Should I draw a Map?

[Culhwch]

Also a great way to procrastinate from actually writing the story.

Yep, this is definitely me...

 

[Boneman]

But what if you're truly, completely and really useless at drawing? Hopelessly so, and will remain so, no matter how I try? Started... my mountains look like indian teepees drawn by a five-year old, and I'd be embarrassed to show it to Tracey Emin, it's that bad. Trying to get an idera of scale, is what I'm after, and it's appalling...

Guess I'll wait for a tax-rebate and shell out for software...

 

[Chaoticheart]

Haha. My mountains are just upside down Vs . My rivers are lines and my forests are scribbles.

I agree with you though, sorting out the scale is the really challenging bit. (Oh, and I've tried some of the software, and found it to be even harder than doing it by hand)

 

[Lucky_Lola]

Also a great way to procrastinate from actually writing the story.

Me too!

Oh, and I've tried some of the software, and found it to be even harder than doing it by hand

And again, me too. Boneman, you could try tracing the coastline of a part of our own lovely Earth, something that at least sort of resembles what's in your head (nearby rivers, islands, mountain ranges) and elaborate it from there. As others have said, your maps needn't be more than doodles with enough detail that you can divine rough scales and distances between points. Start with your own part of the world, something you know, and base your scale from there. When I was first plotting the distances in my WIP world, I set the city my protagonist traveled to at the same distance away from her home town as my favourite real world city was from my own home town. Work from a scale you know in your own head - Home Town A is one distance unit from Neighboring Town B, and Faraway Town C is four distance units from that... etc etc. Remember, unless you're a complete nazi for details your readers will be prepared to suspend disbelief as long as your facts are consistent.

 

[DJB]

I was in the same boat as you. I had lots of ideas and descriptions of places, but little to tie them together.

I tend to think of things in relational terms, and I think a lot of others do as well. I may not know which GPS point Birmingham occupies, but I know it is north of London. I know it is not too far from Coventry, etc.

To be able to think in those terms for a world I created is normal - the people who live in these make believe lands will be thinking in the same way. One needs to put down this information somehow, and a map is certainly a more attractive system than reams of text describing what one will reach if you head out in a random direction.

I made my own maps, but then I took the extra step of commissioning a guy who enjoys cartography to make it into something more polished. He's still working on it, but I think it will really help me, knowledge and inspiration wise, when its done.

DJB

 

[Grimbear]

But what if you're truly, completely and really useless at drawing? Hopelessly so, and will remain so, no matter how I try? Started... my mountains look like indian teepees drawn by a five-year old, and I'd be embarrassed to show it to Tracey Emin, it's that bad. Trying to get an idera of scale, is what I'm after, and it's appalling...

Well - I've just never done a map to match a plotline before. Have been looking at map symbols and am going for the most basic.

To be able to think in those terms for a world I created is normal - the people who live in these make believe lands will be thinking in the same way. One needs to put down this information somehow, and a map is certainly a more attractive system than reams of text describing what one will reach if you head out in a random direction.

Yep - that's really all I want from it

 

[HareBrain]

Just wondering, do others write with the assumption that there will be a map in the finished (hopefully published) book and that readers will refer to it, or not? I have a scene where a character is outlining the situation of a country caught between two great powers: he shows the POV character a map, but I'm not sure whether to try to describe what he sees, or assume the reader will flick to the map to keep track of what's being said.

 

[digs]

I guess publication seems so far off to me that I've never really considered whether my book would have a map in it. I think I probably would include one. Definitely as a reader I often feel lost when reading a book with lots of locations that doesn't have a map to refer to.

 

[DJB]

Whether I get it published or not, I want it on hand so people can turn to it and admire the artwork, or refer to it for great understanding, or even ignore it if they don't care for the idea.

Sometimes you want to know more, sometimes you don't need anything extra, and sometimes you want to look at the pretty pictures.

Or at least I know I do.

 

[Ursa major]

Just wondering, do others write with the assumption that there will be a map in the finished (hopefully published) book and that readers will refer to it, or not?

Yes and no.

I thought I was, at least in theory, but some of the maps are two complicated, or incapable of making much sense in black and white (with or without a shade of grey), or both. So I put aside any thought that the maps could be published in a paper book (or produced for a low resolution, low contrast eReader) and got on with it.

