Britannia: a map commission

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost available for free download.

This and other map commissions are gathered in my Portfolio Directory for you to explore.

This post is also Part 5 of a series about Linnea Tanner. Start with Part 1 here.

I first connected with Linnea in Part 1 of this guest series, when I offered to write a guest post for her blog. Soon afterward, Linnea broached the subject of maps. Her novel Apollo's Raven, Book One in the Curse of Clansmen and Kings series, was ready for publication, and she wanted a map to accompany the story.

Linnea writes historical fantasy set in the world of the ancient Celts. Though grounded in history, Linnea's stories explore the mythos of Celtic spirit warriors, and she invokes a lot of Celtic mythology and magic in her tales. You can read my four-star review of her novel here.

Check out this Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost for more maps!

While I specialize in mapping fictional worlds, I was quite excited to map a real-world location.

Linnea and I set up a time to talk on the phone about her map needs and how my commissions work.

The phone call went great. I answered all Linnea's questions about cost, time, and the commission process.

I also asked her some probing questions about the sort of map her story needed.

Based on her initial needs, we decided that an overview of England would suit her story best.

The long, skinny island was well-suited to a portrait-style map, and I was excited about my first portrait-oriented commission.

But as you can probably tell from the other landscape-style map shown above, this project changed course mid-stream.

As a result, Linnea now has two sets of antique maps, one showing an overview of ancient Britannia as a whole, and the other showing a more close-up view of the Cantiaci territory, where her story takes place.

Here's what she had to say about the finished maps:

I love this rendition of Ancient Britain! I am very happy with how it looks.

Thank you so much for working with me on this. I’ve been wanting to do this for some time for my manuscript.

It was a pleasure to work with you in creating my maps of Ancient Britain, that display the location of major Celtic tribal territories and landmarks referenced in my novel Apollo's Raven.

As I was writing my manuscript, I realized how important it was for readers to understand the distances between tribal capitals and landmarks. I loved the way that you highlighted the major landmarks of the White Cliffs (Dover Cliffs) and Apollo's Temple (Stonehenge) on the map.

Your final rendition looked like what an ancient map-maker would have created.

By your working closely with me, we were able to finalize the map that aptly represents my vision of Ancient Celtic Britain. You provided different styles of these maps that I can incorporate into my blog and final published work.

And I appreciated the way you carefully laid out the rights for using these maps. Thank you so much for working with me on this project. It was a joy to work with you.

As my series expands into Gaul (modern day France) and Italy,

I will definitely work with you again in creating these ancient worlds!

– Linnea Tanner, author of Apollo's Raven

That's it for this post! Up Next: How the coastlines took shape... Soon.

Or skip straight to Part 6: Helping Linnea with her book launch!

Want to bring your own world to life? We can map your world.
You deserve a professional map you can be proud to share.

Download Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost here, or start your adventure below.

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