I'm trying to draw a map of the primary continent in my world (yet to be named) but I want some more interesting structures than mountains, deserts, and plains. Anyone have any ideas?

~RJazz

Hmm, I will ask my brother (who is learning to draw the entire world plus countries, capitals, and features in 30 weeks) if he has any good ideas. Or I could just borrow his notebook... Not a bad idea, come to think of it. Anywho, I'll get back to you.

Caves ?

I second caves. Archipelagos are always interesting. Atolls are amazing. Hills are highly rated. Um....a veldt is very interesting. (What's a veldt again?). Plateaus are perfect for people to live on. Glaciers are gradually becoming accepted in fantasy. Let's see, rivers are refreshing additions to any story, and peninsulas and gulfs are great as well.

@Shawn: I want to see that notebook, too.

I had some ideas last night... let's see if I can recall them. Caves was one, as was plateaus, so I second those suggestions.

Geysers. Canyons. Crater where a meteor hit.

Try looking up a foreign country and studying their geographical features. For instance, some unique Venezuelan geography was shown in Up, like the "twisty rocks." The technical name for that structure I cannot remember at this time, else I would put it on the official suggestions list.

I'm just drawing a map for now so I don't think I'll have caves til I name everything. If I had more water I could do Archipelagos and Atolls (dude, those things look amazing ). I've got a few hills. When I name stuff I'm calling the plains a veld instead (basically the same thing but cooler word, thanks). I've got mesas for the anthrogryphs to live on but some should live on plateaus. I have a lake created by a glacier. A few nice rivers, peninsulas and gulfs...



I hadn't even considered geysers! (I do have a hot spring though...). Not sure where to put a canyon but the crater may be perfect for the only real city I'll have for a while!

Thanks for the input guys! Keep it coming.

Okay, here goes:
Volcano
Fjord
Island
Peninsula
Isthmus
Dike/Levee
Lake
Glade
Enclave
Marina
Breakwater
Cliff
Shoal
Salt Water Lake
Waterways
Fords
Bayou
Swamp (Like the Everglades)
Gulf
Sea
Peak
Cape
Continental shelf
Oceanic: basin/plateau/trench
Estuary
Firth
Headland
Bight
Raised beach
Machair
Atoll
Arch
Ayre

I would like to point out that not all of these are from my brother's notebook, these are not all the ones in my brother's notebook, and I have no clue what some of these are. If you need some for a specific region I can investigate some more.

That's an impressive list, Shawn. Can you tell me what a machair and an ayre are?

Ah, no. I could look it up...

EDIT: Here you go!

Machair: The Gaelic word machair or machar refers to a fertile low-lying grassy plain found on some of the north-west coastlines of Ireland and Scotland, in particular the Outer Hebrides. Two distinct types exist:
* A type of sand-dune pasture, subject to agricultural cultivation, which prevails in wet and windy conditions;
* The land between a beach and the area where sand encroaches on peat bogs further inland.

Ayre: An ayre is a body of water divided from the sea by a narrow bar of land. The term is derived from an Old Norse word used to depict a lake which is only separated by a narrow strip of low lying land from the sea itself. Sometimes, the term ayre is used interchangeably for the tombolo associated with the narrow strip of land.

Thanks. I was curious because I couldn't find them in the dictionary. You and your brother are obviously dedicated in your research of geographic structures.

Well, I am not so much "a dedicated researcher", but thank you for the complement. Riniel, if you Google "geographical features" or "geographical structures," you can find lots of information, and pictures so you know what they look like.

You do my heart proud kiddo! If I ever go to design a map, this is the place to go.

Thanks.

Rain forest, deciduous forest, deltas are cool, that's about all I can think of off the top of my head. I also didn't read all the previous ones, so pardon me if I repeated.

woah, impressive... I'm going to have to look a ton of those up... You and your brother have my thanks.

I'll tell him that you liked them.

*Raises hand* Thanks from me too, Shawn!