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Old 06-21-2005, 08:08 PM   #1
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Titles and actual towns?

I am plotting a novel where out of 4 of the most important characters, 3 are Polish and one is Russian. Coincidence brought them all together from different places, and the story takes place in Texas. I was going to name the book Warsaw, TX. I googled it and realized it's an actual town of about 60 people. I've never heard of it and can't even find it on a map...does it matter whether or not the title of a book that isn't relevant to the actual town at all, shares the same name?
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Old 06-21-2005, 08:13 PM   #2
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I would say no, go ahead. there are many times with the same name (especially in the US)... and I doubt that one of the 60 people that live there will ever bitch about the only form of free advertising that their town will ever recieve...

just my two cents!

PS: that sounds like an interesting story...
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Old 06-21-2005, 08:18 PM   #3
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Yeah that's a good point. All I found was a table of statistics on it, and from the looks of it they will be too busy farming or ranching to ever read a book
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Old 06-21-2005, 09:19 PM   #4
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Three polish guys and a russion walk into a bar...
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Old 06-22-2005, 09:17 AM   #5
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just make sure you add the legal disclaimer about it being a work of fiction... if i were you, i'd even add a short foreword, explaining that there IS a town named that in the same state, but it has nothing to do with the one you made up for your story...

that will calm the fears of any agent/editor you query, in case they've heard of the real one and, fearing backlash, might turn your work down...
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Old 06-23-2005, 02:56 AM   #6
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You could also consider having the story take place in another state, if it's not really important that the story takes place in Texas. But I guess if it wasn't important then you wouldn't have asked, so whatever.
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Old 06-23-2005, 03:39 PM   #7
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Why not just set it in Warsaw, Texas? Or, barring that, just call it Warszawa, Texas.
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Old 06-24-2005, 08:26 AM   #8
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there's one of those, too!... grozny would be a safer bet, imo...
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Old 06-24-2005, 11:50 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mammamaia
that will calm the fears of any agent/editor you query, in case they've heard of the real one and, fearing backlash, might turn your work down...
If an editor were really thinking of publishing, I imagine they'd tell you to write the forward and accept it anyway. That's what editors are for, among other things.
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Old 06-24-2005, 01:20 PM   #10
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The setting, state and city (fictional) is quite important. I think Warsaw is really the only Polish city people know of, and Warszawa might be too hard to pronounce/understand for some people

And I don't know if Krakow or Lodz or Gdansk really has the same impact as naming the capital city...
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Old 06-24-2005, 07:01 PM   #11
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Warszawa looks cooler, though. Also, anyone who's ever heard Bowie's Low will immediately notice it.
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Old 06-26-2005, 07:54 AM   #12
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gosh, what a goof!... of course i meant 'gdansk' and said 'grozny' instead, which we all know is in chechnya, right?
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