Have you ever come across a story where things just feel weird?
Or maybe you've read a book where the characters just can't seem to keep things straight?
We've all run into those stories and the problems that plague them are quite natural- every writer will suffer from a world with flaws. However, many of these issues can be avoided through a bit of persistence and hard work.
For today, let's examine the importance of a map for any given writing project.
1. Why a map?
2. When do I need a map?
3. How should my map look?
4. Who should my map represent?
5. Where should my map cover?
1. Why a map?
Maps are an essential feature of any good story. In many ways, they are arguably more important to the story than an outline- without a map your characters have no real sense of the world around them and will often find themselves unable to keep an adequate track of places, or storylines may overlap.
Maps keep the world in perspective for your characters and give the reader an important point of reference, but are not essential to a reader's perspective. As a relatively-omniscient being whose purpose is to observe the unfolding drama, the reader does not need to be bothered with every detail, but the characters must know their location, otherwise there is no purpose to the phrase, "we are lost," if the characters never knew where they were in the first place.
2. When do I need a map?
Before your story is outlined, ideally. A map is the invisible cogs within the machine that keep all the scattered elements together. It is the board on which a game is played- without a map, the characters operate in a vacuum and are simply thrown together by the random elements of chance in a chaos-wracked world. With a map they may still be thrown together by chance in a chaos-wracked world, but at least then they bow to an overarching hand that guides them through the turmoil, rather than a complete rolling of the cosmic dice. After all, even said cosmic dice need a table to be rolled upon- that is the reason for a map.
3. How should my map look?
Ideally as detailed as possible, without being overwhelming. It is not necessary for the reader to always find the characters on the map at any given point, so long as the characters can find themselves. My point here is fairly simple- the reader is allowed to imagine whatever the reader pleases, being, essentially, a semi-omniscient being who is observing the unfolding drama on the plain below. However, the characters, as real as the tree next to them in their world, have a dire import to know where that tree is on the map of their local village, so they don't encounter the bear on the other side of the village, known to inhabit the mountain near the stream crossing.
4. Who should my map represent?
Ideally both sides of a given question, or at the very least, all the knowledge that the protagonist possesses. For instance, saying, "We have only a map up to this (fill in the blank) point," has no meaning if the reader can see everything beyond that. This would allow one to make a momentous event of when they were able to acquire another map that fills in the gaps, for instance, or allows for the discovery of hither-to unknown passage ways and tunnels. That being said, a map with all of the world on it that is important to the story, is a very effective way to proceed with world-building via map.
5. Where should my map cover?
Everywhere important, ideally not too much more than that. Like a good story, a good map allows a story to be written on it without giving any more detail than is needed to allow the reader's mind to wander and explore the hinted-at vast corners of the world that one has built.
All told, maps are essential to any good story, so break out the pen and paper and start drawing!
Until next time,
Mat
