Fantasy Maps: Or how I learned to stop worrying and love drawing squigly lines through mountains

threetoedsloth · Dec 19, 2014

When creating fantasy maps, in what order do you go about creating them? Tolkien style, creating the world and then attaching the story? Or Pterry "you can't map a sense of humor" style where you work on the story and have someone (or his case, fans) fill in the world after the fact?

As some of you may have gathered, I'm writing a fantasy novel. And a common element of many fantasy novels is the heralded tradition of the fantasy map.

I'm roughly a third of the way through my novel and in the middle of writing I realized I didn't have a map. Now, to be honest I always had one in my head, and scratched out a few doodles here and there, but I had nothing concrete. My story's shuffling along just fine, and I don't plan on creating an "official" map until after I've finished it.

However, I am curious as to other people's views on fantasy maps in general. Do you like/hate/are indifferent to them? Do you think their necessary? How would you go about making them if you were to write a fantasy novel?

cmhbob · Dec 19, 2014

I'd get lost for days drawing maps of both my world and my dungeons in my D&D days. Loved that part of world-building. Heck, I loved world-building in general.

Maggie Maxwell · Dec 19, 2014

If the story drags me in, I desperately want a map to ground myself, but the story comes first. In the same fashion, I want to see artist interpretations of the characters, buildings, unique creatures and races, movies, whatever it takes to help the world pop even more off the page. If the writer can't paint the world with their words, I'm not as interested in seeing it drawn out.

Odd thing is, I have no interest in drawing out my own created worlds, even when I probably should. I'm just not interested in doing cartography for myself.

Chasing the Horizon · Dec 19, 2014

Well, it depends on the book. One of my WIPs takes place entirely in a small fantasy town and the surrounding jungle, and a map for that would be silly and redundant as anyone can picture the layout of the place from what I wrote. On the other hand a map can be nice for an epic fantasy where armies are converging from different lands or a quest fantasy where the characters travel through half the world.

ETA: I've made maps for a couple of my worlds. Their point isn't artistic value (thankfully, since I have no artistic talent) but to make sure all the journey distances and what not remain consistent.

rwm4768 · Dec 19, 2014

Sometimes I like to have maps. Sometimes I don't. For one of my epic fantasies, there's a lot of traveling involved, so I definitely need a map. For books where the traveling isn't as important, I can sometimes get by with just a mental map.

I've found this is a good site for mapmaking.

http://inkarnate.com/

It's still in beta, but it works well for me.

Roxxsmom · Dec 19, 2014

I need maps to conceptualize the world where my story takes place, though I don't need them to read a well-written story (a good thing, since with e-books, most maps are now unreadable). I enjoy a good map in a novel, though.

I had a rough idea about the nature of my world before the story was fully formed in my mind, but it (and the story) has been revised quite a lot through the process of revising and rewriting. If I set future stories in that same world, of course, I'll have less freedom to move mountains and rivers and cities, of course.

Kevin Nelson · Dec 19, 2014

Personally, I love maps. When I get a book with a map, I always study it in detail. The best maps are very evocative and add a lot more depth to the world than just showing where things are.

But I've never really made maps for my own books. I've mostly written science fiction, and a three-dimensional star map would be a little too much. I am working on a fantasy now, but for this particular book a map seems like a bad idea. The main character spends most of the book confused about where she is and what's around her, so I think including a map would prevent the reader from empathizing with her mental state.

Filigree · Dec 19, 2014

I love maps. I've blogged about loving maps. I have a massive map that I use as reference for my WIPs. But I do have to ask, Threetoedsloth, are you planning to self-publish the book, or seek commercial publication? If you're self-publishing, it can pay off to have the best map you can. If you're going commercial, a good publisher can take your rough sketches and turn them to gold.

JustSarah · Dec 19, 2014

I tend to use two drawn maps, going by the Brandon Sanderson guide. I prefer to draw them, as my post apocalyptic fantasy maps tends to be organic in nature. (Like an invasive species of seaweed.) Personally I love having multiple versions of the same map to track it's spread inland.

I also tend to use two maps, if it's portal fantasy. And the one I'm plotting now, I'm considering not only two world galaxy maps, but two maps for each planet.

Once! · Dec 20, 2014

I love maps ... provided that they are grounded in a sense of realism and aren't simply plot driven. I get very annoyed if the bad guys live in a land totally surrounded by mountains where the only way to get there is by one treacherous path. C'mon, guys. Mountains are not fences! They don't grow in circles.

Or if every forest was deadly.

Or if there are too many predators on the map and not enough prey animals for the predators to eat.

Kevin Nelson · Dec 20, 2014

Once! said:
I get very annoyed if the bad guys live in a land totally surrounded by mountains where the only way to get there is by one treacherous path. C'mon, guys. Mountains are not fences! They don't grow in circles.

