Pleasance? Is that a real name?

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Ever wonder how authors come up with names for their characters?

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The way I go about choosing characters’ names will probably be different from most other authors. After all, novel writing is highly personalized. There are many roads leading to a finished novel… but they all arrive at “done”. Writers’ Digest’s opinion varies from WikiHow’s, and they both differ from mine. And that’s okay.

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My new release, Pleasance’s First Love, has a hero with a perfectly normal name–Jacob. And a heroine with the odd moniker–Pleasance.

Even if pleasance is a word in the dictionary, it’s weird. Even for Victorians.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a real name?. Defintion of "pleasance". Courtesy of Google. Note the frequency of usage throughout the late 19th century and the spike circa 1870 to 1875 or so. Not super convenient, given my heroine was born much earlier than that, as her romance is set in 1878, but it'll do. The word was obviously known.

Defintion of “pleasance”. Courtesy of Google. Note the frequency of usage throughout the late 19th century and the spike circa 1870 to 1875 or so. Not super convenient, given my heroine was born much earlier than that, as her romance is set in 1879, but it’ll do. The word was obviously known.

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Sometimes I don’t have to sift through census reports of a certain location in the United States. Sometimes, while researching something entirely different, an exciting option (for a name or book idea or premise or element of conflict) falls right into my lap.

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That’s what happened with Pleasance.

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If you follow my Articles much, you’ve noted my frequent use of newspaper article clippings from United States (and occasionally foreign) newspapers during the Victorian Era. While researching, I happened across this remembrance of a lost dear one.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a real name? "Memorial notice" in Kansas City Gazette of Kansas City, Kansas, December 29, 1900.

“Memorial notice” in Kansas City Gazette of Kansas City, Kansas on December 29, 1900.

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Fictitious?

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Yes.

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“Pleasance Greenacre” was the name selected by a writer (H. Savile Barthrop) in the year 1900 for a “Short Story of the Day”, or “Like A Tale Told”, published in numerous newspapers. It ran in the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern of Oshkosh, Wisconsin on December 24, 1900, and Altoona Tribune of Altoona, Pennsylvania on November 15, 1900, and Arkansas City Daily Traveler of Arkansas City, Kansas on December 27, 1900, and Kansas City Gazette of Kansas City, Kansas on December 29, 1900. The circulation didn’t stop there. This tale appeared in Abilene, Lawrence, Hays, Salina (all in Kansas)… and in Melbourne Australia… just to name a few. I selected the printing in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas simply because the printing was dark and legible.

Here it is. The sad, moral-filled, ripe with symbolism, short story of another era. One interesting similarity–Pleasance was a fair-haired blonde that sunny day in London, just as she was (because of the choice of my ‘siblings’ Monica Benton and Zebulon Benton’s authors) in Colorado, 1879.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a real name?. Like a Tale Told, Part 1, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

1 of 11: Like a Tale Told, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a Real Name? Like a Tale Told, Part 2, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a Real Name? Like a Tale Told, Part 3, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a Real Name? Like a Tale Told, Part 4, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a Real Name? Like a Tale Told, Part 5, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a real name? Like a Tale Told, Part 6, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a real name? Like a Tale Told, Part 7, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a real name? Like a Tale Told, Part 8, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a real name? Like a Tale Told, Part 9, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a real name? Like a Tale Told, Part 10, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance? Is that a real name? Like a Tale Told, Part 11, published in The Hays Free Press of Hays, Kansas on July 20, 1901.

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Pleasance’s First Love

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My contribution to Grandma’s Wedding Quilts Series is Pleasance’s First Love. You’ll find lots of info about this title here!

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Kristin Holt | A Double-Topped Quilt: Remembering a Love of a Lifetime. Grandma's Wedding Quilts Series; Grandma Mary's Posterity. List of each title in the series along with release dates.

Note: Grandma’s Wedding Quilts: THE PREQUEL is actually available TODAY, 1-1-17! You needn’t wait until January 3rd to pick up this introductory short.

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