SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

How important are maps?

In my opinion, I dislike having unnecessary notes and lore that just end up gathering dust. These bits of information may never have any relevance to the story, such as the distance between different systems. However, I believe they are useful in creating maps that can enhance the story by giving the reader a visual representation of the world. They bring the world to life in ways that just describing geography cannot. To me, maps play a crucial role in creating a believable and immersive world.



Did you follow along from the Shire to Helm's Deep?
Did you check to see if Mon Calamari was in the Outer Rim or Mid Rim?
Do maps add to the story or bring you closer to the adventure?

I think it's important for the author to have a map, to keep track of relative locations and distances while writing the story. (Tolkien notes in one of his letters, "I wisely started with a map..."). Whether they then share their map with the readers is a separate question. As a reader I do like having a map, but don't insist on it.

I love having maps in the books I read. I refer back to them as the story progresses.

I believe that maps can be very useful to readers, especially in historical novels, as few people know how countries and borders have changed through the centuries/milleniums. As an example, how many readers would be able to point at Sarmatia's location in the First Century BCE? If you write an historical novel (either fiction or non-fiction), then I believe that including at least a general map current to the time period of the novel would be a good idea.

Starmaps that I have always admired.

Star Trek-


Star Wars-


Firefly-


I’ve always been captivated by the vastness of the universe, which was fueled by my love for galactic scale maps in tabletop RPGs and video games. My fascination with deep space, black holes, and neutron stars has grown into a passion, and I wanted to set my Novel in a real place. As a sci-fi enthusiast, my ultimate goal is for fellow nerds to gaze up at the stars, point, and exclaim, “That’s Menkalinan - the very place where Kai Randel first encountered the Stygiamites!”

Jonathan Crowe is writing an illuminating series of articles on fantasy maps at Tor.com (that Goodreads doesn't want me to link, though I tried); from which we learn, among other things, that Tolkien might wisely have started with a map, but that he was no geographer: the mountains of Middle Earth make no sense, to say nothing of the rivers.

Simon Jiménez, whose The Spear Cuts Through Water is our fantasy Book of the Month also wrote an article for the same website explaining why the map of his own book is basically useless as territory.

we'll see if this link works:

https://www.tor.com/2020/01/22/celebr...

I prefer the embedded links, but anyway...

https://www.tor.com/author/jonathan-c...
https://www.tor.com/2022/08/25/fantas...

I've created some maps for my personal use, and just don't have the money right now to hire somebody to do it for me. But in the future, I'll have my maps included in the book as well.

30+ years ago, when I read Vernot Vinge books I appreciated the maps.

I Love maps! My office walls are covered in them. I like them in books as well.

I've drawn some for my book, but they aren't great, so I left them out. My daughter is in college right now getting a degree in Graphic Design. She doesn't know it yet, but her first job will be doing maps/covers and various artwork for my books!

She won't be getting a choice on that ! LOL

I've created maps. Mostly out of fun, but also to help me keep track of where everything. Also, it's relevant for me because the characters move back and forth across the map and I need to know how all their paths intersect.

I've created maps for reference and somebody suggested that I create a map for my Fantasy books. I mean I need to, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I think its crucial to every good story to establish place. If you're using real life, you can get away without a map. If you're making it up, maps are, in my opinion, essential. Not just for the readers, but for the writer, as well.

The distance between locations, how they interact with each other, their specific landscapes, etc etc., all of these things should inform the story and guide the writer to where the logical conclusion of events lies. Without this, I think the narrative bumbles around in the dark, lost in a sea of terra incognita.

My own map, which I'd made well before I started writing, helped so much.