They don't grow in circles, but there are places in the real world that are pretty much entirely surrounded by mountains. California's Central Valley, for example, or Colorado's San Luis Valley.

rwm4768 · Dec 20, 2014

Once! said:
I love maps ... provided that they are grounded in a sense of realism and aren't simply plot driven. I get very annoyed if the bad guys live in a land totally surrounded by mountains where the only way to get there is by one treacherous path. C'mon, guys. Mountains are not fences! They don't grow in circles.

I have a circle of mountains in one of my series, but it was created magically.

JustSarah · Dec 20, 2014

So then, why draw an island that's literally a ash covered volcano?

For me plot comes first for map drawing.

Filigree · Dec 20, 2014

Because that's what some of them *are*, IRL? Honestly, I can geek out over the weird real examples of Terran geology all day long. So. Much. To. Steal.

ravenoak · Dec 23, 2014

I love maps when the story is good. When the story stinks, not even the best map in the world can save it.

The Package · Dec 23, 2014

Map>Idea>Story>Characters

And then it's a mishmash from there. Add a little more to map, add a new character, a new plot twist, etc.

VeryBigBeard · Dec 23, 2014

Once! said:
I love maps ... provided that they are grounded in a sense of realism and aren't simply plot driven. I get very annoyed if the bad guys live in a land totally surrounded by mountains where the only way to get there is by one treacherous path. C'mon, guys. Mountains are not fences! They don't grow in circles.

Or if every forest was deadly.

Or if there are too many predators on the map and not enough prey animals for the predators to eat.

There is a reason Ben Kenobi lives a short speeder ride from Luke's farm, and that Mos Eisley is a short ways beyond that.

knight_tour · Dec 23, 2014

I love maps in fantasy novels if they are well done, though I've seen some that irritate me more than they help. The Tolkien maps and GRRM's maps are good ones. In the fantasy novel I'm releasing next year I created the map before I began writing (you can see it here if you like): http://tedacross.blogspot.com/2010/05/map-for-shard.html

jamesfinegan · Dec 24, 2014

I love the IDEA of mapping out the fantasy world from my book (have made a few attempts in the past). But seeing as it's for a six book series where all the ideas aren't final yet, I worry that making a map could be too restricting.

In this last draft of book one, I ended up throwing in two whole new regions. Planning the climax of book three, I've invented yet another.

Basically I love the thought of one, but only if I can get my plot under control first!

Susan Anwin · Dec 24, 2014

Don't care about them, had to draw one halfway thru my book. Didn't want to include it in the book but I figured if I needed one to track where the characters went then the reader will definitely need one

Marlys · Dec 24, 2014

I plan to map out the world where my WIP is set, because I'm not a visual thinker and think it will be handy for me to use as a reference. Right now I know roughly where things are, but it will help to map it out. I hope to involve my son, who plays world-building games and can tell east from west (something I have a bit of trouble with at times).

Laer Carroll · Dec 27, 2014

knight_tour said:
I love maps in fantasy novels if they are well done

Absolutely agree. I'm neutral on maps in general. But like them IF THEY ARE WELL DONE. Which means a number of things to me. But one of them is not overly detailed. I want maps that give me a quick overall orientation, not a tsunami of detail.

Thrasops · Dec 27, 2014

My take is this: I love drawing maps for myself but I don't think they are usually all that necessary in a well told fantasy story, and even if they are used then the actual areas visited or mentioned in the story itself should be prominent and easily visible, not drowned out in a sea of other names and places so the reader has to carefully search for them.

Filigree · Dec 27, 2014

I like private maps: things I made for my use alone, not intending to publish them. With as big a setting as I'm using, I need the maps to narrow down trade routes, borders, travel times, and geology. If a publisher ever wants one, they'll hire someone to refine my chicken scratches.

Sherwood Smith has a map trick I love. She drew her world on an inflatable beachball, with a Sharpie pen.

ravenoak · Jan 7, 2015

I have to be careful not to spend so long making maps in my world that I don't get enough writing done.

Fantasy Maps: Or how I learned to stop worrying and love drawing squigly lines through mountains

What's your opinion on fantasy maps?

I love them! I'd get lost without one.

Hate them. No one tells me how to imagine the world.

Don't care. Is the story good?

Did...did I do that?

Making Einstein cry since 1994

Blowing in the Wind

practical experience, FTW

Beastly Fido

Aspiring to authorship since 1975

Mildly Disturbing

Still confused by shoelaces

Aspiring to authorship since 1975

practical experience, FTW

Mildly Disturbing

Full-time author

Cool. I get to write my own? How ab

Preparing for winter

Fantasy Tourist

deep blue electric angel

Resist. Love. Go outside.

Aerospace engineer turned writer

Mildly Disturbing

Full-time author