World Mapping (the other side of things)
This is an interesting little article. It’s a short journey into the world of maps for fictional worlds, except not your usual fictional worlds. These are maps for non-speculative fiction worlds, which I find rather interesting. I guess it makes sense to have such maps (especially if you’re using a rather obscure location, or at least a location that you are very intimate with because you live there, but others might have problems understanding the ins and outs.I wonder what other fiction works have maps to them. Can you guys think of any? (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
New Continents in the Works
Yes, the title is correct. I am working on adding new continents to my world. As of right now I have one in mind and it is giving a hell of a lot more trouble than Traea ever did. Traea seemed to flow from my mind without much of a thought, but geographically speaking this new continent is too complex to seem real. I have to bring it down several notches now just to get it to where I like it. So what does this mean for WISB? A lot. First, the second book already is looking to be off of the mainland of Traea to begin with–though that can change as I progress through the story. A second continent is needed simply because I have way too much in my head for there not to be. I can’t put it all on Traea. That would make for a severely compressed batch of ideas and concepts. This second continent I think will incorporate some aspects that perhaps are not so prevalent in WISB as we know it, as well as drawing on some things that I think are quite intriguing but don’t get much play in the first book simply because there isn’t room for it. And since we know what the title of the second book is–the tentative title anyway being The Spellweaver of Dern–that should give quite a few clues as to what to expect for the second book. But first, I have to get through book one, I have to put together a portfolio so I can get into the creative writing program at UCSC, read a hell of a lot, keep writing short stories as I am horribly behind now, and try not to get overly annoyed with my grandma as she bugs me left and right to clean and clean and clean so we can sell the house while trying desperately to do all the things that are of the most value to me–basically anything that has to do with writing. Oi. 😛
Note On the Map
I want to make a quick note to any that might be so deeply into WISB. The map itself is designed, on my part, in reverse of where everything actually is. West on the map is actually East. I designed the map not really thinking about direction, but more about the placement of things. I likely will change this in the story at some point–making Teirlin’pur sit on the east or something of that nature. Right now, though, the correct way to look at the map is in reverse. West is East. East is West. Most likely I’ll just talk to my cartographer and have him invert it. Edit: I lied. I have gone through and fixed all the directions so the map is correct. It was actually less work than asking my cartographer to waste four hours trying to invert the map and make changes to the Aor River so it winds the correct way. So, really it doesn’t change anything to the story. It just means some minor scenes have been changed. I’ll be reposting all the changes. Don’t worry, unless you’re so into every minor detail of WISB it shouldn’t even affect the story for you.
Maps!
I present to everyone who wishes to see the maps of Traea. First is my original hand drawn map. It’s a little difficult to see, but good nonetheless.Next is the final version done by a lovely professional cartographer by the name of Steff WorthingtonHope you all enjoy the image. Click it to see the full version of it of course! Let me know what you all think! Note on all these maps. Clicking them will take you to a larger image. You can then expand those images. In Firefox it should show as a magnifying glass with a + in it when you put the cursor of the image. Just click and it will expand.