World Building, Part Two: Maps
Hey everybody. As you may have noticed, this post is a little early, since I normally post on Saturdays.
Last Saturday, my husband's grandfather, who had been suffering from COPD for a long time, took a turn for the worse. All of my projects have been delayed, since we've been been watching my young sister-in-law and making the drive to see him as often as we can. He passed away on Wednesday morning, and the funeral is tomorrow, so I'm posting early. My blog posts should still be regular, but it could be some time before the rest of my writing catches up. Thanks for understanding.
We're on to part two! Last week we covered the rules of your world, and hopefully you wrote them down, preferably in a notebook, because this week we're going to need that notebook again.
It's time to get down to the physical characteristics of your world. We're going to start on a large scale, and work our way down to details. This means mapping. If you're not very good at drawing, then relax. You don't have to be. You're not copying down landmasses that appear in the real world, you're creating your own. And if you're doing this for a story, then there's a chance no one besides you will ever need to see it anyway. It doesn't have to be perfect, because you'll probably want to go over and change things later as you learn more about this place. So no pressure!
Step One: We're going to start with how many continents you want, and sketch them out like a world map. This can be as precise or as vague as you want. Maybe you decide you want two continents, and just draw two circles approximately where you want them on your world map. That's perfectly fine, and you can add detail later. This isn't necessarily art, although if you choose to go that route you can.
Some things to consider when deciding where you want your continents is if there's an equator, and if it works similarly to ours. If that's so, then you'll probably want to draw it in on your map for reference; a country on the equator is going to be warmer than one at the poles, for instance. If there isn't one, then you're going to have a great time figuring out why and how it works. Or, if there is one, but it works differently, how so? How did it happen that way?
Step Two: Decide your scale. If you decide your map is 100 miles per inch, then you need to consider that when adding other features. Are those two cities really going to be that far apart? Is that going to make trade between them unfeasible? How far away is this place from water? Is the distance going from one city to another going to make it difficult or impossible to have paved roads? Similarly, if your scale is bigger, say, five miles per inch, you're going to have room for a lot more detail, and will probably need larger paper. If you want to use such detail, then go for it. But if you don't require details such as the presence of every stream or small village, then a different scale will probably be more to your liking. You also need to keep in mind how long it will take characters to travel from one place to another. Otherwise you'll end up with a character either taking far too long to travel, or magically jumping unrealistic distances in a matter of days.
Step Three: Once you're satisfied with your work on step one, we're going to focus in on each continent, one at a time. To do this, you're going to need a fresh piece of paper, because now we're going into a little more detail. This isn't a world map, this is a continent map, so other continents and major oceans aren't going to appear. The focus is only on the major features of the current landmass. If you want mountain ranges, lakes, rivers, forests, or other major geological formations or natural landmarks, this is the time to add them in. If there are any special characteristics that are major or significant to your world (perhaps as a result of your rules in part one) then this is the time to consider putting them in. This might include things like volcanoes, waterfalls, or other formations and natural features. Again, this doesn't have to be artwork. It's a rough draft, so you don't have worry about making it look nice.
Step Four: Once done with step two, it's time to add man-made landmarks. Or landmarks made by intelligent life, whichever you have. This includes major cities, significant locations, and major artistic works from history. You don't have to name them now, or even decide what they are. Simply marking them with a dot and a label telling you what sort of spot it is (city, town, trading center, artistic location, etc.) should be sufficient for now. You'll be able to add more detail to these once we get into culture and history. For now, just keep in mind locations that are likely to be significant. A place where rivers join together is a good candidate for a trading center, a mountain pass is a good place to put a military installation. At this point, you can also add in roads, if you like, and mark crossroads as notable locations.
You may want to have (yet another) sheet of paper per continent to list details on, such as the height of a waterfall, whether a lake is saltwater or fresh, and notes on what you think should be at each notable location.
Step Five: Repeat steps 1-3 for the remaining continents, keeping in mind that difference in location on a planet means difference in weather, temperature, and climate, and therefore a difference in physical features.
Step Six: It's time to map oceans and seas. If you have clusters of islands, this is where you'd map them. You can either do another sheet of paper for each sea/ocean, or you can mark islands on the world map. The choice is yours, although I'd suggest separate maps for seas if you're going to have a large number of islands, or if you have a story that's going to partially take place in or on a sea. If you want to go into detail for your seas, this is also where you'd do that. If, for example, you're doing a story about mermaids, you might need to know the depth of the water, its salinity, locations of reefs, and other underwater formations. You might also need a basic working knowledge of currents, water temperatures, shipping routes, and the weather.
Step Seven (Optional): Rework your maps. If you were vague in the first six steps, you may decide to go over and work on the parts you've already completed to make sure they work well together. You may also choose to redo your world map to include details from your continents. This step is optional, since the information you need should already be there. This step is primarily a polishing step, and can either be saved for later, or not done at all, depending on your needs.
