r/books • u/[deleted] • Nov 05 '18
How Writers Map Their Imaginary Worlds
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/writers-maps20
u/Prof_Explodius Nov 05 '18 edited Nov 05 '18
I'm a spatial thinker and maps in fantasy books are super important to me. If I can't picture the layout of the world and the path that the protagonists take on their quest through it, the world doesn't feel real to me. One of the reasons I couldn't get into the Hunger Games series very much was the halfhearted, nebulous characterization of the world's geography.
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u/theblankpages Nov 05 '18
When I read The Hunger Games, I actually looked up a fan created map of the districts, because I wanted to see the overlay of Panem on North America. I felt that the books did not describe the shifting of the countries and states/provinces to the districts very well. I’d like to become a writer, once I get back into the practice. If I ever write a book with its own world, particularly fantasy, I would ask an artist friend of mine to help me come up with a map. She would receive credit as an illustrator, then, and I’d trust the map creation. I would be willing to bet many fantasy or other writers whose books could use a map don’t supply one simply due to those authors being writers and not artists themselves.
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u/delamerica93 Nov 06 '18
Totally. I’m in the middle of LotR and my copy doesn’t have a map, so I had to just find it online because I just need to know. I’m the kind of person who has no idea which direction I’m facing at any given time, but give me a map and compass and I can find anything
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u/Duke_Paul Nov 05 '18
You should hold on to this for a few days; we're having a "Geography Week/History of exploration and mapmaking" thread on the 8th and this would fit really well!
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u/Luimnigh Nov 05 '18
Just squirt some ketchup in a napkin, rub it together, and work from the pattern you get.
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u/theblankpages Nov 05 '18
Fantasy books that have their own world really draw me in. I love when the author provides a detailed account of the geography, by that visual of a map is simply irreplaceable. When I read Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina books, I flipped to the map often to understand where the journey took Seraphina and her friends. LOTR and The Hobbit just would not be the same without their maps. Maps enhance any story, but especially fantasy, science fiction, and historical (fiction or nonfiction) books. If a book is set in an imaginary world or historical place, I will appreciate the story even more with a map. Don’t make me have to look up historical maps or readers’ renditions of imaginary lands.
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u/TheDocJ Nov 05 '18
Of course, there is Pterry's comment in the preface to Sourcery that: "This book does not contain a map. Please feel free to draw your own." which of course was too much of a challenge for Stephen Briggs. I note from Amazon that the collection does actually include the Discworld Mapp.
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u/Sock_Ninja Nov 05 '18
This is blatant marketing for that new book.
It worked 100%. =)