Hi, Would appreciate help

[micperk]

Hi, i've been researching maps for the past couple of days because i'm going to be starting a fantasy novel soon and mapping out the world is the first process. So I was hoping that maybe you guys would help by giving me the basic rules to follow and mistakes to avoid. I've tried to search around and find key things to avoid and correct things to do and its quite a lot to take in lol and I don't want to build a flawed map. Sooooo I decided to directly ask the experts ^^ (amazing maps on this site btw), any help is very very appreciated and will help me alot.

[TT1]

Hey micperk, I found this tutorials really helpful to me:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130126...ial/index.html

http://www.worldofgotha.com/PF_TUTOR...rah_index.html

Hope it helps.

[J.Edward]

Hey micperk - the first big flaw people make is with their rivers.
There's loads to be said about rivers and many here will tell you all about that.
As rivers flow down from their source, they don't split apart with the exception of a river delta or a man-made feature like a canal.
Many writers make this mistake and it is by far the biggest. Even fantasy reasons don't usually explain it away either.
There are other things like really unlikely mixes of terrain and biome features that wouldn't exist together normally.

There are also things that get done far too often but those are not really wrong, just somewhat tired.
Best thing to do is rough sketch a map and ask for suggestions of what might be wrong.
If you are trying to keep it hush hush then you can private message some particular users for their advice.
[Though you have to have more than 5 posts before you can use the private message system.]

There are various members who have much more knowledge in certain areas who could be of a lot of help.
Pixie and Azelor discuss plate tectonics and climate a lot and are quite knowledgeable there.
Chick knows a lot about geology and various other things.
The HoarseWhisperer and various others know quite a lot about certain time periods and city layouts and such.
There's a host of various expert info here. Just ask more specific questions to get better advice.
Cheers,
John

[waldronate]

https://web.archive.org/web/20130126...ial/index.html

Sorry to interrupt, but the jslayton tutorials that were once at http://www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton are now at http://www.fracterra.com due to an unfortunate ISP change.

[TT1]

Sorry to interrupt, but the jslayton tutorials that were once at http://www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton are now at http://www.fracterra.com due to an unfortunate ISP change.

Oh, great! I found a lot of links to them but all expired. So, I got this one from the archive. Thank you for the update, waldronate.

[Diamond]

I agree with J. about the river issue. That is THE main offender, in my opinion, and unfortunately one of the hardest things to change once you've started writing your novel.

Really, the best thing to do is just dive in. Post your map, no matter how crude, and there will usually be folks willing to jump in and critique/help.

And welcome to the Guild!

[selden]

Large rivers split apart a lot. The results are called "islands".

[Chick]

Large rivers split apart a lot. The results are called "islands".

Flowing around an island is not a split of the river, it's just flowing around an island and back together. ALL the water ends up in the same place entering the sea.

[Jaxilon]

Rivers are the biggest oops made new mappers. If you think you have an exception try another pair of eyes or make sure your brain isn't fooling you. Google earth is pretty awesome for checking out how things flow and you can find some oddities which if you do some research on them you may find out how those things happen and why. Then you are able to explain if anyone asks.

[TimPaul]

I'm going to toss this in. It depends on the novels you are going to write and the world.

It's a fantasy world. The rules of our geography doesn't have to apply to your world. Only if you want to, or it's appropriate to the world you are creating.

For example, there's about 5 rivers that bifurcate. Meaning they split and don't rejoin each other in this world. I say about, because people will argue about a few of them, if they really do or don't. But you can have rivers split if you want. You can have impossible geography if you want.

Personally, create what works for you. You will have people that disagree with you, no matter what you do. So it's better to do what you want, then to try and please people you will never meet.