My Map

[L.L. Maurizi]

I saw a post by sgbii with their map which has a lot of interesting feedback, so I thought I'd throw mine in here too, to see what you all think.
I made the map with INKARNATE

MAP (REDDIT)

 

[TheKillerBs]

How large is this landmass supposed to be?

 

[Finchbearer]

It’s very pretty.

Great names too. The only thing that confuses me in the sea in the middle of the land mass - would this not be technically a lake? Like lake Michigan, or are we going for a Dead Sea type affair?

 

[TheKillerBs]

It’s very pretty.

Great names too. The only thing that confuses me in the sea in the middle of the land mass - would this not be technically a lake? Like lake Michigan, or are we going for a Dead Sea type affair?

It's not uncommon to refer to a lake as a sea, even a rather small lake, like the Sea of Galilee (approximately 21 km long, 14 km wide, and 43 m deep)

 

[Finchbearer]

I was wondering whether it is meant to be saltwater, like the Dead Sea, or like Lake Michigan, just a massive lake big enough to be called a sea and even have tides.

 

[TheKillerBs]

It drains into the sea, so I'd expect it to be freshwater

 

[pmmg]

The map is pretty. I looks like it must be the result of a meteor hit, or a volcano to me. Are you wanting us to give it a 'how is that possible?' treatment? Is teh whirlpool actual, or just enhancing the unknown, like the serpent might be?

 

[Devor]

The big thing that leaps out to me.... is Emerald City, which is from the Wizard of Oz. I find the reference very distracting and suggest changing it.

A normal river would have a lot of smaller rivers and streams feeding into them.

It also seems extremely boxy. The edges of the continent line up pretty closely to the four edges of the page. It gives the map this subtle artificial look.

There's probably a reason behind this, a legend or something that isn't part of the image, maybe it's a journey tracker, but there's a lot of location dots on the left side that don't have any labels.

Edit to add:

"Eternia" is also from He-Man and She-Ra.

 

[pmmg]

I bet the incubus forest is quite popular too.

 

[ThinkerX]

A scale would be useful. Can't tell if this a large island a couple hundred miles across or continent the size of Asia.

That said, the features look 'flipped' to me. Should be forests and green country on the eastern side of the continent (?) with the western portion more arid. The Gold River cuts a little close to the coast, maybe hem it in with some hills.

 

[Devor]

A few other thoughts:

Some people don't like labels that run at weird angles. Forest of Feyr, for example. Your mileage on that may vary. I'm curious what others think, but I also wouldn't be satisfied that the watermarks are clear enough. And maps in a book usually have to be greyscale.

I like the idea of having an island in a lake in the middle of the continent. It gives the map kind of a bullseye quality to it, though, which may or may not be a good thing for your story (i.e., it's too dead-center to be hyperrealistic, but if your story is more Narnia than ASOIAF, it might be what you want).

Looking at some of these place names, I have a million questions about each of them. But I can't help but think that your naming scheme isn't quite solid. Gold River and Diamond Peak look especially out of place to me. And a lot of the norse-looking words might be a little hard to remember (although that's largely a question for relevance and pacing inside the story).

There's a noticeable lack of islands.

Edit: I know it seems like I have a lot of criticism, the only things I'd say are a "must" (if anything can be a must) is to change Emerald City and Eternia, because of their use in other IPs. Everything else is relatively minor or nitpicky.

 

[L.L. Maurizi]

How large is this landmass supposed to be?

I imagine the continent to be more or less the size of Europe, not counting Russia. So, say from Portugal to Belarus, and from Scandinavia to Italy

 

[L.L. Maurizi]

It’s very pretty.

Great names too. The only thing that confuses me in the sea in the middle of the land mass - would this not be technically a lake? Like lake Michigan, or are we going for a Dead Sea type affair?

It's a great point. The book actually does address it. The Sea of Dharr is in fact a misnomer of a large salt lake (like the Dead Sea)

 

[L.L. Maurizi]

It drains into the sea, so I'd expect it to be freshwater

Can't believe you caught that, but actually (it may be unclear from the map), there's a spring from the mountains in the south, on the coastline which feeds a lake, and a river leading to the Sea of Dharr. I never did think where the saltiness of that water mass may derive from, but gun to the head, I'd say deep seated minerals.
Oh! The same spring also feeds another small river leading to the sea in the south

 

[L.L. Maurizi]

The map is pretty. I looks like it must be the result of a meteor hit, or a volcano to me. Are you wanting us to give it a 'how is that possible?' treatment? Is teh whirlpool actual, or just enhancing the unknown, like the serpent might be?

Thank you!
I didn't think about any particular comment, so any comment (including the "how did that even" ones) would be fun to deal with. It may help me think about something I didn't previously consider, or help me test if my reasoning is solid.

