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You should by now have a fair idea as to the requirements for any fantasymap. Now go and draw one. Seem a little terse? It needs to be. You, withall of your promise, need to practice. Like anything, this undertakingneeds a lot of experience to become proficient at it. Draw a large map,and then "zoom" in on the seperate sections of it. Decide whether you needto perfect your mountain form or your river path. If you do, fill an entiresheet of paper with your practice forms. Do it until it seems like secondnature. Trial and error Now that you can draw the forms, you need to decide how time affectsyour land. Which mountains are older? Have they been worn down or builtup by the wind and rain? Which rivers seem to be the main ones? Are theybig enough? Do your forests occurr in a natural pattern? If not, why don'tthey? Ask yourself these and other questions like these to see if yourmap makes sense with itself. Keep in mind that your world most likely isn'tperfectly flat, and that rivers will run into the low places. Use commonsense, and your map should come out coherent and believable. You might have to redraw your map many times, as you are confrontedwith new revelations as to its content. If you are not sure that somethingwill fit in with the rest of the map, draw it in anyway. So what if youhave to redo the entire thing? It will fill up time before you die. The making of a world By now, you are probably deciding where certain things should go inthe political or racial scheme. Countries are forming in your land, asare the kings and queens that govern them. Go with your ideas. The bestpart about writing a world is the development. You can spend hours witha good map, deciding who runs what and why. If your friends and familystart thinking you a bit strange, smile and bear it like a badge of honor.It's good to be different. How many people can brag about truly being ableto drift off into their own world? Not as many as there should be.
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