Day 24 - How I Manifested a Small Town Out of Thin Air
Unlike a lot of authors, I don’t agonize over names. I give my characters normal/average names because they are often normal/average people. My towns are often named whatever’s easiest. For example, the small town in which LESSONS IN LOVE takes place is called Apple Creek. Here’s how I came up with that: I looked up Ohio’s major exports. I saw a few things…corn, for example. Meh. Corn Corners? That might be funny, but then I saw, to my surprise, that Ohio also exports apples. Who knew? Well, I guess if you live in Ohio, you knew. Appleton? Maybe. Apple Valley? Nah. Apple River? Apple Creek! I checked Google to see if there was actually a town called Apple Creek in Ohio. I couldn’t find anything so…hooray! We got a winner!
About a week later, my husband asked, “Did you look up to see if there’s a real Apple Creek?” I replied, “Yes, of course. There isn’t.” For whatever reason, he looked it up again. And there it was. Not only did Apple Creek now exist, but he found a photo of the elementary school, Apple Creek Elementary - which is also the name of the school I made up in my story. He found photos of the school and it’s almost exactly how I described it in the novella. Red brick and all. Further, I mention The Dollar General - they have one of those too. Their main drag is Main Street. Yep, same as mine. The real Apple Creek has approx. 1200 residents. That’s about what I imagined (give or take) for my little town. I’ve never been to Apple Creek, Ohio. They have a Methodist church on Main Street, I made mine Presbyterian.
Sounds like I’m a terrible researcher, right? I mean, how can you go wrong with Apple Creek Ohio? Even if I spelled it wrong, Google is smart enough to correct me. Further, there are now photos of the town and I swear, it’s like the universe read my mind. Did I manifest this small town the way a Sims player creates a town? Why didn’t Apple Creek show up when I first looked for it? And how is it possible the school is named exactly the same name and looks like the one I conjured in my mind? Coincidence? Am I a magical god capable of creating worlds not only on paper, but in the real world as well?
OK sure, I’ve been to Ohio and I know what it looks like out there. I’ve been to the Midwest and there isn’t much divergence from small town to small town. They’re all adorable. It’s easy to call this a coincidence, but it just feels uncanny. There is a real Apple Creek Ohio that I’ve never been to, yet somehow I’ve described it almost perfectly. How did I do that? An amalgamation of all the small towns I have been to and lucky guesses? Probably. Science might want to tackle this one. Until then, let’s just call it serendipity.
The plot thickens. I searched again and found a blog post that starts with:
Apple Creek, Ohio, is a real place. It is a village set in the heart of Wayne County, Ohio, eleven miles from Dalton and ten miles from Wooster. There are real streets and real people in Apple Creek.
Uh. Yeah. We know that now. But for some reason, the universe wants me to truly-really be aware of the real Apple Creek. And if I had known there was such a thriving Amish community in Apple Creek, I would have included it. There’s still time, I’m starting on the sequel already ;) I got your back, Amish folk.
There is also video of someone driving through Apple Creek on US 250. I swear, none of this existed a week ago. Maybe I’m loosing my mind or I’m in touch with some higher power that allows me to create real worlds without ever seeing them. It’s probably because I love small towns; those sweet little places in between the big places. I love them and they’re on my mind. I can see them clearly when I close my mind. This isn’t a case of “you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.“ I got so many things right…I’ve surprised myself.
To the real people of Apple Creek Ohio, if any of you ever read my novellas, I hope you like them and I hope I do loving justice to your home. Although, in my mind, Apple Creek, Ohio is still a fictional place. Maybe someday I’ll go there. I see you have a Johnny Appleseed Festival - which is weird, because Johnny comes from Massachusetts. Did he spend time in Ohio? I have no idea. You also seem to have a Yoga Fest. You sound like my kinda town.