Book Maps.

[Badger]

@kpadua Thank you very much, I appreciate the compliments.

Ok, I went in and touched up the mountains to make them appear less like a patter overlay and more like mountains drawn in ... not the greatest of jobs, but I'm tired of looking at mountains... lol

Went in and redid the forest and added jungle....

I took out the two large circular land borders out... I didn't add dark line connecting the land together.... is it noticable? Should I go back and and trace and outline along the edge to conect land pieces together?

I printed it out at the size it will be in the book, and I'm fairly happy with it, so many things aren't noticeable at the level and that's a good thing. So that the map isn't too busy I'm going to forgo putting in rivers and other features such as swamps, deserts etc. Nor are any cities going on the map. So all that is left really on this is some text ....

[Gandwarf]

I printed it out at the size it will be in the book, and I'm fairly happy with it, so many things aren't noticeable at the level and that's a good thing. So that the map isn't too busy I'm going to forgo putting in rivers and other features such as swamps, deserts etc. Nor are any cities going on the map. So all that is left really on this is some text ....

Still looking great. The maps do look a bit "empty" but as you said this is probably a good thing for a book sized map. Is that also the reason why you didn't add any cities? The first map in this thread didn't have any cities either... just wondering.

[Badger]

Well, I decided i'm not going to use the first map I posted. It's has elements in it which are not in the story, in fact, only a small section of that map is in the actual story at all, so I felt it wasn't a very strong map and needed to be ditched.

As far as cities go, The lands are wild and chaotic throughout the book, and there is only one town in which any of the story takes place. I can't really go into all the aspects of the story line, but putting any of the cities on there for this book is overkill and nothing but clutter.

Oh ... and I decided to post up the first prologue to the book over at plotstorming. You will have to have an account on the forum as its in the private section http://www.plotstorming.com/forum/in...p?topic=1705.0 ... That should give you some idea as to what the book is about. And hopefull that prologue does its job and makes you want to read more.

[jfrazierjr]

Very pretty map. Love the Volcano.

You need tree trunks... but you already knew I was going to say that didn't ya.

Oh yea.... wheres your SCALE????

[Badger]

@Jojo
Thanks, the volcano is my favorite part of the map... it just looked like it was actually spewing ash and smoke.

What is a scale?
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SG was right, over at PS, they aren't very active, or don't like to read that much. So I decided that I'd post the prologue here as well for ya'll to read. Mainly looking to see if you understand the story, perceive it as it is happening, and that it wants you to keep reading more. Feel free to PM your thoughts if you don't want to post them here.

Thanks....

prologue_AtD_10052008.doc

[Gandwarf]

@Jojo
Thanks, the volcano is my favorite part of the map... it just looked like it was actually spewing ash and smoke.
prologue_AtD_10052008.doc

Man, I though the vulcano was part of the second map. Thanks for making me search for half an hour, before I realised it was in the first map

[Gandwarf]

Anyway, I have read your prologue. You may be onto something here: it is well written (it's certainly not amateur) and it got me hooked from the first few sentences. Which is definitely a good thing!

I like the story that you are setting. I love the concept of the gods getting shut out and them apparantly wondering what happened to them.

Some criticism:

- I know it's a prologue, but I think there's too many names in those first six pages. It will confuse readers. It's not so bad that it distracted me, but it would not have been my choice (in my own novels I am trying to introduce new characters gently).

- This is really personal: I dislike fantasy books using standard races like orcs, elves and halflings. I think they should be restricted to Lord of the Rings
You are creating something unique I think, so why use races that have been done SO much. But as I said this is really personal and many people won't be bothered by it or will even love it.

- Page 5, row 5: "Human" should be "Humans"?

- I don't like the groveling halfling servant of that evil god. He's pathetic and almost comical. Would an evil god allow such a creature in his presence? He might have specific reasons of course... which I don't know yet. For now I dislike it.
(in my own novels the bad guys don't allow weakness, they despise it and crush it)

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Having said this: I like the work and would have said so if I though otherwise. Those six pages are not enough for me to decide if this is a story I would want to read, but it is a very promising start. This is the quality I would expect of a novel bought in stores.

[Badger]

Man, I though the vulcano was part of the second map. Thanks for making me search for half an hour, before I realised it was in the first map

LOL... sorry about that, I might feature the volcano in another map later on..

Some criticism:

- I know it's a prologue, but I think there's too many names in those first six pages. It will confuse readers. It's not so bad that it distracted me, but it would not have been my choice (in my own novels I am trying to introduce new characters gently).

- This is really personal: I dislike fantasy books using standard races like orcs, elves and halflings. I think they should be restricted to Lord of the Rings
You are creating something unique I think, so why use races that have been done SO much. But as I said this is really personal and many people won't be bothered by it or will even love it.

- Page 5, row 5: "Human" should be "Humans"?

- I don't like the groveling halfling servant of that evil god. He's pathetic and almost comical. Would an evil god allow such a creature in his presence? He might have specific reasons of course... which I don't know yet. For now I dislike it.
(in my own novels the bad guys don't allow weakness, they despise it and crush it)

--------

Having said this: I like the work and would have said so if I though otherwise. Those six pages are not enough for me to decide if this is a story I would want to read, but it is a very promising start. This is the quality I would expect of a novel bought in stores.

@names -- believe it or not, I took alot of the fantasy language out, and with 18 gods, the majority of which participate in the ongoing story, I needed to at least familiarize the reader with some of the names... mentioning them, but not actively participating in the conversation. I am with you on trying to ease the reader into the story with minimal "fantasy jargon" shock...
I dreaded having to write in how the universe around Azora works... the cosmology and make up ... but I got it done with two paragraphs and minimal nervous system damage...

@Races... don't worry, there will be plenty of extra races for you ... that's just the start.. got to have staple fantasy icons somewhere tho

@Pidgawidgeon .... Everyone hates him... but you had to like it when Zyphas just flat out killed him. And he keeps him around just for that purpose... Zyphas likes having a few such weaker underlings just for that specific purpose. He doesn't play an intrical part in the book, but he does have a purpose...

I appreciate the criticism, I'm already considering the fantasy names issue... My wife also says thank you for the feedback, it is most welcome. We also thank you for the compliments as well... we at least know its headed in the right direction when we hear comments like that

[Schley]

Interesting maps overall, but I have a few crits that I think might help.

1. Consider the paper quality and size that you will be printing at. If your working at trade paperback size or smaller you may run into some resolution/ink bleed issues in the heavily textured areas. Less is more.

2. Try to introduce a bit more visual flavor into the textured areas. For instance; in the World Map image you have so many mountains illustrated at roughly the same size that the area seems flattened out rather than consisting of interesting peaks an valleys. The same goes for the forested areas. Maybe break them up a bit to add some visual interest.

3. Be careful with your cloning and pattern making otherwise the texture repetition can stand out like a sore thumb.

Hope these help and keep up the good work.

Mike

[Gandwarf]

@Pidgawidgeon .... Everyone hates him... but you had to like it when Zyphas just flat out killed him. And he keeps him around just for that purpose... Zyphas likes having a few such weaker underlings just for that specific purpose. He doesn't play an intrical part in the book, but he does have a purpose...

Hmm, to be honest I didn't like that either. I don't know, I thought it was annoying. Weakness breeds weakness

In my story that halfling - although I don't feature them - would probably have his throat ripped out. But not before his belly was sliced open and live rats were put in. And before that he would have had to watch his entire family tortured, abused and killed. Oh, and he certainly wouldn't have been brought back alive They might have kept some of his female relatives as entertainment, though.

But hey, the wizards in my story aren't really that nice people.