maps and building a world

[Steel General]

For me it all depends, sometimes I have a clear cut goal in mind and everything kinda just flows out of brain.

Others I struggle with and go back and forth constantly tinkering with things until I'm finally happy.

[Dogzilla]

I just have a general idea of what kind of scale/landforms I want, then I can make the map. The I use the map to develop my ideas of the history/culture.

Place names come later. Before I name anything, I need to know some history, religion/gods, culture and language. If a culture/region is prominent, I think about the language a bit and make up some words for things like colors and landforms. So if Gold=Val, Tree=Kon, Kingdom=Thar and City=Dar, then an area where golden trees grow might be Valkonthar. And the Golden City might be Valdar, etc. The feel of consistency this give to the map, for me, makes it well worthwhile.