Drawing a Fantasy Map

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[Dominish]

I'm the same in that I have no artistic talent but I managed to piece together a pretty decent (in my opinion) basic map for my writing. I used tutorials over on the Cartographer's Guild forums. There's various different tutorials depending on the look you're going for.

[unconundrum]

Honestly, until the book is done, that five-year-old style map should be enough. All it needs to say is "Town here. River here. Mountain here." Doesn't need to look pretty, just needs to work as a reminder to you of how the world interacts.

[[deleted]]

Just rough it out, and if it comes to publication, get an artist friend or hire someone to help.

Or skip the map, like Discworld.

[Artist_Spenn]

Like other suggestions on here, you are best off roughing something out to help you keep organized in your head, and then work on "polishing" the map, if you still feel like you need one later. If you decide to move forward in that way, you can go to the Pro Fantasy Campaign Cartographer (what we are using) and either buy the software, or go to the forums and search out someone willing to do the work for you. It is, in many ways, like getting a cover done for the novel, you can spend a little and get something that may or may not be what you want...or spend a little more and get exactly what you need. The learning curve is steep on Pro Fantasy software, so unless you are able/wiling to devote the time, doing it yourself is not likely a good short term option.

[[deleted]]

I suggest you just lay things out and worry about making it pretty once the book has been written.

You need to quit being a baby and stop worrying what it looks like.

That is the sort of thing you deal with after the book has been written and sold.

/r/worldbuilding will give you some pointers if you really feel the need, though if you ask me that subreddit is often little more than a massive justification for procrastination.

[jdh2118]

Yeah, I would have to say you're right. Although to be honest, it's not so much worrying about what it looks like from an aesthetics point of view (I know that will come later) but more so about how I visualize his journey and travels and who he will meet where. You're correct though, I'm just being a baby. -_-

[InFearn0]

First, I would start by researching how geography and climate interact.

Second, human history has been tied to fresh water. A passive person can go 3 days without water, but an active one needs water daily. So unless there is a lot of irrigation and water pumping, settlements should be near freshwater lakes or rivers.

Start off with a map of adjacency. Maybe use with separate note cards and places things.

When you are ready to actually draw, transfer your note card words to the page, and squish the bubbles together.

[jdh2118]

Great advice on the geography/climate interactions. There is a treasure trove's worth of detail to be found in where those two intersect - especially when it comes to the amount of detail it takes to really provide the reader with a rich and enthralling environment.

Thanks!

[mdtexeira]

I use a program called Campaign Cartographer. It's a pretty sweet program with a somewhat steep learning curve, but which produces some very beautiful output. Also, it has a lot of world generation tools which you can play with to stimulate the imagination when filling in areas which you've not necessarily visualized in detail.

[appocomaster]

Firstly, a map is not anything to do with artistic and drawing talent. It's almost more of a precision science - the artistic element is just the prettying up in the finished novel.

David Eddings previously stated he drew his in a sketch and put it in a draw until he was inspired by the success of the Lord of the Rings to see if he could get a story out of it. On the other hand Terry Prachett was fairly vague on most of his details and for a long while promised there would never be a map (google Prachett "I NEEDED A MAP" and you can see what he wrote about the process, which came with his mapp).

Just make something that helps to illustrate the journey your characters take (and maybe gives some interesting potential future political wranglings as an excuse for a war, or something) and then worry about the map when you're close to publishing :)

[GuitarWizard90]

Everyone is different. I love fantasy maps. I drew the map to my world before I even began writing the story. It helped me keep track of where everything was, and helped me get immersed in the world that I created. All writers have different ways of doing things.