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[quote=”Kelemelan” post=2849]Don’t do “art” (where the maps are involved that is), just draw simple maps to know that the land of X is there and the land Z is east of the land of X with the city of P 20 miles from the border.
You don’t need more than that for writing your book, the map is just for reference purpose since the reader won’t see it. If it’s an hindrance don’t do it. But quick and easy sounds like the operative words as long as they help. 🙂
Remember that R. E. Howard’s Hyborian world was designed out of a map as simple as that one: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/Maphyboria.jpg (and even this one is edited the original one was even simpler actually 😛 )[/quote]
So much this.
For my stories I “mapped” out the general geographic features and major towns on a piece of copy paper with a pencil. Pretty general overall. I could see for a novel you’d have to get more specific in places but it suites the purpose well enough to know that Riltar is a 4 day ride north of Illedge along the river, Tol Vernan is about a day’s ride southwest of Illedge, etc. I don’t even think I put a scale on the map.
I tried mapping it out in CC3 but never managed to do it to a satisfactory degree.
Yeah…. so you get exactly what I mean. In the first book I had to sort out a group breaking up into six parts, one with children that had to get to safety first, the main group with the three targets the bad guys are after, two decoy groups, and the last two groups who also served partially as decoys. All had to break apart to get to their destinations by a certain time and then later each group had to reconnect with the main one. Was kinda difficult pulling it off time-wise so it made some sort of sense.
In this book, i have several groups again, related to three different governmental powers, and a few ‘bad guy’ groups and the main characters in their separate groups, all trying to come together at the same time for epic things to happen. But this time… the location spans several countries instead of just one, including overseas. So stuff has gotten bigger and a bit harder to sort out time-wise. Right now as a first draft I’m just letting it flow, but when I rewrite I’m gonna have to really think about everything making some sort of sense in that respect. No such thing as teleporters or waypoints in my worlds. There’s no magic. So it’s all gotta make sense. 🙂
It’s fun to write though. I swear i love it almost more than anything…. almost. 😀
Where there’s no magic (and no accurate science) things may make sense **to you** but they don’t have to be consistent since there’s no way for the characters (and most people) to check if what they know is correct.
Here’s a map of the world from the 15th century: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Fra_Mauro_World_Map%2C_c.1450.jpg and here’s another one from 1912: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Arthur_Mees_Flags_of_A_Free_Empire_1910_Cornell_CUL_PJM_1167_01.jpg
They both are wrong for many reasons including political ones (displaying one’s own power as greater)… or just for the lack of information. 😉
So basically, my experience is that it doesn’t matter if a map is wrong of if a character is not too accurate in a story. They are not accurate either in real world and they shouldn’t be for a whole lot of reasons. Either for ignorance or because they have a political agenda. 🙂
Plus ignorance makes things a lot more “magic” and it creates a lot more enigmas, which is fun. And gaming or reading is about the fun, isn’t it ? 🙂
I thought I’d share a map Sade has made for the computer game I’m working on, I’m pretty happy with it!
Okay, well… thanks to the power of Windows 10 Anniversary edition and my Wacom tablet, TADA:
It’s crude to the extreme, but it helps me visualize who’s gonna get to N. first. 😀
I was trying, but I couldn’t really make out the names on the map. Can you tell them to me? I always enjoy maps, and especially the names people give to seas or mountains and such.
Also for inspiration, but I promise I won’t steal anything 🙂Valiant effort, still, don’t you think pen (or pencil) and paper (+ scanner) would have made it easier to you ? 🙂
[quote=”Fasoldgames” post=2935]I was trying, but I couldn’t really make out the names on the map. Can you tell them to me? I always enjoy maps, and especially the names people give to seas or mountains and such.
Also for inspiration, but I promise I won’t steal anything :)[/quote]I’m left handed and I have like the world’s worst handwriting. 😛 And using PCs has gotten me out of the writing habit too, so it just gets worse. 😛 😀
And okay… since you promised. 😀
Ora Dornai (came from moving magnetic letters around on my fridge.)
Pinnella Vale (same – magnetic letters)
Sundassa
Befania
Alegar
Gidlenharr
BellynThe rest all came from Yafnag and Fantasy Name Generators. Just changed them a little bit to suit me.
[quote=”Kelemelan” post=2936]Valiant effort, still, don’t you think pen (or pencil) and paper (+ scanner) would have made it easier to you ? :)[/quote]
Nah… I was writing a chase scene and I needed to see clearly for myself who would get to the girl first and the timing of everyone else. Just a little quick thing. 🙂 I just posted it for fun. 🙂 (And to show off my dreadful handwriting.) 😀
I would like a whole world map with details but for just timing a series of scenes, this did what I needed. It’s a race to the border basically.
And after I posted that, I saw this:
Yup, that was my point. My handwriting isn’t more readable on screen but my works are done much faster with a blank sheet of paper, a pencil, and an eraser. 🙂
But sure, to each his/her own. ^_^
[quote=”Kelemelan” post=2939]Yup, that was my point. My handwriting isn’t more readable on screen but my works are done much faster with a blank sheet of paper, a pencil, and an eraser. 🙂
But sure, to each his/her own. ^_^[/quote]
Actually, I’m quite happy with my Wacom drawing tablet. It’s the same thing as pen and paper really. Just no paper. The only paper i keep around nowadays is a steno pad for writing grocery lists and jotting down phone numbers. 😀 The world sure has changed.
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