How did you come up with the name The Shadow Fold? And how do you go about picking names for the cities in your world, are they inspired by the names of actual places?

Some names like “Tsibeya” are very clearly meant to evoke real places. Others like “Poliznaya” are meant to evoke meaning through a familiar root (polis/city, police), while others like “Chernast” contain part of a Russian word (chernyy-black) that may not be familiar to English-speaking readers, but with which they may still have strong associations (Chernobyl). There are some place names that I create wholecloth for their sound—and occasionally I’ll throw in one with a shout out to a friend.

The Shadow Fold was one of the first elements of the world to slide into place (it had a name before Ravka did), but I have no idea where that name came from. I just remember lying in bed and thinking, “Well, what am I gonna call this thing?” Sometimes the words just arrive and they’re the right fit. Other times, it’s like Goldilocks: too hot, too cold, too hard, too soft. Except in this version, there are three thousand bears and they’re all very angry.