I have a question for those of you who love fantasy, science fiction, and other speculative genres. How many of you, when you pick up a book like this, turn to the front pages to see if there is a map?
I do.
I love maps. And if there isn’t a map in the front of a book like this, I seriously reconsider reading the book. I don’t know why. I just like to be able to flip back and forth to the map as I read.
Probably one of the most famous maps in the world fantasy is J.R.R. Tolkien’s map of Middle Earth. I confess, I’ve spent hours looking at this map. I have a poster-sized version hanging above my desk.
So, years ago, when I planned to write my first fantasy novel, before I bothered to type one word, I drew a map. I didn’t get it perfect the first time. I made a lot of changes. And I spent a few months brainstorming my storyworld based on that map. So many wonderful story ideas came out of that map. I think my storyworld is better for it. Here is the map for my Blood of Kings trilogy.
If you are working on a speculative novel, drawing a map is a great way to brainstorm. Over this past Christmas break, I drew a few more maps. I have several ideas percolating in my mind as to what series I should write once my trilogy is done.
The first is a fantasy novel. Here is the idea:
Kaitlyn’s brother Quinn has been acting very strange lately. Worried for him, she watches him closely. This investigation brings her to a disturbing discovery. Quinn is not Quinn at all, but an impostor. A real-life warrior fairy with wings. So, if this guy is a fairy, where is Quinn?
- Click on the map to zoom in.
And here is a map for a dystopian society where a disease has killed off a huge percentage of the world’s population. So the government built this walled-in city as a way to protect the people. But things are not so safe inside the Bell, as the people call it.
Here are two more maps that I like. First, Eragon’s world, Alagaesia. I love the mountains called The Spine.
And who says they have to be land maps? I love the Marauder’s Map from the Harry Potter storyworld.
What about you? Do you like maps in books? If so, what are some of your favorites? If you are a writer, have you drawn a map for your storyworld? If so, tell me about it. Post a link if you can. I’d love to see it.
When reading fantasy or other “speculative genres”, as you put it, I think it always helps to have a map.
For one thing, it helps draw you into the world. Instead of a jumbled mix of city names and mountain ranges, you can picture the entire continent and pinpoint where the characters are.
And when they’re on extensively long road trips (such as Eragon), having a map helps you keep some perspective. I don’t know about you, but every twenty pages or so I’ll flip back to the map and figure out in which direction they’re traveling and how far they are to their destination.
I haven’t yet written a book that would use this (I’ve stuck with realistic fiction so far) but I think this would be an entertaining and useful tool. My friend has been working on her own fantasy trilogy for several years, and she has a to-scale map of her own land hanging above her desk.
Good point about the city names, Aloha. The map really does help keep all that straight. And I totally flipped back and forth when I read Eragon.
One thing I do with my realisic fiction is sketch out floor plans of houses, schools, or other locations where much of my story takes place. I find it very helpful to describe a room that I can sort of see on paper. It comes to life more accurately. When I sketch out a floorplan, often I realize–oh. There can’t be a door there.
Isn’t it odd the maps are all drawn with the oceans on the west? I did the same thing with my storyworld map. I wonder if it’s a Western thing? Do Eastern authors draw maps with eastern oceans? Hmm.
That’s an interesting observation, Robynn. I wonder why that is? Maybe it’s a right-handed/left-handed thing…
I love books with maps! The first thing I did for my storyworld was draw a map, too. That map looks fairly amateur now, though. I need to re-make it in Photoshop, but I keep putting that off. Looks like a lot of work (especially with only a mouse…).
Before that, because I loved Tolkien’s books so much, I made a map of Middle-Earth to frame in my room. I was about ten when I finished it, but we moved and I stuck it in a folder and forgot where it is. Now I wish I’d kept a better eye on it.
Awww. Maybe you’ll find it some day, Christian. That would be fun to look at. Every once in a while, my mom finds a story I wrote as a kid. They are hysterical. I really treasure looking at them now. Especially the ones with stick people illustrations. 🙂
When I read a book, especially fantasy, I greatly prefer to see a map in it, but since there isn’t always one, I just make a map in my head. And I, too, have a big map of Middle-earth hanging on my wall, which I wish I had the first time I read the books. To this day I regret that I didn’t have a map of Middle-earth in front of me when I heard the Lord of the Rings for the first time on tape–even though I know better, I sometimes still imagine Frodo and Sam going west after the breaking of the Fellowship, and Aragorn and the others going east . . . which doesn’t work at all. So yes, a map is a very good thing to have 🙂
I draw maps for my books, although the land tends to change a lot along the way. I find that a map helps me to visualize where and how things take place, and can also, like you said, lead to great new story ideas! If I were to be crossing a vast and strange land, I would want to have a map with me showing me how to get through it, so, since writing a story is very much like such a journey, having a map of the land the story is, I think, equally essential to knowing who the main character is.
Yay, Middle Earth! LOL
And, good point, S.D., one shouldn’t go into foreign lands mapless. It’s too dangerous! 🙂
I don’t usually go straight to the maps in books, and often when I do see them I find them confusing, prefering to simply imagine the world myself, but I am very glad to hear that so many people DO like studying them, as it makes my life as a reader much easier! At the moment I am working on a speculative novel called ‘Storyteller,’ and as all the characters live in a place called Yellowknife in Canada, I was able to bring up Google Mags and work out a map of the place from that. Drawing a map makes it soooo much easier to describe things properly! 🙂
That’s interesting, Rosie. I’m glad to know how you are different as a reader.
I’m also glad that drawing a map for yourself was a helpful exercise, even if you don’t put it in your book.
I also think a story set in a place called Yellowknife sounds awesome! 🙂
Jill