I’m excited. Three days until the release of
The
Ugly Truth, my latest novel. Set in a small town called Ugly Creek, the
story centers around a woman who visits a small Tennessee town. Where, you might
ask, did I come up with the name Ugly Creek?
The answer is I’m not sure. I know, not what you wanted to hear. But, it’s
the truth. The only thing I can figure is that I tried and tried for a long time
to come up with a name for my fictional town, but couldn’t seem to find anything
that felt right but wasn’t already taken by a real town. Finally the Ugly Creek
name came into my head and I decided I had my name. Maybe because it was the
best name. Maybe it was because it was the easiest. I don’t know.
The actual town from which the fictional Ugly Creek was drawn is easier to
track down. I grew up a few miles south of Dayton, Tennessee. I drew on the
entire area, plus other small southern US towns. I live in a larger area now,
but it was a lot of fun using my childhood home as a template.
Would your hometown be a good basis for a book? Do you like reading about
small towns? Do you like stories that take you to places you’ve never been, or
would you rather read stories set where you live?
Have a great week!
Cheryel
www.cheryelhutton.com
2 comments:
I went to high school in a small town in Northern California - lilly white, bigoted, and narrow-minded. There's a lot of beauty there, too, though. I don't know if I could set a story there because I still have a lot of unresolved feelings. But I think it would be interesting to use the nearby ghost town that died after the gold rush, or another tiny blip on the map that has people living in it but is very remote - why do they live there? What do they do from day to day? Where do they work? How do they make their money?
Looking forward to reading the Ugly Truth. Congratulations on the new release, Cheryel!
Congratulations on the new release, Cheryel! There's something about where we grew up--we never stop revisiting it in our heads. I think that makes it easy for readers to relate, even when like me they grew up in a place like Washington, DC.
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