Writing How do you plan geography?

[anshbansal92]

I had an idea in my mind for a story. But wasn't sure how to plan it out. So I was just thinking I can start one thing at a time. So here's the first thing. How do you usually plan out the maps/geography? Do you make a rough sketch? Or make things up as the story progresses?

 

[Mejiro]

How much of it is needed? If the story is all about travelling from point A to B and the problems en route, then a map is useful. If most of the travel is skipped over in intermissions, and there's some vague sense of 'there's settlements, with monster-filled wilderness between', then a specific map is probably less specifically needed.

 

[Llamadragon]

I keep fictional worlds in my head much like I keep the real world in my head - by keeping track of directions instead of keeping track of the map. It's fun. A good way to keep it less abstract.

For example, lets imagine you're in London right now. Get a compass or use google maps to figure out which way is east. What lies in that direction? If you're in central London, traveling directly east means covering a bit of city to South End, then there's the sea, quite rough and harsh this time of the year. Gray waves reach high, tossing the sailing boats and the fishing vessels. The ferries pass. The seagulls pass. Then you reach land in the Netherlands, near Amsterdam. Old city architecture. The canals. The fields. Lots and lots and lots of open agricultural land. Forest. Fields. Germany. Large cities and dense networks of roads. Old cities. Some abandoned and ruined. Occasionally ruins froma ll stretches of human history. Keep going. More fields. More forests. You're entering more mountainous terrain. Lakes. Rivers. Poland. Ukraine. Russia. Russia. More Russia. No need to picture them in great detail, just get a sense of what lies in the direction of 'east' of where you are standing right now.

Keep going until you go around the globe and return to your original location. Then look at your compass and pick another direction. Map out the world in relation to where you are. Note the direction of various lands and landmarks in the world. Look into the direction of Africa. Point towards Australia. Point towards the north pole. Actually be aware of what lies around you and where you are in the world. You're tiny. You're immensely tiny, and the world is huge.

After a moment of doing this, imagine yourself in the location of your story. Not in the middle of an abstract map, but a location. If your story takes place in a city, imagine yourself on a rooftop. It could be day or night, summer or winter. There is a compass in your hand. Locate east. Then off you go. Explore the major landmarks of the world, continent or planet until, when you return to that city and that rooftop, you're able to look at the compass and point in the directions of the landmarks you've thought up.

That's what I do. It's fun. I used to start with making maps and plan according to them, but that's too abstract for me. I like to play around with being in the middle of things and get a sense of distance, space and landscape, just as a game. The reason I do it this way is because to be honest, I don't want to explore maps. Maps look very boring. I start with exploring and then I make a map of the interesting locations. This means I get to look forward to returning and explore places in more detail.

 

[IvyVeritas]

The needs of the story drive the world, until a detail has been established. Once a detail exists, I stick to it, even if that makes later parts of the story less convenient. I create the overall pieces of the world in my mind as needed for the major story beats, but I don't map out the details until I'm actually writing those parts. For example, if my main character is the son of a baron but he leaves the barony at a young age, I don't need to know the major exports of the region at the beginning, but if I mention those exports later, I'll make them consistent with the type of region the barony is in, and then I'll stick to those details later in the story.

I don't spend much time figuring out unnecessary details that won't be mentioned in the story, but I keep the setting accurate and consistent. Rivers flow from high ground to low ground, emptying into an ocean. Weather changes by time of year and by region. The amount of daylight in a day changes by time of year (and possibly by region, if you're covering a wide area). In particular, I want distances to be realistic, and with distance comes travel time. A person can walk a certain number of miles in a day; a horse can be ridden a certain number of miles in a day; a three-masted medieval sailing ship can go a certain distance in good weather. In a medieval world, you can't go from one end of a large continent to another in a day. It requires time and effort, and along the way, you encounter other details of the world. (In a story set in a modern world setting, the geography between Point A and Point B is less important, since travelers will generally skip over it via plane or car.)

 

[atgongumerki]

I just put what I want and what I need to where I want it to be and think up solutions for all the nonsense later.
Why is there a desert in the middle of a lush forest --> there are massive amounts of salt
why does said salt not dissolve during rain and kill the forest --> it does dissolve but the preexisting trees have deep enough roots to draw water and somewhat of a resistence
how can such a forest continue living --> it can not but the trees may live for a few hundred years and with each dying tree the desert grows

 

[kaida]

Geography can be incredibly tricky, especially when you're making up your own. If your story is geography-heavy, it might help to sketch out a map, and if you're planning to create more stories heavy in geography, then I would definitely recommend at least practicing creating maps. But before you go and make one, I think it would be better to have the complete outline of your story at hand so it can be easier to make a map or change any sort of choice related to geography later on, or at the very least create the map as you progress your story.

Another little tip that kind of relates to your question but also kinda doesn't (lol) - when writing scenes, make sure to note the surroundings. Even if this scene is, say, focused solely on dialogue, make sure to note what's happening around your characters so the reader can have a chance to breathe.

Back to the subject at hand. Again, geography is a difficult thing to nail. Remember that sometimes nature works in strange ways. If you have an abandoned building in the middle of a forest, include the vines taking over and the trees breaking through the roof. An oasis in a desert will have a haze over it from afar. Places high up will have some sort of cover like fog, snow, or mist. Overall, I think creating a map is beneficial for everyone if your story calls for it.

 

[Friend]

I wold add to all the above, and give example or warning from my own tendencies. I am finding now, I do tend to plot out or map from where the main character appears in the world, and go to the compass points. I don't reason on it being so linear except in review when I'm considering starting a new series/story, I want to go to the compass points "as the old standby method". For now it works or at least it isn't a problem in the stories; but I know that's probably not likely how the (mostly human) kingdoms on those worlds would do things.

Well. That's all, really; just wanted to say, pick an odd angle instead of at perfect ninety degrees of separation.

 

[AliceShiki]

My stories usually don't involve much travelling, so I never bothered with a map.

What I usually do is simply deciding the position one place has in relation to another and then sticking to it. (As in, I note it down in my notes document and look at it whenever I need to mention the location of a place again)

So usually I go like...

Country B is South of Country A.
Capital of A is in the center of Country A.
To the east of Capital A, there is Forest A.
To the North of Capital A, there is Mountain A.

And so on... I usually just create new landmarks/locations as I need them. It's easier to manage if I have less locations to worry about.

I aso try to not put 2 different places referencing the same location in the same direction. (For example, if Forest A is to the East of Capital A, I won't put Port A to the East of Capital A, I'll put it to the Northeast of Capital A or to the East of Forest A... Even though anything to the East of Forest A is also located at the East of Capital A, it is easier to manage things if you don't put two things referencing the same.)

 

[tak]

Make MC directionally challenged, like me, and every destination seems like it's own dimension. They go there by cutscene or establish shot wormhole