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Fantasy World building: Making an Abandoned Island Map
You can only deny inspiration for so long While updating The Unburned Island, a voice whispered in my ear to add a map. In Making a Fantasy Town Map: Behind the Scenes, I wrote about making a map for book 2, The Wailing Town. But, I had no intention of doing the same thing for book 1. As always, the voice would not be silenced. At this point, I honestly didn’t try to hard to shut it up. I’ve fought this battle before and I never win. Looks like I’m making a map for Book 1. Recently, I discovered that Shutterstock has a lot of map vectors. I decided to do…
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Making a Fantasy Town Map: Behind the Scenes
Funny how inspiration will hit you. I had planned to go hiking on Saturday to take my new telephoto lens out for a test. On Friday, I packed my bag, charged my camera battery and portable charger, printed a trail map and double-checked my path. I should’ve checked the weather first. Cold Spring was looking at an 80% chance of thunderstorms all afternoon. Clearly, Saturday was not the day to go outside. Disappointed, I sat in front of my computer Saturday morning and started working on The Wailing Town. It’s book 2 of The Other Investigator series. The Unburned Island is Book 1. I’ve been writing this book in pieces…
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Work in Progress: Fantasy Map-Making
Sorin, the dead land. The province no one visits unless their desperate or corrupt. Years ago, I created 7 maps for my Merging Worlds series. In Book 2: Chains of the Sciell, characters started mentioning places in overseas lands. It was time to include a world map in the book. I created each land in a separate document and then added them to the world map once they were finished. It was probably the harder way to go about things but it was a fun project. I’m glad I designed it that way now. Most of the Merging Worlds series has taken place on Jael. I will admit, I…
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Behind the Design: Fantasy Map Making
Before the world ended, Cayden was the center of technological advancement. Now, it’s a paradise for only a select few. It’s a story parents tell their children to distract them from the living nightmares. For my Merging Worlds series, Books 1-3 take place entirely on Jael. Characters mention other provinces but they don’t visit them in the story. But in Book 4, a few characters start in Jael, another group is in Annissa. Some will travel through Sorin. Then, Cayden has a special story in Book 4. Since characters are traveling to different lands, I’ve started updating my maps, adding more textured and details. They’re all be added to Book…
