Colorized version of my small Pittsburgh fantasy map. Find it on Etsy
Map of Scotland - Central Belt and Lowlands
Work in progress fantasy style map
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#pittsburgh #fantasy #mapMore you might like
Since I’m a cartographer at heart, I get twitchy when I read a fantasy book without a map, and I will often try to construct one as I go. The top image is the map I created for Stephen R. Donaldson’s Mordant’s Need duology. The lower image is another fan map from Ice Moon Prison. I haven’t been able to locate any other fan maps of this particular book, but if you know of any definitely let me know. It’s interesting to compare the two maps, which are both consistent with the text of the book but end up looking quite different.
In a reply to a question on his website in 2010, Donaldson explained why he chose not to include a map in the published books, despite having maps in his earlier Thomas Covenant series and having drawn a map of Mordant as part of his worldbuilding:
Actually, I did work from a rough map (which, btw, I no longer possess) while I was writing. But I had quite a list of reasons for not including it with the published text. E.g. I wanted to teach myself not to rely on the descriptive “shorthand” of a map. That was a salutary narrative exercise.
However, the main reason–the *main* reason–was that I wanted to do everything in my power to STAY AWAY from the prior example of the “Covenant” books. I did *not* want “Mordant’s Need” to look or feel or even smell like More Of The Same. That’s why so many of the world-building details are–for lack of a better term–more “conventional” than they are in “Covenant.” That’s why the world is “flatter” (more mundane), and the magic is more mechanical.
I got these books for the first time from my Uncle Kevin, who had tucked his own fan map into the first book. I am kicking myself now for having thrown it away. There were a number of geographical inaccuracies in it (including impossible features like rivers that ran from one ocean to another), but I would have liked to look at it again.
Writing a fantasy novel? Hire me to draw a map of your world!
Fantasy map of Lincoln, UK – buy a print on Etsy
Several iterations of my Boston fantasy map in progress. I keep having to reduce the amount of area I can reasonably show on the map.
So I’ve started a series of fantasy-style maps of places in the real world, beginning with Massachusetts. Check it out and spread the word!
Also! There’s an “unlabeled” version (no cities or labels of anything smaller than state-level) and a “Request-Your-Town” version where I can add any location in Massachusetts you would like to see present. Just let me know!
Fantasy map of Pangaea - buy a print on Etsy
Fantasy map of the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix, AZ) now available! https://www.etsy.com/listing/666829479/fantasy-map-of-the-valley-of-the-sun
Fantasy map of Brooklyn, New York – buy a print on Etsy
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