Maps tell only part of the story

A Discussion Post

The format of a Discussion Post is that we all contribute our thoughts to the lead question—use the comments section below. Then we reply to other people’s comments, just like we’re chatting over a cup of coffee.

Garrett Carr set himself the challenge of walking along Ireland’s border, a story which he recounts in The Rule of the Land. Carr drew the maps himself; they depict various sections of the route and can be seen in chronological order with the text. The author’s joy in discovering old houses and round towers is palpable. (Image is my own, taken from the book.)

Purpose and Position of Maps

Like many others, I enjoy seeing maps in books and spend time examining them in detail—both for the information they contain and for their value as works of art.

Do you include bespoke maps in your own work?

How do you decide on their purpose?

How do you position them in the text?

Who draws them?

Benefits of Maps

I asked myself why I enjoy maps so much.

Here, from the writers’ perspective, I’ve drawn up a list of the benefits of including maps in your text. You can probably add to this list!

Maps in fiction and creative non-fiction, (and poetry?), can:-

• improve the reading experience by allowing a rest from text

• encourage synergistic activity to make a new narrative

• increase the visual attractiveness of a book

• identify specific topographical information

• enable route finding and location identification

• contextualise thoughts and ideas pertaining to the narrative

• give readers the power of choice (to read a map separately from the text)

• provide a visual summary, potentially simplifying complex information

• be an alternative means of communicating information

• become agents for outdoor pursuit

• allow readers’ minds to travel and vicariously experience a landscape

Q. What is your experience of maps alongside text in articles, essays, and books?

Over to you… ⤵️