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Thread: Two Continents, One Hopeless Author

  1. #1

    Help Two Continents, One Hopeless Author

    Hi guys, what I'm about to propose might anger some people, but I honestly have no other choice left. I've heard all the "Make your own map" comments and really have tried to do so, but I'm an author, not a cartographer. What I need, desperately, is a map for my story. The story takes place on two continents, significantly different in size (the one to the east is larger). The main continent (on the west) is well sized, but not large enough that one side is noticeably culturally different from the other. There are a fair number of mountains and forest on this continent (named Numenor), but there aren't many forests (only two, but one is fairly large). Numenor is dominated by the race of humans called Numenorians, tall, fair, and proud people. The other continent (Khorviare) is a melting pot of different cultures and races (elves, dwarves, humans, all that good stuff). Here I let the cartographer loose his hand when it comes to forests and mountains and all those geographical features, but the mountains and forests should be more prevalent in the north as the south is dominated by deserts with a few oasis scattered here and there. When it comes to cities, I'll handle the naming and placing, same goes for geographical features. On Khorviare there should be a long mountain range separating the north from the south. That's... well that's how I basically imagine my world. It all always works out so perfectly in my head, but the moment I try to draw it out I lose the image. Please, I beg you, someone, make me a map. If my book ever goes big, I'll put in a mention on the cover and backside to both the Cartographer's Guild and the actual person who drew out the map. Well, I'm probably not going to get my map, but hey, I guy can wish right?

  2. #2
    Guild Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Baltimore, MD
    Posts
    71

    Default

    There is actually a section of the forums specifically for this kind of request titled Mapmaking Requests.
    Mapmaking Requests

    There's a readme there that will help you format your post to get the most helpful possible response.

  3. #3
    Guild Apprentice
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Seattle-ish, Washington
    Posts
    41

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    Sounds like a case of Mapper's Block.
    If I may, maybe you could grab a piece of paper and a pencil, close your eyes, and let your pencil wander. There doesn't have to be anything definitive at first. Simply imagine the shores, the mountains, or whichever feature you feel most strongly about and let your hands mark it on the paper. Perhaps soaring along with the creatures of the air in your world, your hand will make note of certain things that you may not have realized were even there...
    Offering a blank canvas to someone upon which to place the images of your mind may not result in a product that you watned, especially since there really isn't something for the artist to see. Making your own rudimentary map would go a long way to having someone else finish it for you, or just pretty it up a bit. At this point it isn't about what your skill level is as it is about getting the images in your mind's eye to paper.
    The image doesn't have to be crisp, precise, exact, what have you, but it should probably be yours. Something that someone else makes isn't going to have the feel of the image in your mind's eye, the details that you've already put there, and may not be a suitable home for either the Numenorians nor the Khorviarans. By laying the groundwork, regardless of the level of artistic ability would go a long way to enabling someone else to fulfill your vision.
    Just my two cents.

  4. #4
    Guild Journeyer
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    West Lafayette, Indiana
    Posts
    100

    Default

    Unless your last name is Tolkien, you may want to reconsider using Numenor/Numenorian.

    Númenor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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