Maps

[Gumboot]

Isn't the Great Basin (covering most of Nevada and bits of California, Idaho, Oregon and Utah) an area cut off from the surrounding territory by mountains?

No, in fact the Great Basin is mostly mountain. A basin is a geographic area where all water drains to a common location, also known as a watershed (in North America, at least - outside North America a watershed is the basin divide).

 

[Ursa major]

The point I was making was that the statement

Look up Mordor on Google Images - it's essentially 'boxed in' by mountains which, unless through a very, very fortuitous event indeed, doesn't occur in nature.

wasn't strictly true. (Another example would be the basin in which the Caspian Sea lies**.) I suspect allmywire's reservations (no pun intended) were not really limited to Mordor being surrounded by mountains.

If you're looking for someone to blame for the name, Great Basin (which I agree is inaccurate as it's a region made up of individual basins, meaning that there are watersheds within it as well as around it), I believe J.C. Frémont'syour man.



** - Though I think the problem with this example is less the basin and more the lack of mountains (even of the size we're used to in the UK) around most of it.

 

[Tannara Young]

I have been working on a map for my world for some time now and I find it really helps me in the writing process. I am more honest about how far things are apart, where things might actually be (let's see - do I have a bog, close to a village, that can be accessed by both the forest and the sea?) and it helps with continuity.

I also enjoy looking at maps in books - but was frustrated recently when the map in the book I am reading didn't show the places that were being talked about - and not just little towns, but a capitol and a major river. The book had other problems too - but my point is that if you include a map, make it as relevant as possible.

 

[thaddeus6th]

On the scale of the map: I'm deliberately making it so that it covers the start and end point of the protagonist's journey. Obviously I'll include all the major places he visits in between, though I'm undecided as to whether I'll add minor towns that aren't visited/mentioned. They might add to the world, but it could also make the map seem cluttered.

Edited extra bit: of course, for an eReader a simpler map really does matter, so I could have no extra towns for that map but have some for the larger version I'll put on ye olde website.

 

[Mouse]

I'm with springs - maps bore me. Saying that, I did scribble my own for my YA books but that was just so I knew where everything was. Now my WiP is based in the real world, so I just rely on Google.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Can't rely on Google. Especially in the Kuhrland. The sky dragons keep eating the satellites

 

[Glen]

I use PowerPoint, mostly using its Curve and Edit Points tools, and then export the individual results as, for example, .emf files.

Any chance you could share an example?

 

[Ursa major]

Any chance you could share an example?

Here's one. I've removed nearly all the names, because at their font size, they're not very readable.

This is the only map I have highlighting the physical features of the landscape. Most of my maps are road maps and city maps (showing the name of city districts). I'm displaying this one because it shows what can be done with the Curve and Edit Points tools. (The orientation, with east at the top, was based on a book format; obviously this sort of map would be best stored on a website, which would allow (and be better displayed) in landscape format, with North at the top.)

 

[Grinnel]

Edited extra bit: of course, for an eReader a simpler map really does matter, so I could have no extra towns for that map but have some for the larger version I'll put on ye olde website.

I agree. Much like a story, don't fill your map with unnecessary data. Put a more detailed map on your website so that map afficianados can enjoy it. If, while they're there, they see some titles of other work they might be interested in, so much the better!

 

[Toby Frost]

I must admit to an aversion to maps. To me they feel like a leftover from the bad old days when fantasy meant almost nothing except "Tolkienesque". They also feel to me to make a story epic in the wrong way: simply in terms of physical scale rather than character. People are welcome to include them, but they will make me think a book is of a certain sort.

 

[Gumboot]

The point I was making was that the statement

wasn't strictly true. (Another example would be the basin in which the Caspian Sea lies**.) I suspect allmywire's reservations (no pun intended) were not really limited to Mordor being surrounded by mountains.

I think the issue is a relatively small low-lying area surrounded by distinct mountain ranges in every direction.

The world's endorheic basins (including the Caspian Sea) aren't really like that at all.

 

[Glen]

Here's one.

