Wednesday, March 1, 2017

You Cannot Get It Wrong: a cartography workshop

This post is part of a series to augment The Worldbuilder's Handbook available for free download.

This and other world workshops are gathered in my Worldbuilding Directory for you to explore.

Find more map-making content in my Cartography Directory.



Most worldbuilders are hesitant to make maps. A lot of them might be willing to sketch out general layouts, but committing to a professional map is intimidating. Distant places haven't been filled in yet, and the science behind your geography can be daunting. These doubts often give worldbuilders pause as they consider mapping their worlds. But really, there's no way you can get things wrong.

Even publishing a map does not bind your world to the details of that map. Imagine for a moment that your map was actually drawn by someone within your invented world. The map does not have to depict reality; instead, it represents your world as it is known to the people who live there - round, flat, wide, or tall.


Check out The Worldbuilder's Handbook for more free resources!


Your imaginary cartographer and his map illustration are now subject to an array of human inconsistencies, errors, and stylistic variations. This in-world perspective also helps readers better connect with the characters who live out your story. Instead of mapping the entirety of your world, just map the world known to your characters, expanded, if desired, to include undiscovered areas traversed within the story.

There's always a precedent that allows for differences between maps. If you change the spelling of a town, you can cite inconsistencies in real-world spellings of certain places. If you shift a town to the other side of a river, you can cite discrepancies in real-world maps. If you need your desert in a rainy area, you can cite futuristic weather-control, or ancient forgotten magic. With the free exclusive How to Make Fantasy Maps in Photoshop, you can create intentional discrepancies between your maps to reflect the differences between regional cultures.

Between human error, technological advances, and ever-convenient magic, worldbuilders can come up with a justification for pretty much any variance between older and newer maps. As your world grows, your map should grow with it, so consider a few in-world explanations for the changes your maps will reflect.


That's it for this post! Check out the latest worldbuilding workshops for more.

Download The Worldbuilder's Handbook here, or start your adventure below.






Liked this? Share, please!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hello, there! Connect with me:
TwitterFacebookPinterestInstagram

Leave a comment, ask a question, share a story, make a friend.