Hello, friends!
Today we'll continue the topic of world building for your stories. Because we already discussed the basics with writing real locations, we'll shift our focus to fantasy worlds. I personally usually start creating a fictional world by drawing a map, and that's what today's post will be about!
Let's get into it!
MY STEPS OF DRAWING A MAP:
• outline the land
• name the continents and countries
• name the seas / oceans
• highlight the mountains by using a brown pencil and the lakes by using a blue one
• locate the biggest cities
• locate where your story starts at
DRAWING THE MAP:
• you don't have to draw the map by hand. Nowadays there are many tools available for free online that you can use
• if you don't have an idea for how the world should look like or you want fate to chose for you, you can use the rice method - where you randomly throw rice on paper and outline it
• your map will undergo changes and that's okay - consider the one you draw first as a draft that will be perfected as you write
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
• it's good to keep notes on land space formations; point out why they're important and how are they characteristic
• be extra careful when placing rivers, lakes and mountains. Remember your characters will probably travel through the land, and if there's for example a river ahead of them it could cause complications to the travel
If you struggle with imagining the real distances on your map and aren't sure how to place things for them to make sense, I strongly recommend spending a moment to study a map of an existing place you already know - for example, your hometown.
Way too many times writers mess up the relation between the distance and the time needed to go through it.
Of course, the time will differ depending on the means of transportation the characters are using.
Keep those things in mind while writing. Don't be discouraged, if the task seems hard - it gets easier with experience.
There's one phenomenon when it comes to map creating that I'd like to mention. It's common to create a lot of cities for your story, as you want to fill out the empty spaces on the map. But be careful not to create things that end up being completely useless. If a city exists, explain, why it does so. Characters very often revisit places! Think twice if you really need to create a new city for an upcoming action or if you can use what you already have.
One of my favorite map creating tools is Incarnate.
And fantasy name generators - there are multiple to be found online :-)
There are many different approaches to drawing a map of your fantasy world. You can create one before even writing, or wait until you have more information about the world. I personally prefer to make one at the very beginning, and keep notes on the locations I create, so I don't forget anything.
Good luck!🩵
Comments
Post a Comment