at least one Lit user has it as a profile name. Funny part, I totally made it up because it sounded good. I hate when google points out that I'm not as creative as I thought.

I renamed it, mainly because Broken Spoke associates too strongly with Texas, and the rural setting I'm writing is intentionally obscure. I think of it as generic farm country that I can place according to the needs of the story. Detailed enough to ring authentic, but vague enough that I won't place some bit of flora or fauna where it doesn't occur naturally. I refuse to google the new name. Living in denial trumps adequate research.

Anyway, this thread serves no greater purpose. I'm procrastinating because I needed a break from my Nude Day project.
I just thought it was funny that a name I plucked from the air had so many real world associations. Not just one or two. There must be dozens. Maybe I acquired it subliminally and don't remember. It happens.

Don't worry about it. I've used plenty of real businesses, although many of them have closed over the years. Minetta Tavern, Cedar Tavern, Googies (a bar), Krum's (a luncheonette), Whitestone Drive-In, Riverdale Diner, Cinema Village, the list is extensive. I've used Burger King, because the uniforms are so ugly and it was perfect for the story.

I guess I have a different - strategy? - then you do. I like to make it as specific as possible, not obscure. Some of the readers won't get it, but I do, and somehow that helps me write it.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KVre2Ds5...X2umYsnavfVQcYJ5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s671/IMG_7506.jpg

 

[Pureotica]

Don't worry about it. I've used plenty of real businesses, although many of them have closed over the years. Minetta Tavern, Cedar Tavern, Googies (a bar), Krum's (a luncheonette), Whitestone Drive-In, Riverdale Diner, Cinema Village, the list is extensive. I've used Burger King, because the uniforms are so ugly and it was perfect for the story.

I guess I have a different - strategy? - then you do. I like to make it as specific as possible, not obscure. Some of the readers won't get it, but I do, and somehow that helps me write it.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KVre2Ds5...X2umYsnavfVQcYJ5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s671/IMG_7506.jpg

I'm not worried about using a real business. It's almost unavoidable. It's just that the Name seems to have a strong Texas association. Which isn't quite right for the story/characters.

Obscure is probably the wrong word. I'm writing a number of stories in the same fictitious setting. I want it to feel authentic, but some of the characters have a more down south feel to me, while others have a mid west feel. It's kind of my own fictional island that I can move around for my own purposes. Saves me form doing the worldbuilding twice for otherwise similar settings. lol. I don't intend to signpost that to the readers. I'm aiming for heartland/farm country, and the approach is more to give me flexibility, than to genericize it for the reader. I hope the place feels authentic to its audience, which of course depends on my ability to execute.

Thanks for the feedback. It's always insightful and helpful. I appreciate it.

 

[Seadog777]

I hate when google points out that I'm not as creative as I thought.

God damn Google!!!

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'm not worried about using a real business. It's almost unavoidable. It's just that the Name seems to have a strong Texas association. Which isn't quite right for the story/characters.

Obscure is probably the wrong word. I'm writing a number of stories in the same fictitious setting. I want it to feel authentic, but some of the characters have a more down south feel to me, while others have a mid west feel. It's kind of my own fictional island that I can move around for my own purposes. Saves me form doing the worldbuilding twice for otherwise similar settings. lol. I don't intend to signpost that to the readers. I'm aiming for heartland/farm country, and the approach is more to give me flexibility, than to genericize it for the reader. I hope the place feels authentic to its audience, which of course depends on my ability to execute.

Thanks for the feedback. It's always insightful and helpful. I appreciate it.

I see, it's too Texas, and you were going for someplace further north (or maybe east?). The Red Dirt would be a good bar name in Oklahoma, although there probably is one. Yep, there is one in Lawton, but there is also one in Wilmington, DE, which makes no sense.

I'm not too good at naming taverns myself. If you really want to give it a local flavor, you'll have to think of something that makes it fit the region. But you've not sure even which region it is. Well, what do they grow there? Corn, wheat, dairy farms?

I still like Sinclair Lewis's Zenith (a city in the Mid-West) and Gopher Prairie (a small town in Minnesota). He had a knack for making up names.

 

[MrPixel]

My favorite name for a bar is "The Office". There's got to be one nearly everywhere.

 

[Pureotica]

I see, it's too Texas, and you were going for someplace further north (or maybe east?). The Red Dirt would be a good bar name in Oklahoma, although there probably is one. Yep, there is one in Lawton, but there is also one in Wilmington, DE, which makes no sense.

I'm not too good at naming taverns myself. If you really want to give it a local flavor, you'll have to think of something that makes it fit the region. But you've not sure even which region it is. Well, what do they grow there? Corn, wheat, dairy farms?

I still like Sinclair Lewis's Zenith (a city in the Mid-West) and Gopher Prairie (a small town in Minnesota). He had a knack for making up names.

I'm tentatively going with Brokeheart Tavern, which I've place on the conveniently retconned Brokeheart Road. To me, it sounds colloquial and specific, and doesn't sound like a street name, I'd stumble across in Detroit. Even if it exists in the real universe, I doesn't draw a strong connection that random reader would make. Unless something better rattles loose from my crazy brain, I'll probably go with it.

