This is the earliest serious map I remember drawing.

I made up the coastlines and all the place names as I went, if I remember right. I covered it with wax paper to make it like it was laminated. I never wrote any stories in connection with it, or with any of the places on it, and it was not based on any previous work I had done. I did not forget about it, but it remained completely stand alone.

Except for one extremely important detail: on the back it is blank, but it has a word written at the top:

iniEl

Actually I was surprised to find it there. I do not know whether I had made it previously as the name of my world and put it on the "map of my world," or if I made it up for the maps name, like the other names on the map itself, or if I made it up afterwards and made it the name of the map just to store it there.

But I know it is the earliest occurrence of the name Iniel written down, and also the earliest occurrence in my memory. I did not even realize it was created so early.




So tell me what you think of the map! What things do you like best about it? Or what parts do you like best? Does it remind you of anything?

I will not be using it in my stories, but I would still like to know what everyone thinks of it, even if you dislike it. I sort of disliked it myself...

Wow, that's neat! My oldest map is not nearly as good. XD It also covers a much smaller area. And every tree and mountain is drawn individually. XD

Did you use your map? I never ended up using anything from this one... except the name iniEl, apparently. Which I used for everything.

I did for a while, then upgraded to...a wider-range map. Still with individual mountains and trees. That took hours to draw. XD

I remember being frustrated with such things! Well, I would still be frustrated with them if I still did it. But I have not done enough map making of any kind recently. Have you?
And do you use any of the names from your older maps? I need to go through my old names...

I haven't drawn a map in ages. But my current maps of Eshteka do use some of the old names.