Why do we have to have so much stuff on our fantasy world maps? seriously, I look at one and there's all this stuff and I have no idea what it is or why and it never gets used in the story.
Sure back story is cool and all that, but really. "Well Tolkien did it" you say. Actually, no, everything on his map had to do with stuff it wasn't just filler.
For my "Epic," I just threw out my map and made a new one, this time as if I were a person living in the world and making a map of the important places for myself. It's really neat to see it in this different way. Y'all should try it if you already haven't!

~Joe~

(another thing that annoys me is having a map in the front of the book. It always gives some of the plot away, and you can't help but peek.)

I love the maps in the front of books. Helps you to visualize where you are at any given time in the book. I don't think it's a spoiler at all. My point of view, anyway. I haven't ever made a map for my book anyway...

There. My boring comment.

Well--it's fun. Plus, the more you develop that's different from earth, the more real and 3-dimensional your world would seem. And sometimes, it can get the plot wheels turning inside your head.

Personally, I don't really world-build because it necessarily helps my book all that much. I do it because it's like a creativity exercise, and it's fun! =) Think of making a sand-castle, you know. It doesn't have much use, but it's fun, and you're always embellishing it and adding more details (And yes, at sixteen I still proudly make sandcastles )...same with world-building, at least to me.

eruheran

I've never made a map before but I think the more detail you put on it the more people who read/look at it can visualise how you imagine it to be. I think the more detail the better, but that's just me.

I don't build a world so I can write about it. My world came first and THEN I got he idea that I should write a story of something that went on in it. Oh sure, it's changed some to accommodate my story but it was there before the characters.

For me its the same as Eruheran. I build my world for the fun of it, not simply to know the major landmarks of my world (Though that sounds like an interesting idea, I might just do that).
The more "little" things I add to my map, the more developed I feel I can make my races. When I add the name of some random river, I can create a folk tale of how the names came to be. This tale may eventually affect one of my MCs.

Besides, if you ask your MC, and only put the points they suggest, won't that be giving away the plot? Since they're liable to only mention places they encounter one their story?
I will admit, I've seen a book with a very simple map (just the few major points you mentioned) and it did give the plot away. In a sense. I became curious to seen when/what the characters would find such-and-such location.
But that was a basic map. A more developed map might (I say might) not have done this. By adding these other places, I can "conceal" the plot (if the need arises).

I also write better with a map. If gives me a visual of where my characters are going. Then, instead of guessing, I can calculate how long it should take them to get somewhere. I, like Bush, enjoy the maps in books. It really helps me when I'm reading to know exactly where the characters are.


All-in-all, I enjoy making my maps because they help me to further develop my world. And that's my goal right now. I'll face my books later.

What I mean is we should have plenty of detail but not too much.

(you can always have a detailed version for yourself.)

Detail in a map gives history. A world is very unrealistic if the only places in the world are the places used in the book. It makes the world seem more real and tangent.

I much prefer when there is a map in the book. For some reason I've yet to figure out, I can't stand it when when a book doesn't have a map. I guess I just like to know where they're going.

There are two levels of detail that you want.

First, you want to create a super detailed map for yourself. A serious, scholarly, almost obsessive understanding of your world is essentially to create a believable story.

On the other hand, there are lots of details your readers don't need. When you're making a map for the reader, focus on making the map look like it was created by a mapmaker from your world.

The reasons I draw a detailed map:

1. It gives more depth to the world.

2. It allows me to plan the path of the characters.

3. It can inspire new ideas.

4. It's fun.

That's a big one. With my plot, I know where they end up and how they end up there, but I need a how so I go to the map.

If you've seen my map and read my story, you'd probably be mad because the story only takes place on a small part. What I did is I made a big world map, and made another, more detailed map of the area where I was writing about. Come next November when I write another novel, I may want to write a new story with new characters. So, instead of having to develop an entirely new world, I'll just use another continent.

What he said!

Having all those places on your map just makes people wonder and go "he wants to write a sequel!"
If you give everything away now there won't be any left for a sequel.

On the contrary. I have drawn a detailed map of Lamar and intend to have it in my book. That's as far as I have to this point but Lamar is a small continent on the wide Lor-amar. One thing that bothers me is when everyone has a continent but doesn't say anything about the rest of the world. I respected C.S. Lewis in his creation of a flat world which had an end. There are always worlds beyond to detail in the future. There are also places where nothing notable happens and there is no reason to visit them.

Good point, Riniel. Sometimes there is development that you want to share with the reader, but you don't want to necessarily write about it, so you can share it in the form of a map.

Haha! The depth that you add to the story in that form shouldn't be kept for yourself. Give it to the reader as well.

Exactly.


I like looking at detailed maps, even if some places are never used in the story.

As someone said earlier, the less that you have on the map the more spoiler that it is. You know that they are going to go to those places and it looks underdeveloped.

I have the feeling this is going in circles.

Exactly, then they can use it to write history papers. (Me and Tolkien again).

Tolkien himself said that you need a map to write a story, or you will get all confused geographically as you write it.
I myself say that I use maps to develop story. Something like this, "Well, there's a whole in those mountains! I suppose some clever person would build a nation back there..." and behold! the kingdom of Juturith the Magician springs to life! Okay, not that simple, but it helps.
I don't fill my maps with stuff I don't understand. If there is an empty space, I either leave it that way or I fill it an make-up the rough-edges of what that place is about and how it got there.
I like imitating Tolkien. Tolkien seems to be the only author for whom you would have respect based on your values. If you want fantasies that don't give-away plot points with the maps and actually have stuff everywhere, then Tolkien is your man.

I don't mean having maps is bad. I mean that we sometimes add far to much to our maps.
And having maps in the front or back is personal preference methinks.

I think everyone has brought up some very interesting ideas in here. And I agree with a lot of the statements made. I just thought I’d point something out, in Brink’s favor. Lewis had maps in the Chronicles of Narnia. While I enjoy the maps, I can see Brink’s point here. Lewis had places pinpointed on the map in which a description of something a character did there, is given. For someone just opening the book, these are plot giveaways. For someone familiar with the story, like Lewis, or any of us who have read the stories, it is a fun tidbit that reminds us of the journeys. So your status as a reader plays into affect a lot in how a map is viewed. Just thought I’d help support Brink’s idea a little more. He’s not saying maps are bad, he’s more asking us to look at what we might need to leave off of our maps in order to not foil the plot for our readers, just opening our books for the first time.