Identity Theft

Writers are always searching for identities, names and back stories. We listen in cafes, restaurants and especially in bars where people share the intimate details of their lives. When you are writing fiction, you get to mix and match, taking bits and pieces of stories and lives, it's a gift. But naming a character is almost as important as naming a child. Who is this person? Who are their family? Who are their friends and where do they live? The characters may be named by their history like Uncle Tom who lived in Louisa May Alcott's cabin or they may have ethnic names relating to the country of origin. But I have found many characters in the cemeteries nearby.

Cemeteries provide us with clues about a character, about the town they lived and died in and the people who surrounded them. Ghoulish perhaps but historians love to wander through graveyards just as writers do, to gather bits and pieces about the town, and the people who lived there. There is the idea that some were wealthier than others, that there was a sickness that pervaded or that there is now a family to look after a grave. There is much to learn in a cemetery and when it's close to Halloween, there aren't many protesting your presence.

Southport has a lovely old cemetery named when the town was known as Smithville. There are old stones, restored stones and a few newer additions to family plots dating back to the 1800's.  Cemeteries record the history of a place, the family plots outlined with brick and iron fencing or spilling out of their allotted space. Smithville Cemetery has a combination of old and new, washed out stones and crisp clear marble. The family names coordinate with the names on the houses in the historic part of town. The families who settled the area continue through the decades, some as old as 46 when they died of old age and some as young as 10 month when they succumbed to a flu epidemic or other childhood disease.

Smithville cemetery has plots that have been lovingly restored for the next generation to learn of the heroics of a Revolutionary soldier. There are plots outlined with crisp white fencing, brick walls and wrought iron scrollwork. The stones are less crisp, some writing on stone washed smooth over the years, some more recent are clearer to read. The names and the families might be living in town and visiting the cemetery on a regular basis.

The author in me sees a name and a date and wants to learn more, to visit the home they might have lived in and the area where they earned their living. There are stories to tell and the names might be old, might have existed yet writers are always in search of the character. And then, there is always the chance that a character might meet you there to discuss their whole life if you are willing to sit in their chair.