Let's Build a World: Day 5 - The Map

[ladyseishou]

I have an existential map. It has 'You are here' written all over it.

- Steven Wright


It's Day 5 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over Day 5: The Map from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Get out those notebooks and pens and pencils and start today's exercise:

...draw out the physical contours of your map, and then identify at least three places that your people might live.

Okay, no excuses! Ms. Bryant lists some great ideas for "faking" a map! And here are some additional links that feature map making advice:

Holly Lisle's Maps Workshop - "Developing the Fictional World through Mapping"

Map Making for fantasy writers - scale advice

Fantasy World Map - examples of maps made with ProFantasy software (no personal knowledge of the software but it looks cool)

Peter's Guide to Map Creation - uses Photoshop.

And for the Nano Writer that has two left thumbs when it comes to drawing, here's a website that will create a map for you (more for gamers but it gets the job done): Random Map Generator

Any other link recommendations?

What do you say Nano Writer? Were you able to map out your world without losing yourself in the details? Have fun! But remember to come back tomorrow! And bring along those maps!