For those of us who hate drawing maps...

[Gurkhal]

...can it be considered ok to have the world pretty much on the planet earth with its map, if a good background is constructed, as opposed to make an unique map?

The reason for this is that I hate drawing maps and is totally uninspired to do it and so would check if I can use this to overcome the great obsticle that lies before me. Or would it be considered cheap?

 

[Noma Galway]

How large scale is your WIP? For a huge scale, I would definitely suggest drawing maps, but if you are pretty much just in a small area, I don't think a lot of people would notice it.

 

[teacup]

If it's set in our world or an alt version of our world, then yes, it's fine. If you have a completely different fantasy land, but are just saying "yeah, it's got our map" for no in world reason, then no, I wouldn't consider that okay.

 

[TWErvin2]

My First Civilization's Legacy series is a post apocalyptic fantasy, so the world map, slightly altered, but definitely with different nations (kingdoms, confederacies, coalitions, etc.) and borders.

That worked for me, but it really depends on the world/setting.

 

[CupofJoe]

A map can be a scrawl on a napkin if that is what you want it to be. It doesn't have to look perfect to other people. Not yet, maybe not ever...
If you want to use a real landscape instead of inventing one, buy a cheap map from a charity shop and a pack of markers and highlighters. Rename towns and rivers. Add castles or chaos wastes. Enlarge forests or remove deserts. Go to town and make the world you want. You can even change the scale.
I have heard that Hound of the Baskervilles [that is supposed to be set in Dartmoor] is actually based on the heathland around Arthur Conan Doyle's home in Surrey. He just multiplied all the distances by 5.

 

[Steerpike]

Gurkhal, you don't need to make a map if you don't want to.

 

[Gurkhal]

How large scale is your WIP? For a huge scale, I would definitely suggest drawing maps, but if you are pretty much just in a small area, I don't think a lot of people would notice it.

Well, its not a WIP so far. Its rather that I want to make a setting for which I can write short stories and so practice my writing. And that setting could potentially grow into a WIP.

If it's set in our world or an alt version of our world, then yes, it's fine. If you have a completely different fantasy land, but are just saying "yeah, it's got our map" for no in world reason, then no, I wouldn't consider that okay.

I'm thinking of making it somewhat like our own, with a mythological tie-in, but that things have developed somewhat differently to the present point. Or just make it alternative history.

My First Civilization's Legacy series is a post apocalyptic fantasy, so the world map, slightly altered, but definitely with different nations (kingdoms, confederacies, coalitions, etc.) and borders.

That worked for me, but it really depends on the world/setting.

Yeah, I'm thinking something like this.

A map can be a scrawl on a napkin if that is what you want it to be. It doesn't have to look perfect to other people. Not yet, maybe not ever...
If you want to use a real landscape instead of inventing one, buy a cheap map from a charity shop and a pack of markers and highlighters. Rename towns and rivers. Add castles or chaos wastes. Enlarge forests or remove deserts. Go to town and make the world you want. You can even change the scale.
I have heard that Hound of the Baskervilles [that is supposed to be set in Dartmoor] is actually based on the heathland around Arthur Conan Doyle's home in Surrey. He just multiplied all the distances by 5.

While I agree that it don't need to look perfect I do think that the author needs to think that it don't totally stink. And that's what I think about all my own maps.

 

[teacup]

And Steerpike is right, of course. You don't need a map if you don't want one.

 

[Steerpike]

And Steerpike is right, of course. You don't need a map if you don't want one.

Yeah. Maps are fine if you like them (I never look at them, myself, but some people really enjoy them), but I see too many people who want to get into writing fantasy just assume that they have to have a map, and in some cases spending an inordinate amount of time making one rather than writing.

I don't think they're necessary. They're nice extras, I guess, but if your story isn't comprehensible to the reader without a map, the writing probably needs to be revisited. If your just using it for reference as the author, to keep things straight, then that's another issue, and of course how good it looks doesn't really matter.

 

[Hainted]

Here's what you do... Take the Artic Circle, flip it, and then turn it upside down. That's one continent. Take an outline of the Mediterranean Sea, chop off Italy, and replace the sea with land and turn the surrounding land into water. That's another. Pick 6 random countries from around the world, or 6 states from the US, or 3 Canadian Provinces or all of those together. Try to put them together like a jigsaw puzzle . That's another. Not enough people know enough about Geography to catch any of these.

 

[Ophiucha]

Take an old map of the world - they always screw up the proportions. Like, here's a map of Japan. Move an island or two around and nobody would notice.

Or just do what I do. Get some graph paper, write down how long you want your characters to take travelling from A to B. Make each hour/day a square, pick a direction, and then just 'map' it out with a few arbitrary doodles in the middle for reference. If you ever publish it, the publisher will likely hire an artist to make the map for you anyway.

 

[Gurkhal]

The idea of forgoing a map entirely has been on my mind for a great deal of time but I'm afraid that without a map look on, the movement and distances between people and places might get illogical or messed up.

But I should take it to heart because I don't want to get bogged down by this instead of writing, like I want to do.

 

[Steerpike]

The idea of forgoing a map entirely has been on my mind for a great deal of time but I'm afraid that without a map look on, the movement and distances between people and places might get illogical or messed up.

But I should take it to heart because I don't want to get bogged down by this instead of writing, like I want to do.

If you need it to keep things straight in your own mind, as the author, then just about any map of any quality will serve. If your concern is that the reader won't be able to keep things straight without a map, I think that's a sign you need to look at the writing. In my opinion, if the story gets illogical or messed up in the reader's mind unless they have a map to look at, you should fix the writing so that's no longer the case. Not every reader even looks at maps, and I doubt many are going to stick with a book that doesn't make sense without one.

 

[Gurkhal]

If you need it to keep things straight in your own mind, as the author, then just about any map of any quality will serve. If your concern is that the reader won't be able to keep things straight without a map, I think that's a sign you need to look at the writing. In my opinion, if the story gets illogical or messed up in the reader's mind unless they have a map to look at, you should fix the writing so that's no longer the case. Not every reader even looks at maps, and I doubt many are going to stick with a book that doesn't make sense without one.

I agree entirely in that it can be wrong with the writing, but having a map makes movement more easier for me to grasp, plan and and execute things. And as a I person I do like to look at a map when reading. Not always or even often, but its good to have one around.

 

[Devor]

There are two kinds of maps. One is an author's planning tool. The other is a marketing tool. For the first, really, get colored pens and crayons. Anything else is wasting time. For the second, you can be the real do it yourselfer - there's supportive communities for that - or you can get a map maker who has all the toolsets already and can do something good in a couple of hours. But don't worry about that until your book is ready because you'll want to keep changing it as you write.

 

[Gurkhal]

Yes, its the planning tool that I am most concerned with right now. I understand that it will change but the things is that I want some form of start to look at and say; this looks good to me, and go from there. But no matter how I do it I always end up thinking "this looks like shit". I am thinking of doing a Warhammer-style, which is kind of not making a direct copy but make the map heavily based on the world world map.