Last Saturday, my husband's grandfather, who had been suffering from COPD for a long time, took a turn for the worse. All of my projects have been delayed, since we've been been watching my young sister-in-law and making the drive to see him as often as we can. He passed away on Wednesday morning, and the funeral is tomorrow, so I'm posting early. My blog posts should still be regular, but it could be some time before the rest of my writing catches up. Thanks for understanding.
We're on to part two! Last week we covered the rules of your world, and hopefully you wrote them down, preferably in a notebook, because this week we're going to need that notebook again.
It's time to get down to the physical characteristics of your world. We're going to start on a large scale, and work our way down to details. This means mapping. If you're not very good at drawing, then relax. You don't have to be. You're not copying down landmasses that appear in the real world, you're creating your own. And if you're doing this for a story, then there's a chance no one besides you will ever need to see it anyway. It doesn't have to be perfect, because you'll probably want to go over and change things later as you learn more about this place. So no pressure!
Step One: We're going to start with how many continents you want, and sketch them out like a world map. This can be as precise or as vague as you want. Maybe you decide you want two continents, and just draw two circles approximately where you want them on your world map. That's perfectly fine, and you can add detail later. This isn't necessarily art, although if you choose to go that route you can.
Some things to consider when deciding where you want your continents is if there's an equator, and if it works similarly to ours. If that's so, then you'll probably want to draw it in on your map for reference; a country on the equator is going to be warmer than one at the poles, for instance. If there isn't one, then you're going to have a great time figuring out why and how it works. Or, if there is one, but it works differently, how so? How did it happen that way?
Step Two: Decide your scale. If you decide your map is 100 miles per inch, then you need to consider that when adding other features. Are those two cities really going to be that far apart? Is that going to make trade between them unfeasible? How far away is this place from water? Is the distance going from one city to another going to make it difficult or impossible to have paved roads? Similarly, if your scale is bigger, say, five miles per inch, you're going to have room for a lot more detail, and will probably need larger paper. If you want to use such detail, then go for it. But if you don't require details such as the presence of every stream or small village, then a different scale will probably be more to your liking. You also need to keep in mind how long it will take characters to travel from one place to another. Otherwise you'll end up with a character either taking far too long to travel, or magically jumping unrealistic distances in a matter of days.
Step Three: Once you're satisfied with your work on step one, we're going to focus in on each continent, one at a time. To do this, you're going to need a fresh piece of paper, because now we're going into a little more detail. This isn't a world map, this is a continent map, so other continents and major oceans aren't going to appear. The focus is only on the major features of the current landmass. If you want mountain ranges, lakes, rivers, forests, or other major geological formations or natural landmarks, this is the time to add them in. If there are any special characteristics that are major or significant to your world (perhaps as a result of your rules in part one) then this is the time to consider putting them in. This might include things like volcanoes, waterfalls, or other formations and natural features. Again, this doesn't have to be artwork. It's a rough draft, so you don't have worry about making it look nice.
Step Four: Once done with step two, it's time to add man-made landmarks. Or landmarks made by intelligent life, whichever you have. This includes major cities, significant locations, and major artistic works from history. You don't have to name them now, or even decide what they are. Simply marking them with a dot and a label telling you what sort of spot it is (city, town, trading center, artistic location, etc.) should be sufficient for now. You'll be able to add more detail to these once we get into culture and history. For now, just keep in mind locations that are likely to be significant. A place where rivers join together is a good candidate for a trading center, a mountain pass is a good place to put a military installation. At this point, you can also add in roads, if you like, and mark crossroads as notable locations.
You may want to have (yet another) sheet of paper per continent to list details on, such as the height of a waterfall, whether a lake is saltwater or fresh, and notes on what you think should be at each notable location.
Step Five: Repeat steps 1-3 for the remaining continents, keeping in mind that difference in location on a planet means difference in weather, temperature, and climate, and therefore a difference in physical features.
Step Six: It's time to map oceans and seas. If you have clusters of islands, this is where you'd map them. You can either do another sheet of paper for each sea/ocean, or you can mark islands on the world map. The choice is yours, although I'd suggest separate maps for seas if you're going to have a large number of islands, or if you have a story that's going to partially take place in or on a sea. If you want to go into detail for your seas, this is also where you'd do that. If, for example, you're doing a story about mermaids, you might need to know the depth of the water, its salinity, locations of reefs, and other underwater formations. You might also need a basic working knowledge of currents, water temperatures, shipping routes, and the weather.
Step Seven (Optional): Rework your maps. If you were vague in the first six steps, you may decide to go over and work on the parts you've already completed to make sure they work well together. You may also choose to redo your world map to include details from your continents. This step is optional, since the information you need should already be there. This step is primarily a polishing step, and can either be saved for later, or not done at all, depending on your needs.
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