Mapping in Fantasy Fiction

My post tomorrow is going to address a big topic in fantasy fiction, which is world building. The first place I always begin is in the layout. What does the world look like? Where is everything laid out? I find myself to be a very visual person, so this helps me keep things straight. It also helps me to know that if the character went north to get to a certain spot, then, fifty pages down the way when they go back, they will have to return going south. In the Lord of Nightmares, it was important for me to know where Ramsey's was located as well as other important settings. My characters had to have good direction if they've lived in this world for many years, therefore so did I. What I also find is that creating maps helps me map scenes and drive the plot. If I know there is a café that everyone loves, then I can write a scene in that café. Introduce the world and advance the story, that's the key.

Two maps I created are displayed on my Twitter feed. The one on the left is the map of Atlantis (also published in the book). The one on the right is the map of the game world in Lord of Nightmares (not published in the book).

The one I decided to showcase here is the map of Zeus. In the sequel to the Curse of Atlantis, my characters travel to Zeus to help with political unrest left over from the major war with Atlantis. This map helped give me a feeling for the nature of the land as well as the cultural aspects of the cities.