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how to create a map of my world

i have an idea for some of the physical areas of the map in my story, but i am not sure whether to create an actual map of the area or just leave it up to descriptions in the book, and if i need to make a map, how to do it?
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
Echo Michael. Cartography is a skill and an art. If an amateur tackles it, the result will look like it was tackled. By an amateur.

Cartographers can be expensive, but quality don't come cheap.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
I will add, that making a map for your own edification can be very useful. Whether it is a sheet of A4 covered in pencil that took you 5 minutes or something you've spent months working to make a 3d model, it can help you understand how your story and world fit together.
When I have an idea/need for a map I start with an A3 artist pad and a set of pencils. I can sketch and redraw so much faster than I could do digitally.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
My maps look like they were drawn by a drunken chameleon. Digital is tidier but Joe's right, it's a dozen times slower (unless you're already a digital artist ... I mean, an artist who draws digitally, not an artist who is digital ... )
 

staiger95

Scribe
I would suggest outlining a world map in the same fashion you outline a story plot--keep it flexible. Since the story and the world it exists within may be subject to repeated revision, keep it pliable until the final draft. Remember, the world, like the characters within it, exists for the sake of the story, not the other way around.
 

elemtilas

Inkling
i agree that making a map of the landscape can be useful, that is why i want to make one, thanks for the advice!

Yep! Pen and paper are probably the best way for you to go, as an aid to story telling and keeping things straight in your mind.

Also, all that empty space, where you've drawn in the dragons and strange tribes of two headed folk, can be used later for more stories!
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
I do find it useful to have a map, and at one point, I had a program called Campaign Cartographer that I was able to use to make a very nice map. However, it does take a bit to learn the tool and create the map you like. Specially with all the cool features you have in your mind already. Today, I find them easier to just draw out by hand, and if I am feeling really energetic, to color them in with colored pencils. Sometimes the old ways work best.
 
I've hand-drawn maps on grid paper. For some of these maps, I used a vector-drawing program to transcribe the hand-drawn maps onto a grid using Bezier curves. The process produced digital maps that were highly faithful to the original, with boundaries that looked natural rather than like a bunch of straight lines connecting dots. The saved vector-based maps were easily edited if I wanted to modify something.
 

TheKillerBs

Maester
Keep in mind that you don't need anything that looks nice or artsy or whatever if all you want is a reference map. All the map needs to do is make sense to you.
 

K.S. Crooks

Maester
The main page of the website I used is donjon; RPG Tools. This site provides ideas for plots, characters, goals and several other things you may want in your story. The map maker is at donjon; Fractal World Generator. It is a wonderful tool and the map you create can be saved to your computer and opened in Photoshop to modify it as you like.

I always create a map so that I know where every location is in relation to the others. This also allows me to give consistent times for travel between different locations. Whether you include the map in your story depends on how you feel. Proving a map can give the reader a stronger sense that your world is real, however it could lock in stone features or lack of features you might want to change if you write a sequel. If you keep the map to major locations such as rivers, lakes, cities and towns, mountains, etc. you should be able to make any future situation work.
 

plasticroyal

Dreamer
I like to hand draw them first so I can easily make edits and changes. If you're wanting something with a little more polish but don't feel like you have the photoshop skills (the gods know I haven't), you could give inkarnate a try; it's a handy site for fantasy mapbuilding and it's free! :)
 
There is an open source map maker program called AutoREALM that you can download for free.

Code:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/autorealm/
 
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