I Need a Map

I have made a little progress on one of the chapters last night, but I was starting to struggle with what to do with this character.  His name is Eryk and I know where I want him to go, but again, it is all the stuff that happens in between that is important.  I resolved that the best thing to do was draw a map.  Without a map, it is hard to keep track of a story like this.  Right now, I have a crude drawing on a yellow sticky not, but this weekend, I think I will design a proper map.  This is a crucial part of any fantasy story.  You can mention cities, rivers and forests all you want, but if the reader has nothing to connect them with, they are meaningless.  The trick is coming up with all the names, because again, without a name, they is nothing.  To create names that are not too ridiculous or wacky or hard to pronounce is another trick.  This will cut into my writing time over the weekend, but in the end, I believe it will help get the juices flowing as I will have a visual representation of where the characters are and where they will go.

Open the the first few pages of any fantasy novel and you will undoubtedly find a map with a ton of cities, castles, towns, rivers, forests, mountains and roads plotted. A famous example would be the map of Middle Earth. You could tell that Toilken spent a lot of time on that map and without it, the story would not have mattered as much.  You could track the progress of all the characters journeys and Toilken did an amazing job of bringing his world to life.  So in order for me to bring my world to life, I believe a map is necessary.

On another note, I have started a second blog.  It is titled Madman's Journal and is a fictional account of a man that has a slightly askew perspective on things.  It is set up as a daily journal where he writes his thoughts and feelings.  This is another way for me to continue to write each day.  I have added a link to this under My Blog List.