Sci-Fi & Fantasy Writing: Settings

Using Maps To Plot Out New Worlds, Characters and Their Environment

Jun 27, 2007

Fantasy and science fiction writers have to orient their readers in the new world, and the best way for an author to plan that is via a map. But how much map is too much?

Characterization is great; good dialogue is wonderful. But if the setting of your story isn’t replete with fascinating things too, then your fantasy characters and all their wonderful words will fall flat. Part of the wonder of being a fantasy reader and writer is the chance to escape the mundane and really feel as if you have been transported to another world, another time, and a different set of problems. Armchair traveling has great appeal simply because of how nice it is to “leave it all behind”.

So how do you, as a burgeoning fantasy writer, know where you’re writing your story? Not the locus of your body, but, rather, the place and world of your characters should be just as well thought-out, detailed, and dynamic as your characters are. In fact, the best fantasy (and science fiction, for that matter) have planets which are just as interesting—and sometimes more-so—than the people inhabiting it.

So how do you go about creating a world as fascinating as J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth or Anne McCaffery’s Pern? There are a lot of different ways to begin, and one of the most basic ways is to do what Orson Scott Card does: Draw a map.

Orson Scott Card's Plan

As he explains in his exceptions How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, Card once started doodling on a piece of paper, designing a walled city as he watched TV. After much work, he eventually had the premise for the world he invented (28). The key here isn’t so much that he drew a map, but that the map actually drew him into the story. It allowed him to look at the city/world as a whole (the Big Things), and start to create the tension that his characters would need for there to be dramatic conflict. Not only that, but now he knew precisely where the market was in relation to the temple, the slums to the traders’ quarters, and so forth.

Using this idea of detail in your planning stages can be invaluable for generating a consistent, enjoyable, and realistic fantasy setting. (Now, it might seem a bit counterintuitive to want a “realistic fantasy setting”, but it isn’t. There are a lot of concessions that your readers will have to give you—don’t press your luck. Besides, having concrete locales isn’t poor fantasy, it’s good writing, and your readers will appreciate the effort.) These maps don’t need to be as detailed as Card’s, though that’s an option. Keep in mind, however, that sometimes you can get mired down with too much world building, spending hours upon hours with charts, maps, graphs, and note cards, only to realize that you don’t have a story on your hands. Furthermore, you might also have the problem of wanting to fit everything you’ve imagined into the story somehow. It is intriguing to you why the Well of Durty has its name, its location, and however many bricks in it, but it is in no way useful information to your readers.

Maps are an option, not a requirement

It should be said that not every author enjoys the maps. They are a staple of the fantasy genre, certainly, and most publishers would be reluctant to omit them. But that doesn’t mean that your world needs an entire appendix of cartography. Terry Goodkind is one notable author who doesn’t like having the single map that adorns every book in his Sword of Truth Series. He says on his website that maps can be a type of “...crutch, distracting from the story itself while readers try to reconcile the story to a map” (prophets-inc.com). When you draw the orb on which the sundry continents sit, you might want to take a deep breath and think to yourself, “This world is going to be amazing, outstanding, and phenomenal—and I’m the only one who gets to see it all. Everyone else just gets a piece, a taste of what my imagination can do.”

Any great performer would tell you to leave the audience wanting more; the same applies here. Go crazy with your planning, outlining, and, above all, mapping—just make sure that those lines you’re drawing are boundaries that allow for excellent storytelling.

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The copyright of the article Sci-Fi & Fantasy Writing: Settings in Writing Genre Fiction is owned by Steven Dowdle. Permission to republish Sci-Fi & Fantasy Writing: Settings in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.