The Town of Hartmouth

This Monday morning, my mind is on the fictional town of Hartmouth (heart in mouth), venue of my Hartmouth Horrors series. And I just want to expand a little on how it came about.

When I started writing Eyes Wide Open—which I had no idea was going to be part of a series—I wanted a setting that felt familiar to me. Somewhere I didn’t have to spend too much time and energy rendering and researching. So it made sense to stick to my roots and base it on the places I know from growing up in South West England. I have a feel for the lay of the land, the pace of life, the way the people act and speak.

So I basically cherrypicked the things that would serve the story, a seafront, a harbourside, a train station, some older properties, a small town centre, a graveyard, a hospital, a university, and so on.

Then, when I started writing The Devil in Mia and decided to use the same setting, I simply added to what I already had. Cliffs and coast to the south west, houses over by the rail embankment, moorland sitting behind the town, to the north.

Now here I am writing Drudge, novella number three, which has pushed me to flesh out Hartmouth even more. I finally bit the bullet when I started this one and made myself a simple map, just so that as the town expands it still makes some sort of spatial sense.

And there’s plenty of scope for more (I’m aiming for a minimum of six novellas). I can throw in villages, farms, and forests if I care to write something a little bleak and backwoods, and I can add to the coastline if I want the horror crawling out of the sea.

So there we have it, a little context as I continue on this remarkably fun adventure. Hopefully you’ll come and pay Hartmouth a visit. Just remember to wipe your feet on the way out.

And until next week, happy writing to you all.