However, now that authors are encouraged to put what is essentially publicity material on the Web, the maps, being electronic, can have a life of their own.


All I have to do now - apart from getting the books published () - is to set aside my intense fear of putting my thoughts on the Web.

 

[Boneman]

Me too!



And again, me too. Boneman, you could try tracing the coastline of a part of our own lovely Earth, something that at least sort of resembles what's in your head (nearby rivers, islands, mountain ranges) and elaborate it from there. As others have said, your maps needn't be more than doodles with enough detail that you can divine rough scales and distances between points. Start with your own part of the world, something you know, and base your scale from there. When I was first plotting the distances in my WIP world, I set the city my protagonist traveled to at the same distance away from her home town as my favourite real world city was from my own home town. Work from a scale you know in your own head - Home Town A is one distance unit from Neighboring Town B, and Faraway Town C is four distance units from that... etc etc. Remember, unless you're a complete nazi for details your readers will be prepared to suspend disbelief as long as your facts are consistent.

That's not a bad idea, thanks. I have a feeling I will resort to real maps and then distort them.

Funnily enough I was watching a programme (on catchup TV) about the way satellite imaging is helping to discover incredible ancient cities, that are buried still. And it was a 'doh' moment to see how vast it all was and how dependent on the Nile it was. Since my world is very underdeveloped I just need to get my rivers and water sources in place, and put the cities near them... I see it a bit like prehistoric Europe, at least - vast forests all over. Now, where's that Danube start?

 

[Mouse]

This might be of interest to people: http://www.woodge.com/books/fmaps.html

 

[Boneman]

Thanks Mouse, that's great!

Dammit, that Jacqueline Carey has stolen Europe, already!! Her 'Terre D'Ange and surrounding area' is a straight lift from an Atlas. Oh well, if she can do it, anyone can... Haven't read the book, is it set in oldern Europe?

 

[Lucky_Lola]

Dammit, that Jacqueline Carey has stolen Europe, already!! Her 'Terre D'Ange and surrounding area' is a straight lift from an Atlas. Oh well, if she can do it, anyone can... Haven't read the book, is it set in oldern Europe?

Yes and no... my best description for it would be an Alternate Earth - same landmasses, similar cultures and so on. It's Earth, Jim, but not as we know it Kate Elliott did something similar with The Crown of Stars, which I'm in the process of re-reading, and I'm pretty confident I've encountered at least one other author who has done the same, although just who escapes me. If it works for you, go for it

Oh and as to the earlier question, I originally envisaged lovely colour plates in my completed WIP (hah! The arrogant naivete of the young!), but have since embarked on a more realistic simplification process. About four or five bullet points down my list of things to do come second draft time is making sure my geographic descriptions are fleshed out enough so as a map is not necessary.

Personally, I feel very lost without maps in a book. If I happen to be reading historical fiction I'll spend an inordinate amount of time online looking for maps of whatever time period to help my notoriously fluid mind's eye. However, nothing is worse than a truly bad map. They don't need to be detailed or really all that pretty, but clear is vital. For anyone who's read the series, in my opinion the larger scale maps in The Crown of Stars are quite simply appalling (at least in the editions I own). Overly cursive or ornate fonts which have been reduced down and appear to have been xeroxed a few score times... *shudders* Too bad - I love the series and normally spend quite a while getting to know an author's world visually if the books have maps.

Anyway, just my 2c

 

[digs]

Yes and no... my best description for it would be an Alternate Earth - same landmasses, similar cultures and so on. It's Earth, Jim, but not as we know it Kate Elliott did something similar with The Crown of Stars, which I'm in the process of re-reading, and I'm pretty confident I've encountered at least one other author who has done the same, although just who escapes me. If it works for you, go for it

Guy Gavriel Kay does that quite a lot. His Sarantine Mosaic duology, for example, is set in an alternate Byzantine Empire. You could pretty much superimpose his countries (and cultures) over the Mediterranean. I think he does it awesomely.

http://www.brightweavings.com/books/mapsarantium.htm

 

[Simon tall]

I have found that as well as maps of physical places mind maps of relationships between characters is good - especially if you have lots!

 

[Simon tall]

Also, try TIMELINES of events - sometimes these can be drawn on maps too.
(VERY useful if your story involves time travel - overlapping maps and timelines)

Can get a bit complicated though!