Resolution or Celebration?

I have often been asked why I called my first novel Resolution.  It seemed an obvious choice of name to me as it tells the story of Carly Mitchells' resolve to right the distress she had caused by leaving her home town suddenly, just before she is due to marry. Also the main part of the story centres around New Year.

However the name and idea came to me when I was visiting here: the town of Celebration in Florida.
CelebrationCelebration is a planned community, developed by Disney over twenty years ago. It is a beautifully laid out town around a large lake. It was the name I fell for. I hit on the idea of a town called Resolution and the germ of the story started to form.  For the first two drafts the story was set in the town of Resolution somewhere in mid-west America.

I created two problems for myself. Other writers, whose opinion
I trusted said I was simply putting British characters and a British plot in America. I wasn't successfully dealing with American language idioms or making the locations believable. I was advised to move the story to a location closer to home and one I knew well.  I was devastated. My town had to be called Resolution and who ever heard of an English town called something like that!

I knew I was being given good advice but it was hard to take it. But, take it I did. I wrote the next draft and the town became Yeardon. Central to the story is The Resolution Hotel and the main events still take place around New Year. The locations are loosely based on areas around where I live.

As I wrote the next two drafts I knew I had done the right thing. The story flowed better and was far more believable.

I've been back to Celebration recently and it's still a lovely town.-, but it's not 'my town'.
I;m glad I listened to the advice I was given.
I'm looking forward to it being published by Tirgearr Publications and this would never have happened if I had not made the necessary changes.

5 comments:

  1. Yay, I remember those discussions about the location, and choosing a new name for the town which sounded like a Yorkshire name! It was definitely the right decision!

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  2. It was and you were right! I sulked but knew it was good advice and I ought to follow it. To be honest it wasn't that difficult in the end. I owe you a big thank you!

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  3. Must. be so hard to have to change something that you have wanted and planned for. I guess, though, that changing parts of your "baby" is something a writer has to come to terms with; and look what you've achieved!

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  4. That's true. You have to learn to let go of your 'baby'.

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