How to make a fantasy map that helps the story

Make a fantasy map when your story has too many places to hold in your head: several locations, long journeys, or events happening in different regions at once. Draw it to answer practical questions about where things are and how long it takes to get there, keep the art as simple as it can be, and let it send you back to the plot. A map you can use beats a map you can frame.

For the wider question of how much world a novel needs, see worldbuilding for novelists and how to write a fantasy novel.

Do you need one?

Not always. In Writer's Digest, Christopher Paolini says that for stories on a smaller scale a map may not be necessary, but for fantasy tales with numerous locations, extensive travel or concurrent events, it is a useful organising device. He realised he needed one about a third of the way through Eragon. The story had been set in a small town where he could keep things straight in his head, then it expanded, and he could no longer keep track of how far one city was from another or how long the trip would take.

Tolkien went the other way. The same article quotes his 1954 letter: "I wisely started with a map, and made the story fit." Both routes work. Wikipedia quotes the scholar Stefan Ekman on why: a regular map re-presents what is already there, while a fictional map is often primary, so that creating the map means largely creating the world of the map.

Fictional maps are older than the genre. Wikipedia lists Thomas More's Utopia in 1516, which came with a map of the island, and later Gulliver's Travels and Treasure Island, both published with maps. A map in the front of a book is a convention readers already know how to use.

Step 1: decide what the map must answer

Write down the questions before you pick up a pen. Paolini's were distance and time: how far is it from city to city, and where do the important locations stand in relation to each other? Yours might be which kingdom borders which, which route the heroes take and who could reach whom first.

Paolini says his map is not as exact as a cartographer's but is "generally correct in relationships," and that was what the story needed.

Step 2: pick a scale that fits the whole story

Size the map for the entire story, including books you have not written. Paolini's first draft of Alagaësia was half the final map, the western half, drawn on a single sheet of printer paper. He thought it was plenty. Then he disliked the proportions, which he compared to looking at video in portrait instead of landscape, and wanted room for variety. His point: some writers cram so much into a small space that you get lost in names and dotted lines. Overcrowding any one area also feels unrealistic once the story spreads out over a series.

A practical consequence is to leave empty space. Blank areas can be filled when the plot gets there.

Step 3: shape the land from real models

Paolini suggests two sources. First, genre conventions, since dwarves in mountains and elves in forests help dictate the landscape if you want to use them. Second, nature as a reference: much of Alagaësia came from the Rocky Mountains of Montana, where he grew up, and he used the shapes of real countries, specifically those of Scandinavia, for his coastline. He recommends consulting an atlas for the geographical irregularities that make a world look natural. Straight borders and perfect ovals look invented.

Step 4: let the climate make sense

For an Earth-like world, weather should follow Earth's rules. A Mythcreants author describes the basics. Hot air rises at the equator and, around 30 degrees latitude north and south, descends again after losing much of its water. Where air descends the land tends to be dry and clear, and where air masses collide and rise it is cloudy, rainy and lush. Mountains divert winds and make them drop their water on the windward side while leaving the far side dry, which is a rain shadow. Coastlines moderate and moisten climate.

The author's rule of thumb for a small landmass: if it sits in the dry belt near 30 degrees it is dry, otherwise it is fairly wet and green except in the rain shadow of its mountains. The article adds that this matters less, or is less possible, for unrecognisably alien worlds. If your readers will never see a weather map, a few such checks are enough to stop a rainforest from appearing in the middle of a desert for no reason.

Step 5: put the plot on the map

Once the geography is roughed in, place what the story needs. Then use the map as a prompt, as Paolini did. He says what you have drawn feeds back into the story: you may find the trip from point A to point B takes longer than you assumed, and the journey itself becomes a plot point. You might spot a clump of trees your character will pass and decide something should happen there. In the east of his map he had scribbled some giant mountains to fill space, then asked what would happen if they really were there, and that is how he got mountains ten to twelve miles high.

His questions are worth borrowing: would this river be a good shipping route, and would these plains make rich farmland? The answers feed worldbuilding economy, and the isolation of mountain valleys feeds worldbuilding culture.

Step 6: keep the drawing simple

The Mythcreants article on mapmaking for the artistically challenged argues that a map is a worldbuilding tool, not a work of art. A map's main purpose is to show where things are and how to get from A to B, so you can give it permission to be simple and functional. Its example: basic tepee peaks instead of mountains with shaded relief. The writer says attention spent on art can take attention from the rest of worldbuilding.

Options when you do not draw well:

• Generators. The article names Inkwell Ideas, donjon and the Cartographer's Guild as places to find generators, tools and tutorials.
• Digital mapping software. The author's experience is that it usually costs money and that the learning curve is steeper than pencil and paper.
• A friend. Many people in the speculative fiction community enjoy drawing maps.

The same article passes on an idea from Orson Scott Card: a gate drawn by accident, with no gap between its two towers, became a story when he asked what if the gate had been permanently closed off. Mistakes on a map can break the patterns your brain makes by default and give you something richer.

When to stop

Paolini's warning is that at a certain point, too much time spent sketching an expansive, believable world could be put to better use writing the story. If the map is a worthwhile guide, use it as far as it nurtures your process, and no further. For the whole range of tools, see best worldbuilding tools.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a map for my fantasy novel?

Only if the story has many locations, long travel or simultaneous events. Paolini says a map may not be necessary for stories on a smaller scale.

Should I draw the map before I write?

Either order works. Tolkien said he started with a map and made the story fit, and Paolini drew his about a third of the way through his first book.

How do I make a realistic fantasy map?

Base coastlines and mountains on real ones, follow basic climate rules for an Earth-like world, and leave the borders and cities for the story to decide.

How big should the map be?

Large enough for the whole story, series included. Paolini's first draft, half the final size, felt too cramped as the story grew.

What free tools are there?

Mythcreants mentions Inkwell Ideas, donjon and the Cartographer's Guild as places to start. Check what each offers now, since tools change.

Where Musael fits

A writer who knows where everything is stops contradicting themselves about the road to the capital. Musael does not draw the map for you. You bring an image of a place, and in the world section you pin codex entries on it, so each character, city and landmark has a position. A pinned place that has its own map opens it, which lets a coast lead to a city. Pins follow the image at any zoom. Today the map is a picture with points, with no scale or distances, and it is not yet part of the continuity checks, so you still check travel times yourself. The world and characters codex holds the entries the pins point to.

Sources

• Tyler Moss, "How to Map Your Fantasy World", with Christopher Paolini, Writer's Digest: writersdigest.com
• Writer's Digest, "Mapping the Journey: Christopher Paolini Shares Early Map Drafts": writersdigest.com
• Mythcreants, "Map Making for the Artistically Challenged": mythcreants.com
• Mythcreants, "How to Color Your Map Using SCIENCE!": mythcreants.com
• Wikipedia, "Fantasy cartography": en.wikipedia.org