Who Needs A Map?

The map is long one of those staples of fantasy worldbuilding. I don’t normally do them…or, at least, not with any real level of detail, and that probably makes me weird among fantasy writers. I’ve occasionally sketched out very loose schematics for where things are and how the world is laid out, but it’s more akin to a “ball and stick” diagram that shows the most important features and little more beyond that.

Maps are definitely an interesting thing to think about in terms of fantasy, and I’ve thought about maybe cleaning up some ideas and putting maps of my worlds in my books. But I think there’s actually a bit of appeal in having that vagueness about the lay of the land, letting the reader discover the world as the characters do instead of starting with a bit of a “head start” through the inclusion of a concrete map.

There’s also the issue of my artistic talents being not what I would like to give a map or a drawing the justice that I’d want to, the vision I see rendered largely moot by my inability to properly translate it to pen and paper (or the proverbial equivalent). There’s a particular frustration that sometimes comes about from bot being able to paint what you see with your mind’s eye.

Still, I have an idea of where things are in my worlds, and I do what I can to avoid contradictions. I might not have a map, but I’ve often found that I tend to fare decently without one. When I travel, I actually rarely need a map or GPS once I get settled in; I’m pretty good at using landmarks and a general sense of the land’s lay to find my way. I’m not unimpeachable, but I find that I don’t get lost too often.

I think that sort of intuition with navigation commutes a bit to my worldbuilding and my writing. I don’t need a hard and fast map, instead relying on my sense of where things are, how to get places, and what’s where when people get there. I try to be consistent in terms of distances and realistic in terms of what capabilities are.

But as far as maps and cartography go, my main aim is to make sure I’m not crossing wires or creating confusion. Leaving a bit of ambiguity also affords me a bit of flexibility, so that I can tweak more aggressively if circumstances call for tweaking and adjusting the lay of the land to make things happen.

I think that whether or not one should do a map is something you need to figure out for yourself, though I feel like you shouldn’t do the map just for readers. There’s a bit to be gained, but I think that a map alone won’t get people to care about your world. It’s like a bit of a nice sauce on top of a steak: if your steak is bad, then the sauce isn’t going to save it, but it can really elevate the steak if it’s already good.

As long as you’re not inconsistent, you don’t need a map. Don’t feel like you need one. I do wish I had a nice one at times, but that’s more for my own benefit than out of a desire to have it in my books. I suppose that’s something applicable to art in general, but here we are.