That is an ace map! Really very cool. Thanks for sharing.
I will have to explore the MSPP Curve and Edit Points tools.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I've got a cartographic conundrum. My map's basically done but I've got a small dilemma. There's a village which is only vaguely known about, and the proper name's never revealed (for lore reasons it can't be). On the larger website version of the map I was thinking of leaving it with an unmarked symbol, but for the smaller eReader version (I've replaced settlement symbols with dots) I don't want an unmarked black dot, because that might look like I've just made a mistake.

So, should I:
Give it a bland title, like "Village"?
Give the village an unofficial name that others have dubbed it with?
Axe it from the eReader map entirely?
See how the village symbol looks on an eReader and, if it's ok, put that on the smaller version?

 

[Abernovo]

Is it the village of a particular tribe or a well-known blacksmith, etc.? If so, perhaps you could label it X'x village, or label the area the (tribe)'s land.

If not, then personally, I'd go with leaving it off the eReader map, if it doesn't serve any purpose to know of it. That's just me, though.

 

[allmywires]

Just thought I'd bump this thread for anyone that's interested - someone linked on Facebook to a (reasonably accurate) geological map of Middle Earth. After visiting Tenerife I've got my own theories about Mordor (giant caldera depression around Mount Doom) but this was published in an actual paper...

http://fossilsandshit.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/middle-earth-gets-a-geological-makeover/

 

[Reivax26]

I drew a rough map for the D&D that my story came from only because I was DM'ng it and wanted to be able to visually explain where they were on the map at certain times during the campaign. I would like to be able to come up with a much more detailed version if I can.

 

[Gumboot]

I've got my own theories about Mordor (giant caldera depression around Mount Doom)

That's an interesting idea, although my mind boggles at the size of eruption necessary to create a caldera as big as Mordor (~120,000sq mi).

 

[Lucky_Lola]

I have trouble imagining things spatially, especially long distances - they tend to get contracted in my head. With that in mind, I'm a devout lover of maps. Real world or fictional, doesn't matter. As a kid, I poured over my dad's topo maps (helps that New Zealand is interesting geographically!), and I have dozens of maps for my WiP's world. Most of them will never see publication, and I try to write as though my readers won't have access to them, but I'd like to be able to include at least a couple in any printed book.

I tried Campaign Cartographer but it just ends up too cartoonish for my tastes. Mine are all hand-drawn, any resizes or changes in scale done by hand with rice paper grids. One day I'd like to learn calligraphy so I can letter in a way that fits what's in my head.

 

[Gumboot]

Something I've actually realised is that I've used maps extensively as a fundamental part of my worldbuilding. It might be in part because I'm a pretty visual person (unsurprising, given my line of work!). It's also in part because of my obsession with realism.

Take, for example, the local militia in a part of my book. To write about them having their yearly drill training, I have to know how many of them there should be, but to know that I have to know population demographics for the local area.

That's where a detailed, accurate map becomes critical. My master regional map is deliberately at a scale of 1 pixel to 1 km to make determining distances and area easier. Photoshop has a function that tells you the total number of pixels in a selection. I can use this to determine the area of a region.

In the case of this example, the region comes out at 1,475km^2. It's not particularly great farming land, and has a population density of only 35/km. The total population is 51,625.

I know 34% of any given population is males of militia age, so I know the total size of the local militia is 17,553. They're further divided into two training areas, so in the end I know my militia drill has to include 8,023 men and boys.

Now, had I just guess blindly, I would have come up with a far smaller number; probably in the hundreds. Training 8,000 men at once is a pretty significant undertaking, and totally changes how the scene plays out.

Without the map I'd never have that realism.


Another smaller-scale example was the village where the protagonist lives. Your typical fantasy village is highly unrealistic; comprising a dozen buildings or so. In reality a typical medieval village averages around 700 people, with some much larger.

It wasn't until I actually sat down and mapped out how many houses you'd need for ~700 people that I realised how big a village needs to be. This particular village has the traditional layout of houses arranged around the commons, but to achieve this the commons is about 300m long and 120m wide. Again, this dramatically changes how I write the story, and it was only possible because I had a detailed map.

 

[simonm]

I like maps but find that they usually try to put in too much detail and I hunt round for places that sometimes I never find. Keep it simple, use color and remember that the reader may be looking at a much smaller map, in the book, than you drew. Also, if the map in the book is to be printed over two opposing pages, don't put important places right in the middle where they will disappear into the inner edges of the pages.