Thank you for including my work in this. 'The Writer's Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands' edited by Huw Lewis-Jones, has lots of other great examples and some really good essays by writers on how the use maps (real or imagined) in their work. I sometimes use the one by David Mitchell with my students.
Thank you, Garrett. Your suggestion for further reading/exploring is most welcome. I'll be getting hold of a copy of 'The Writer's Map' very soon. And, I'm enjoying your Belfast Alleys project on Twitter. Will it turn into another book, I wonder?
Maps are hugely important in fantasy, and often in SF and historical fiction too.
Ursula K Le Guin said this:
"After I'd gotten over the panic, and a big story about a young wizard began to sketch itself out in my head, the first thing I did was sit down and draw a map. I saw and named Earthsea and all its islands. I knew almost nothing about them, but I knew their names. In the name is the magic."
The Books of Earthsea, Introduction.
I've created a map of my fictional world but haven't shared it yet, except in a post for my email newsletter. I think I'll dig that one out, give it a quick going over, and repost it here.
I'm sure that readers would love to see your map, Jon. Let me know when you post it. Personally, I find them very difficult to draw. They look so simple but really they're not.
Thanks. I think I’ll make a ‘maps’ post into the first half of a two-parter on world-building, so probably it’ll be along next Monday.
I do have some background with maps—did Geography for Part 1 of my degree, so had some basic cartography, and I’ve done maps for some of my other publications, including Arthur Ransome’s Lake District. Plus as a guidebook writer, a lot of marking up routes on OS and Harvey’s maps. I won’t say drawing them is easy but I have some idea how to go about it.
Really enjoyed this. Mount London is a great book too! I absolutely love maps in books and it's definitely a contributing factor to why I make poetry maps now. My immediate thought was Winnie the Pooh and Lord of the Rings - both have great maps for poring over - I think there may be one for Peter Pan too. For me, they add an extra, tantalising, imaginative layer to the reading experience in a book..
Thanks for you comment, Lucy. Yes, I agree, they add an imaginative layer to the reading experience and if we spend a little time on them, exploring them, we become more interactive with the book and its words.
Thank you for including my work in this. 'The Writer's Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands' edited by Huw Lewis-Jones, has lots of other great examples and some really good essays by writers on how the use maps (real or imagined) in their work. I sometimes use the one by David Mitchell with my students.
Thanks again,
Garrett
I was going to mention "The Writer's Map' too.
Thanks Jon!
Thank you, Garrett. Your suggestion for further reading/exploring is most welcome. I'll be getting hold of a copy of 'The Writer's Map' very soon. And, I'm enjoying your Belfast Alleys project on Twitter. Will it turn into another book, I wonder?
Great stuff.
Maps are hugely important in fantasy, and often in SF and historical fiction too.
Ursula K Le Guin said this:
"After I'd gotten over the panic, and a big story about a young wizard began to sketch itself out in my head, the first thing I did was sit down and draw a map. I saw and named Earthsea and all its islands. I knew almost nothing about them, but I knew their names. In the name is the magic."
The Books of Earthsea, Introduction.
I've created a map of my fictional world but haven't shared it yet, except in a post for my email newsletter. I think I'll dig that one out, give it a quick going over, and repost it here.
I'm sure that readers would love to see your map, Jon. Let me know when you post it. Personally, I find them very difficult to draw. They look so simple but really they're not.
Thanks. I think I’ll make a ‘maps’ post into the first half of a two-parter on world-building, so probably it’ll be along next Monday.
I do have some background with maps—did Geography for Part 1 of my degree, so had some basic cartography, and I’ve done maps for some of my other publications, including Arthur Ransome’s Lake District. Plus as a guidebook writer, a lot of marking up routes on OS and Harvey’s maps. I won’t say drawing them is easy but I have some idea how to go about it.
Really enjoyed this. Mount London is a great book too! I absolutely love maps in books and it's definitely a contributing factor to why I make poetry maps now. My immediate thought was Winnie the Pooh and Lord of the Rings - both have great maps for poring over - I think there may be one for Peter Pan too. For me, they add an extra, tantalising, imaginative layer to the reading experience in a book..
Thanks for you comment, Lucy. Yes, I agree, they add an imaginative layer to the reading experience and if we spend a little time on them, exploring them, we become more interactive with the book and its words.