I have a 'buying condoms at Walmart' scene planned in one of my virgin stories. I write her as an innocent but not necessarily naïve character. She's a little self conscious about buying them, so of course she runs into the last people she'd want to know. Played for tension and humor. I can see the scene in my head, but it has a lot of moving parts. I'm still trying to nail down the logistics, and to get the silly words to line up in a way I'm happy with. But every smallish town has a Walmart nearby, so I think it will ring true in the setting. And Walmart is ubiquitous enough that nearly everyone should identify with it to some degree.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Even if it exists in the real universe, I doesn't draw a strong connection that random reader would make. Unless something better rattles loose from my crazy brain, I'll probably go with it.

You missed the movie, Brokeback Mountain? Gay cowboys might not be on your mind, but Brokeheart Tavern might conjure up that connotation for many readers.

 

[Pureotica]

You missed the movie, Brokeback Mountain? Gay cowboys might not be on your mind, but Brokeheart Tavern might conjure up that connotation for many readers.

Never saw it, though I'm aware of its existence. Can see the potential connection. Thanks for pointing it out. Definitely no gay cowboys here, not this project anyway. lol.

I haven't read enough MM to even attempt writing it at this point. I'm 99.9% hetero irl, and the 0.1% is just hedging my bets, but will read outside of that box if something is well written enough. Artistic curiosity can override my boringly vanilla kink preferences when I stumble across good work. I might write mmf with a femdom spin for the right story, but I'm nowhere near confident enough to write it yet. Not really inspired to write MM, but not squicked out by it for the right project. Just not convinced I can write it with fidelity at this point. I definitely have multi-partner sex scenes in some w.i.ps, but the scenes tend to have a lot of moving parts. They take a while to write. My most challenging scene currently is a relatively simple blowjob scene, but its FMC in deep pov. It's not focused so much on the logistical details, but on the vulnerability aspect for the character. Not sure if I can deliver the goods with authenticity, but It's necessary to the integrity of the story, and I never grew as a writer without experimenting. Some experiments blow up in my face, but you can always write the next story, so it's not like they do lasting damage.

My Nude Day piece is age gap lite. Troubled Virgin FMC vs Tragic hero farm boy MLI. The age gap angle is incidental. I don't fetishize it or beat it to death with a rock. He just needs to be a certain age for the plot logic to hold together. Wouldn't make sense to make him a twenty year old war veteran. Wouldn't make sense to make her a thirty five year old virgin. Not this character, in this story, anyway. It could be done in another context.

Backroad Tavern? Could still sound gay if I tried hard enough to twist it that way. Rutted Road? Nope still kind of gay. lol. Now I'm thinking that way, so everything is going to sound gay. The Old Quarry Inn? Kind of fits the context and doesn't have any obvious unintended connotations. I'll keep playing around. To be honest I can write it out of the current project. I think I can start closer to the end and eliminate some complications. My Nude Day project is pulled from a larger story. Fully rewritten, because I needed to convert dual povs to FMC only. Two povs in a story this short served no purpose. I also needed to tighten the theme. I need to quit experimenting and get the damned thing written though, before I miss the deadline. lol.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll keep tinkering until I find something that works.

 

[Voboy]

My favorite name for a bar is "The Office". There's got to be one nearly everywhere.

Mine is "The Alibi." I've encountered a few of those in different places.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'm tentatively going with Brokeheart Tavern, which I've place on the conveniently retconned Brokeheart Road. To me, it sounds colloquial and specific, and doesn't sound like a street name, I'd stumble across in Detroit. Even if it exists in the real universe, I doesn't draw a strong connection that random reader would make. Unless something better rattles loose from my crazy brain, I'll probably go with it.

I have a 'buying condoms at Walmart' scene planned in one of my virgin stories. I write her as an innocent but not necessarily naïve character. She's a little self conscious about buying them, so of course she runs into the last people she'd want to know. Played for tension and humor. I can see the scene in my head, but it has a lot of moving parts. I'm still trying to nail down the logistics, and to get the silly words to line up in a way I'm happy with. But every smallish town has a Walmart nearby, so I think it will ring true in the setting. And Walmart is ubiquitous enough that nearly everyone should identify with it to some degree.

I had considered that the bar might have a name associated with trucking. I thought of defunct manufacturers, but that gets complicated and the younger patrons wouldn't know what it means. Do you even notice a bar's name when picking a new one?

There is a Bronx Bar in Detroit, and it looks like it's been there for a while. Maybe the first owner came from there? "Ice cold Old Milwaukee" beer!

https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/the-bronx-bar/Location?oid=2132547

 

[TxRad]

I've always liked, "The Stumble Inn."

 

[Voboy]

For British style pubs, you could do worse than to just combine an animal with a body part.

The Mule's Leg
The Hart's Horn
The Cow's Ear
The Raven's Tail

Or just use two vaguely-related nouns, separated by an "&"

The Field & Plow
The Storm & Stream
The Sail & Oar
The Plate & Bottle

They can become ribald, too!

The Moose's Cock
The Cock's Balls
The Bush & Hole
The Tip & Shaft

 

[Duleigh]

There's a thing about bars and pubs that I haven't seen used in a story is that the bar may change names as owners change, but to patrons the bar's name may never change. There is a watering hole in WNY that has changed its name over a dozen times in the past 3-4 decades but it's still known as Melony's to most patrons.