What do you do about geography?

[Gumboot]

I am pretty geographically obsessed. I have maps. Tonnes of maps. In fact I basically can't write about anywhere in any great detail until it's mapped.

Here's some examples of what I am talking about:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...2678075&type=3

I'm pretty well studied in geography, and obsessed with making the world of my WiP realistic, so laying out all of the geography and establishing climates and microclimates is pretty important.

My argument is that good stories resonate with people, and to resonate they have to be believable, which is why history is so eagerly pillaged for storytelling. These stories don't happen in isolation; they're a natural product of the circumstances, and the base layer that influences everything else is geography, so I have to get that right first.

But that's just me. My advice is not to worry too much about it, unless you find yourself needing to keep track of it all. In that case draw a map. It doesn't have to be fancy. My current world map is a vast monster of a thing with insane levels of detail, but my first ever "world" map was a simple A4 line drawing in pencil and took about 5 minutes.

[Venusian Broon]

Originally Posted by Gumboot

I am pretty geographically obsessed. I have maps. Tonnes of maps. In fact I basically can't write about anywhere in any great detail until it's mapped.

Love the maps and detail Gumboot, not my cup of tea when it comes to writing, but I definitely can see the allure of doing them. I wonder if you've gone even further down the road and having them geologically correct, so that mountains, volcanos and earthquake zones are in the correct place too

Also is it your story that suggests the geography, or is a geography able to inspire a completely new story?

As for myself, I've just used a simple pencil sketch of the important area that I needed to have a rough idea on what is where. Compared to Gumboots it looks like a prehistoric rock map attempted by a four year old (drawing is definitely not one of my talents, by a long shot), but it has the locations with how they relate geographically, enough for me to fill in the rest with my imagination.

If a view (or scene) is important enough, I will also attempt to sketch out approximately what the characters are roughly seeing, as if it is a movie set. Helps to place characters and where they are in relation to each other too, I find.

[Gumboot]

Originally Posted by Venusian Broon

Love the maps and detail Gumboot, not my cup of tea when it comes to writing, but I definitely can see the allure of doing them. I wonder if you've gone even further down the road and having them geologically correct, so that mountains, volcanos and earthquake zones are in the correct place too

At the simple level, yes; I have tectonic maps as well, with the movement of plates and the types of boundaries, which informs subduction zones and so on, but I haven't gone as far as local geology with rock and soil types etc, although I know of writers who have (Russell Kirkpatrick, who wrote the "Fire of Heaven" trilogy is a professional geographer).

Originally Posted by Venusian Broon

Also is it your story that suggests the geography, or is a geography able to inspire a completely new story?

The original story I've nearly completed was relatively independent of the geography at first, with details being informed by it since, but rather what has happened is the geography has informed the world building (cultures, climates, etc) which have then collectively offered up their own new stories, often unexpectedly. It all comes back to the WiP of course as these new stories are often historic, so inform the history behind the current story.

Originally Posted by Venusian Broon

As for myself, I've just used a simple pencil sketch of the important area that I needed to have a rough idea on what is where. Compared to Gumboots it looks like a prehistoric rock map attempted by a four year old (drawing is definitely not one of my talents, by a long shot), but it has the locations with how they relate geographically, enough for me to fill in the rest with my imagination.

That's all you really need for most works, and that's certainly where I started (and where I still start with every new map).

Originally Posted by Venusian Broon

If a view (or scene) is important enough, I will also attempt to sketch out approximately what the characters are roughly seeing, as if it is a movie set. Helps to place characters and where they are in relation to each other too, I find.

I've found Google Sketchup actually invaluable for building up "models" of important places such as buildings, so I can get a better feel for how they look; even a plan drawing just doesn't quite capture the right feel, and ultimately I create these things to make it easier for me to envisage "being" there.

[Boneman]

Do you take commissions?

[Hex]

I write stories in which the characters don't move about very much.

[alchemist]

Originally Posted by Gumboot

I've found Google Sketchup actually invaluable for building up "models" of important places such as buildings, so I can get a better feel for how they look; even a plan drawing just doesn't quite capture the right feel, and ultimately I create these things to make it easier for me to envisage "being" there.

Same here. I used it to design a rotating ring on a starship. My puny human mind couldn't properly conceive a structure where "gravity" essentially pulled outward, and I needed rooms, airlocks etc to plan a chase scene.

From Hex
I write stories in which the characters don't move about very much.

Or the laws of physics don't apply

[David Evil Overlord]

@Hex - My next story will be about a race of sentient sea anemones.*

* I said that as a joke, and now I'm getting all sorts of story ideas. Sometimes the Muse has a nasty sense of humour.

[Hex]

Originally Posted by alchemist

Or the laws of physics don't apply

Be patient, oh science fiction man, for there are reasons.*


DEO -- can I read it when you've finished?


*possibly not very good ones, but there are.

[RcGrant]

Originally Posted by Mouse

All my maps are on Google. Means that I spend ages walking my little Google man up and down London streets though.

I love you for this. Seriously. I've been wanting to set my next novel in the suburbs of London, which means my characters will wander into the Big City at some point, yet I know very little about London. I think you have just solved my problem.

Now I just have to figure out where there's a reasonably family friendly suburb nearby that I can dump my characters house in.

[Mouse]

Originally Posted by RcGrant

I love you for this. Seriously. I've been wanting to set my next novel in the suburbs of London, which means my characters will wander into the Big City at some point, yet I know very little about London. I think you have just solved my problem.

Now I just have to figure out where there's a reasonably family friendly suburb nearby that I can dump my characters house in.

Glad to be of assistance! Google maps is a god send. Luckily, I found a nice street to dump my character's house (I've managed to get away with not naming it too, so far, though I name the streets where a couple of secondary characters live.)

[Venusian Broon]

Originally Posted by Mouse

Glad to be of assistance! Google maps is a god send. Luckily, I found a nice street to dump my character's house (I've managed to get away with not naming it too, so far, though I name the streets where a couple of secondary characters live.)

Also feel free to question me and my feeble mind as it may provide little morsels of info, as I live in Zone 2 by the banks of the sunny river Lea. My specialities are the North-East (Hackney, Walthamstow, Leyton), the South-West (Wimbledon, Merton, Raynes park, loads of other places) and of course central London.

Unfortunately I'm just not aware at all of the North West nor the South East - both are dark lands where 'ye be monsters' as far as I am concerned.

[Mouse]

Ta very much, VB! Mine's mostly set in St. John's Wood and um... Clerkenwell. I can't remember where else.

[Venusian Broon]

Originally Posted by Mouse

Ta very much, VB! Mine's mostly set in St. John's Wood and um... Clerkenwell. I can't remember where else.

Actually, now that you mention it, I did have good friends that lived in St. John's Wood for a while, so I do know it a little bit (was the place where someone got murdered using an axe about 5-10 years ago, which is a pretty rare way to kill someone nowadays...), and I pass through Clerkenwell all the time to get to central London.

[Mouse]

Excellent! I may be bothering you at a later date!

[David Evil Overlord]

Originally Posted by Hex

DEO -- can I read it when you've finished?

Sure, Hex.