I’m a storyworld first author. This means, I must spend time creating my world before I can start writing. For me, this process usually starts with drawing a map. It’s no secret how much I love book maps, so I’m going to post about them for the next two weeks. Today, I’m talking about making a map for your story, the purpose for said map, how to draw that initial shape, and tools you can use to help you create.

One of the best reasons to draw a map is to help you write your story. No matter what genre you’re working on, sketching a map can make it much easier to describe places or write travel scenes. Maps are also invaluable as a reference for when you’re writing. But if you’re making a map for readers, it’s important to remember that maps in actual books are meant to communicate information.

Have you ever been confused by a map in the front of a book? I have. I’ll be reading along, the characters will head to a city or town, and I’ll flip to the front of the book to try and see where it is on the map.

Then I can’t find it. Because it’s not there.

To make matters worse, there are a bunch of places that are NEVER mentioned in the entire book.

WHY?

As novelists, we want to avoid that. Our maps should aid the telling of our stories, not confuse our readers. That means, only include things that are part of the story, and don’t include things that aren’t.

Not all maps seek to communicate the same information. Just like characters and scenes should all have a purpose in our stories, maps should also have a purpose. This will keep us from trying to do too much with a map and potentially confusing or overwhelming our readers with information they don’t need.

WHAT’S YOUR MAP’S PURPOSE?

There are SO many purposes for maps. There are also different types of maps. I’ve played with just about all of them (as far as I know). You could have a map of the entire known universe/land, like Middle Earth. Or you could show the points in a journey like in the map from The Hobbit. You could have a map of one country or area, like the map of the Hundred Acre Wood from Winnie the Pooh. You could have a city map. A map of a neighborhood. A map of an island. You could also have floorplans of buildings or houses or castles. Check out the image gallery below for examples of these that I’ve used in my stories.

LOOK FOR INSPIRATION

Whenever I’m ready to create a new map, I start with a one-inch thick manila folder that says “Maps” on the tab. It is stuffed full of photocopies of book maps I’ve collected over the years. I’ll just sit with that folder and drool over the gorgeous artwork and sift it with my imagination and my work in progress in mind. I’ll think things like: “I like the way this map has a forest on the coast. I like how this other map has cartoon icons like castles, cabins, and trees. I like how this one has a decorative border.” On and on it goes. I make notes on things that inspire me for the story I’m working on.

DRAW THE OUTLINE

Once you’ve made your choice as to what type of map you’re making and the purpose(s) you want it to accomplish, you’re ready to start drawing. 

Some people really struggle with the shape or outline of their map. To start, it doesn’t matter all that much. You can always change things later. Decide if you want to show coastlines or to put your map into a frame so that the land continues outside the border. If you need help with shapes, check this out. Here is the map of the Six Duchies from Robin Hobb’s Farseer books. 

Here is that same map upside down. 

Notice anything familiar?

It looks a lot like Alaska, doesn’t it? It’s not exactly Alaska. I don’t know if Hobb did this on purpose or by accident. But it doesn’t matter. Using an atlas to look for interesting land shapes is clever and can be a great help to find realistic coastal shapes.

USE REAL PLACES

If you’re writing an alternate history story or something that takes place in the future on earth, you can use real maps as a starting point. That’s what I did with my Safe Lands map. I drew the map over top of the ski resort map for Crested Butte, Colorado. Brandon Sanderson’s map of the American Isles from The Rithmatist is a good example of an alternate history map.

USE GEOGRAPHY TO HELP YOU

A few months ago, I wrote a series of posts on the topic of geography. Thinking about tectonic plates and mountain chains can help you decide the initial shape of your map and where to put forests and deserts and such. Here are links to those three geography posts:

Geography for Worldbuilding, Part One
Geography for World-Building, Part Two: Climate, Weather, and Biomes
Geography for World-Building, Part Three: Bodies of Water

KEEP IT SIMPLE

In regard to map design, try to keep things as simple as possible. We’re going to talk more about details next week, but try to only include things that are relevant to your story. Also, make everything legible and easy for the reader to understand.

MAP-MAKING METHODS AND RESOURCES TO HELP AND INSPIRE YOU

In the past, I would start a map by sketching it on tracing paper. Once I was happy with it, I traced over it with a Sharpie. I would also draw one grouping of trees, grass, mountains, and anything else I needed a lot of. Then I would scan the map and open it in Photoshop. I would clean it up there and copy and paste the trees, mountains, grass, etc until I had as much as I want. The last thing I would is add my dots and titles. I wrote a blog post a while back in which I showed you pictures the evolution of the map I created for the Kinsman Chronicles. It went through multiple versions until I got to the final version of the map that I love so much. Click here to read the Evolution of a Fantasy Map.

HOWEVER–the last map I made, I made with my daughter. She has an iPad with a drawing pen and the program Procreate. We used it to make the map for the Magic Hunters trilogy, and it was SO MUCH EASIER than my old-school method that I am saving up to buy my own used iPad just for making maps. If you do this, remember that YouTube has tutorial galore to help you learn to use such tools. When you’re stuck, just Google it. I looked up several things and was able to teach myself how.

There are many programs you can use to help you draw maps. Some have a cost, so keep that in mind. Here is a short list:

•Inkcarnate is an online map-making program that is free.

•Wonderdraft is a downloadable software that you purchase one time.

•Project Deios was originally crowdfunded on Kickstarter. You can make super cool color animated maps.

•Legend Keeper is software that allows you to make fantasy maps.

•Campaign Cartographer is an older map-making software that allows you to fill your map with symbols, rivers, roads, and text. 

•Canva is a program for making videos and images, but you can use it to make realistic maps of contemporary locations.

•Deviant Art is a wonderful site to find maps for inspiration. (I’ve printed many and added them to my Maps folder.) Visit Deviant Art and do a search for maps. There are so many on that site, it’s amazing! Don’t copy other people’s maps, but do let them inspire you.

Keep in mind, map-making helps you build your world, and that same worldbuilding will continually shape your map. As you draw, be thinking about your story and what the features on the map you are drawing can add to your story.

Stay tuned. We’re not done yet! Next week comes the second post in this series called Creating a Map for Your World, Part 2: Adding the Details.

Until then, is anyone out there working on a map? Share a link to your map in the comments and any tips you might have. Also, feel free to ask all your mappish questions.

Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms, and the author of several young adult fantasy novels including the Blood of Kings trilogy. She loves teaching about writing. She blogs at goteenwriters.com and also posts writing videos on her YouTube channel and on Instagram. Jill is a Whovian, a Photoshop addict, and a recovering fashion design assistant. She grew up in Alaska without running water or electricity and now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two kids. Find Jill online at jillwilliamson.com or on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.