SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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World-Building: Maps
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Star Trek-
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Star Wars-
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Firefly-
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I’ve always been captivated by the vastness of the universe, which was fueled by my love for galactic scale maps in tabletop RPGs and video games. My fascination with deep space, black holes, and neutron stars has grown into a passion, and I wanted to set my Novel in a real place. As a sci-fi enthusiast, my ultimate goal is for fellow nerds to gaze up at the stars, point, and exclaim, “That’s Menkalinan - the very place where Kai Randel first encountered the Stygiamites!”
![a.g.e. montagner (agem) | 336 comments](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1584863157p1/5530740.jpg)
Simon Jiménez, whose The Spear Cuts Through Water is our fantasy Book of the Month also wrote an article for the same website explaining why the map of his own book is basically useless as territory.
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https://www.tor.com/author/jonathan-c...
https://www.tor.com/2022/08/25/fantas...
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I've drawn some for my book, but they aren't great, so I left them out. My daughter is in college right now getting a degree in Graphic Design. She doesn't know it yet, but her first job will be doing maps/covers and various artwork for my books!
She won't be getting a choice on that ! LOL
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The distance between locations, how they interact with each other, their specific landscapes, etc etc., all of these things should inform the story and guide the writer to where the logical conclusion of events lies. Without this, I think the narrative bumbles around in the dark, lost in a sea of terra incognita.
My own map, which I'd made well before I started writing, helped so much.
![Elysia-Novel](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1723581945i/35851165._SY540_.png)
In my opinion, I dislike having unnecessary notes and lore that just end up gathering dust. These bits of information may never have any relevance to the story, such as the distance between different systems. However, I believe they are useful in creating maps that can enhance the story by giving the reader a visual representation of the world. They bring the world to life in ways that just describing geography cannot. To me, maps play a crucial role in creating a believable and immersive world.
Did you follow along from the Shire to Helm's Deep?
Did you check to see if Mon Calamari was in the Outer Rim or Mid Rim?
Do maps add to the story or bring you closer to the adventure?