Three tips for drawing maps for your fantasy novel

An old version of Aellyria, made in Inkarnate. ©

For the best part of four years, I’ve been writing novels in one fantasy world.

This means I have a lot of ‘appendices’ — family trees, history breakdowns, lists of kings and noble families and trading goods. And maps. Oh, boy, do I have a lot of maps.

Maps hold a special place in my fantasy-loving heart. I’ve pored over many a map in a fantasy novel, from Middle-Earth to Earthsea, from Tortall to Tencendor, Westeros, Kelewan, Pern, Emelan, and many more. I love knowing where the characters are, exactly; I love tracing their journeys. I love imagining what places on the map are like, even places that we’ve never seen in the novel.

So when I started writing fantasy novels, of course, I drew maps.

Some of them were not good.

Look. I just… city maps are not my forte.

But hey, I’ve had a lot of practice! And I got better.

This month, when I sat down to write a new novel in my fantasy world of Aellyria, I knew I would be drawing a map at some point.

My new main character, Ellie, would be going beyond the borders of where I’d written before. I needed new city names, new rivers and forests, new coastlines and mountains. Yay! It was time for a new map.

For anyone who is interested in mapmaking for their worlds, I’ve put together a couple of my tips for how I make maps.

And this isn’t just applicable to fantasy novelists! Honestly, I love mapping for any fictional world — I’m just as interested in maps that mark out wizarding London, or Shadowhunters’ New York, or the Raven Cycle’s Cabeswater, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Tip #1: Work on layers

Let’s cover the basics!

I’ve drawn maps by hand, in Microsoft Paint, in Photoshop, in Inkarnate and other various online mapmakers, but these days, I mostly use GIMP 2. It’s a free alternative to Photoshop and it does everything I need it to — namely, layer up my maps.

When I’m drawing a map, here’s my typical order of attack. I draw each one of these on their own transparent layer so I can change up at will — if I want to move a city or forest, I don’t risk messing up coastlines as I go.

• coastlines & islands
• borders of countries or regions (they’ll usually have a natural border — mountains, rivers, or other landscape change)
• mountains and hills
• rivers (they flow TOWARDS seas, away from mountains and high places)
• lakes (the lowest points in your countryside)
• forests (of all types: alpine, woodland, jungle, deadwood, swamp)
• deserts and ice fields (if applicable)
• cities — big ones only (remember, cities grow best near water)
• names (pick a font you will remember & always have)

I don’t typically put roads on my maps, and I don’t include towns and villages unless they’re super significant for the story.

Also, another tiny tip for beginners and those who are not so confident with drawing (like me): draw one stencil for your tree and your mountain and your hill. Then copy and paste that base image as many times as you need, or grow/shrink it to give variety to a region.

Tip #2: Name things your way

All fantasy names sound weird when you think them up. ©

Naming places, people and things can be both the best part and the bane of being a fantasy writer. Here are a couple of strategies I’ve used over the years when coming up with place names in particular:

• Fantasy Name Generator — this site is amazing. So much of fantasy literature evokes a western European feel. This site encourages you to think outside the box and consider all your options when you’re coming up with name ideas. There are literally hundreds of generators. Just click around for some inspiration. (For those who are very into name meanings, there’s no better place than BehindTheName.)
• Google Translate. Yes, I have definitely googled ‘tree in Spanish’ (arbol!) and used that as a place name for a town near a forest. When you’re writing fantasy, it’s fun to take real languages and reinterpret them. You don’t have to go Full Tolkien and invent your own languages to give your fantasy setting a linguistic flair of its own. Pick a language and apply liberally. Of course, no one is stopping you from being the next Tolkien, if that’s your jam!
• What do you think sounds good? A certain name might suit a place or a theme. But if you don’t really like it, you don’t have to use it. Forget about ‘fine’ and ‘appropriate’. I renamed a noble family from the very stately Kanedrick to the over-the-top Ravenspell. Why? Because I wanted to and it’s my story. This is your story. If you want to call a place Sunstone Bay, but for some reason you hesitate (“no, that’s too fantasy…”), tell your inner critic to buzz off and go make its own map. This one’s yours.

Tip #3: Come up with stories

This one’s still a work in progress! Yep — it’s this month’s map. ©

Here’s my favourite part of drawing maps.

See those two cities on either side of the river? I’ve labelled them as ‘Komsukiz’ and ‘Banabaidh’. That river between them represents the border between two countries, but 600 years ago in my fantasy world, those countries were both part of the same Empire.

So in my head, those two cities used to be one. When the Empire collapsed, the city split along the river — those who bound together in clans to one side, and those who supported a monarchy on the other. These days there is a sharp cultural divide between them, and Banabaidh is much bigger and more fun in terms of theatres and taverns — a function of it being much closer to its capital city and cultural heartland than Komsukiz. But Komsukiz is on the side of the river with much better farmlands; the country it belongs to is a farming giant that has mastered irrigation and food production.

These two cities have managed to come to a tentative accord. Trade between them is strong, because Banabaidh depends on Komsukiz for food. It’s a natural place for the leaders of those two countries to meet and lots of other interesting things to happen.

You don’t need to have a story for every place on your map. But it’s much more fun when you do. What’s the tallest mountain in that range? Why is that city called Whitestone but this one called Greypeak? Where is the border between these two countries, and is there a grey area that they may have fought over in the past, and what are the towns like in that grey area?

Every spot on your map is a story waiting to be told. You don’t need to tell it to your readers, but you can definitely tell it to yourself as you’re drawing. Make your map come alive in your head.

So there are my three tips for drawing fantasy maps:

• Work on layers (so you can change things easily)
• Name things your way (because it’s yours!)
• Come up with stories (and bring it to life)

Drawing a map is one of my favourite things to do when I’m writing a fantasy novel. I’m sure that if I wrote mystery novels or beachside romances I would find a way to draw a map for those as well. I hope this has inspired something for you, too!