Sunday I start a residency with Hypatia in the Woods. Two weeks of solitude, writing, and Trader Joe’s freezer meals. This is every mother/writer’s dream. In order to make this work I’ve done a lot of “sub planning” including for my actual classes. I am leaving my novel writing kids in the patient if not exceptionally knowledgeable hands of my husband which meant some fun writing adjacent activities that Violet can lead if need be. Week two is going to involve drawing a fantasy map version of their story worlds.
World Building is something I enjoy, but drawing out my worlds fantasy map style brings in a whole new dimension of creativity. I scored a book years ago at Joanne’s fabric of all places, How to Draw Fantasy Art &RPG Maps: step by step cartography for gamers and fans. By Jared Blando. It really is a step by step that even my youngest kids have played around with, but the process of drawing out the physical world has benefits for the seasoned author as well.
Step one is to define your world. Generally I define “world” as the largest container of the story, but sometimes that would be a little too large to fit on a single page, so in this instance I would suggest the space in which your actual arenas are located. For my current book that would be a town in Virginia with a portal to a different universe—that happens to be about the size of Pennsylvania.
On paper you draw a simple shape then add in coastlines, lakes, and islands. As a mental exercise you can start to visualize—how far is it between arenas? Could my characters travel the way I imagined? Do I need time jumps? How does this island I just drew fit into things? There is also an element of letting your body physically create a space that has been in your head up to now. It’s magic.
Once you have your big space done it’s time to add in geographic features like mountains, forests, and rivers. I’m a little obsessed with trees; my worlds usually have forests. There is an element of Zentangle (I’ll do a Hyperfocus on it someday) in the repeated drawing of a simple form. I like to think of the history of my world while I’m drawing mountains and forests. Who might have trod there, what secrets are hidden behind hills or in the dense woods.
Next the cities, towns, and villages spring up with roads to connect them. This is where your arenas come in. If you planned well in the last step, you already know what needs to be on a river, or where a castle should be hanging off the side of a mountain. Roads can wind with the terrain or cut through with tunnels and caves. Each one should have its own personality.
This is where the meat of your story is going to take place: on the roads and in the buildings or secret tunnels beneath bank vaults. You get to plan where the goblins are hiding, or when a strange rider is going to intercept your protagonist. With this step it all becomes that much more real.
Blando has instructions for a lot of additional content like fancy lettering and symbols, how to delineate political lines and the like. Also special features that give a Where’s Waldo effect of easter eggs and hidden possibilities for further adventures. Mysterious caves or maybe a desert. The only thing limiting you is your imagination.
Thanks for joining me today folks. The next two weeks I an going to be on a residency and I will try to post updates with pictures and project info, as well as some little writing prompts that are helping me in the writing and editing process.
Happy Writing this week!!!
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