World Building

Genres and Map Building

Genres

If you are creating your own world, it will most likely be some type of fantasy world. Nowm fantasy is more of a general term and has a lot of branches extending in many different directions. And what world you want to create all depends on you. What are you interested in? What kind of book would you want to read? By answering those two questions, you are well on your way to creating that story. From space, to the future, or even something your own creation. The first step in making a world is knowing what kind of world you want to create. 

Building a map

Once you know what kind of world you want to create, it is time to build a map. Now, the thing is, you do not always need a map. But having a general idea of where everything is and what kind of climate is around that area is a good idea to have. You do not even need to put the map in the story. But keeping the area of your world in the proper place can help you plan certain parts of the story. 

One idea is if your main character is going on a huge journey. But you do not know what kind of challenges you want to put in the way. Making a map of the journey the main character goes on can help you decide the challenges. Other things in this book can also help you come up with challenges. You never know what will inspire you. 

So, how do you actually build a map?  That is a very good question. It all depends on who you are and how your mind world. One idea is in the media of this chapter. It is a youtube video that shows how you can use some Dungeons and Dragons dice to make a map. (I do not own the video, it is just a reference. All rights to the video go to Samantha Whicker.) 

But that is not the only way you can go about doing this. There are plenty of videos that you can look at for reference. 

If you do not want to go that route, the first thing you will need to do it make a map key. This key will have all the shapes on it and their meaning. Some examples are triangles for trees, a square with a triangle on top for a house or town, a dark circle for a cave. You can make up the shapes as you want. As long as you can read the map, that is really the only thing that matters. 

Then you can get to work on the map itself. You can take inspiration from an actual map if you want, or just freehand it. Draw a random shape. You can have it extend off the page or just reach the edges of it.then start filling it in using the shapes you made on the key. Add towns, villages, mountains and anything else you want. It is your map for your story. Go crazy with it. This map is for you, it does not have to look exactly pretty. Once you are done, it is time to think of the culture and what actually happens in this world. 

Do not be afraid to come back and change your map as needed. You never know what inspiration will hit you and what will change. It is not perfect, it is for you.