To the point of the whirlwind, it is actual. It demarks a zone similar to that between Scylla and Charybdis albeit far larger. The whole area is clouded by a seemingly impenetrable fog and plagued by impossible to navigate waters. the serpent also warns of a particular creature, although not many reading the map would know of it, so they could easily misconstrue that for simple graphics.

As for how the continent came to be, I'm glad something around those lines came across. The continent is a land mass originated from the volcano in its middle (irrelevant to the story but I do like that I wrote a note about it - I feel it helps me picture Velorath as a "real" place).
The continent's geography, however changed dramatically as a consequence of two catastrophic, non-natural separate events

 

[L.L. Maurizi]

The big thing that leaps out to me.... is Emerald City, which is from the Wizard of Oz. I find the reference very distracting and suggest changing it.

A normal river would have a lot of smaller rivers and streams feeding into them.

It also seems extremely boxy. The edges of the continent line up pretty closely to the four edges of the page. It gives the map this subtle artificial look.

There's probably a reason behind this, a legend or something that isn't part of the image, maybe it's a journey tracker, but there's a lot of location dots on the left side that don't have any labels.

Edit to add:

"Eternia" is also from He-Man and She-Ra.
Duuuuude! Until you mentioned it, I cannot believe I never thought about Emerald City. It wasn't a reference, but a (now embarrassing) coincidence.

It also seems extremely boxy

You feel it'd look better if I reduced its size proportionately to the frame?

There's probably a reason behind this,

You're correct; the dots mark small, unnamed settlements dependent from Naaren (the city on the same line as the dots, to the north).

Eternia was also an unwanted reference... Do you think it'd be best to change it?

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[L.L. Maurizi]

I bet the incubus forest is quite popular too.

I'm less worried about the name Incubus since it's unoriginally named after the effect it has on people in my book. I went and double checked though, and aside from the band (which is where I thought of the name first) I didn't find anything particularly prominent.

 

[L.L. Maurizi]

A scale would be useful. Can't tell if this a large island a couple hundred miles across or continent the size of Asia.

That said, the features look 'flipped' to me. Should be forests and green country on the eastern side of the continent (?) with the western portion more arid. The Gold River cuts a little close to the coast, maybe hem it in with some hills.

I'll have to make some modifications to the map soon (after reading through this thread). I'll add a scale, you're right.

That said, the features look 'flipped'

Not sure about this. Why do you think so? I do know that it holds to be true generally in some countries, but I don't think it's universal.

Some hills do sound like a good addition

 

[L.L. Maurizi]

A few other thoughts:

Some people don't like labels that run at weird angles. Forest of Feyr, for example. Your mileage on that may vary. I'm curious what others think, but I also wouldn't be satisfied that the watermarks are clear enough. And maps in a book usually have to be greyscale.

I like the idea of having an island in a lake in the middle of the continent. It gives the map kind of a bullseye quality to it, though, which may or may not be a good thing for your story (i.e., it's too dead-center to be hyperrealistic, but if your story is more Narnia than ASOIAF, it might be what you want).

Looking at some of these place names, I have a million questions about each of them. But I can't help but think that your naming scheme isn't quite solid. Gold River and Diamond Peak look especially out of place to me. And a lot of the norse-looking words might be a little hard to remember (although that's largely a question for relevance and pacing inside the story).

There's a noticeable lack of islands.

Edit: I know it seems like I have a lot of criticism, the only things I'd say are a "must" (if anything can be a must) is to change Emerald City and Eternia, because of their use in other IPs. Everything else is relatively minor or nitpicky.

Some people don't like labels that run at weird angles.

Never thought about it; I'm curious too to know what others might think.

I've been debating about the greyscale, however, ultimately, I'll likely just B/W it if I put it in the book (or, If I win the publishing lottery it won't be up to me).

your naming scheme isn't quite solid.

I organized the names depending on cultures (in the book) and real-world civilizations I used for inspiration. The names that stand out the most to you are actually the only ones that may be purposely overtly "fantasy style".
I'll consider changing them although the Gold River for example has the same name that was river Tiber's nickname.

The lack of islands never occurred to me until just now. Someone earlier mentioned that the continet is close to the frames of the map, so probably I never felt like I'd need to add islands outside of the perimeter of the continent. It's a good point though. If I reduce its relative size, I'll also add some atolls.

It doesn't feel like a lot of criticism at all, honestly. It's nice to see this much attention to details and realism. Yeah, Emerald City and Eternia gotta go, don't they.

 

[Mothra]

What a beautiful map! Traditionally, cities arise near bodies of water - a river, a bay, etc. - because these allow trade and travel. (Sometimes, cities are close to water but set back a bit to avoid attack / pirates / etc.) Would it help your writing to move your cities closer to your rivers or coastline?