What Planet Is This?

     I was toying with the idea of writing a fantasy story about a character I have been living with for a while now. I know everything about this guy. I know his hopes and dreams, motivations and hang-ups. I know who his friends are, and who his enemies are. I know what his favorite food is, his favorite color, his favorite book-heck, I could even tell you about his favorite shirt!

     So I sat down and started to write his story. I start off by showing him in his daily routine to try and establish who he is with the reader. Then, I came up with a little bit of conflict for the character. You know, the kind of conflict where the character wants to go off and see the world, but his family or friends think this is a bad idea and try to keep him from going. The scene builds up a bit, and the main character finally declares that come hell or high water, he is going to... well, I hadn't thought this far ahead. The truth is, I don't know where he is going.

     I groped for the name of a city, finally made on up, but then still didn't know anything about this city. Is it coastal, or land-locked? Is it walled? What is the city famous for? What country is this city in? I could see I had some problems here, I don't have any information on the world that this character lives in. So, I guess I will have to create a world!

     I have always enjoyed the maps that adorn the first couple pages of my favorite books. Before getting into the story, I would always look at the map and make myself familiar with this new world. Even before reading the first sentence, I would try to imagine what the land looked like based on the mountains and rivers and lakes. Sometimes, I would even imagine what is beyond the map as usually all that is portrayed is a continent, or country. And I realize that this is mostly a convention of fantasy books, but I still search every novel I read for a map, regardless of genre.

     So I got some blank paper, some pencils and erasers, and started drawing. I just let my mind wander and squiggled random, meaningless shapes. After a while these shapes began to coalesce into slightly more coherent shapes. And then it happened, as if the event were independent of my will. I looked at the page that was in front of me and realized that the shapes were becoming continents. Truly, I had only meant to make the country-maybe go as far as the continent-that my character lives in, but instead I had started to construct a whole world.

     What planet is this?

     So, yeah, I've finally lost it. I'm drawing maps of fantastic worlds that only exist in my head. But I have never had so much fun being a nerd! While I will admit that it needs a bit more work before its complete, just drawing the world map gave me a ton of ideas.

     And I had almost as much fun naming all the places too! just thinking of names gave me ideas of what the geography was like, and what sorts of civilizations live in these places. Even new story ideas started popping into my head now that I knew a little bit more about the world.

     I didn't stop there either, I drew the continent of Ceren in more detail on another map and started inventing cities and countries for it. I even went as far as to describe the cities in detail. So know I am learning what the world is like, and boy is it a cool place to be! If you like fantasy literature, and the maps that often accompany the books, I would suggest trying this exercise yourself. Even if you have no interest in writing, its fun to create and speculate, and live in a world that is not our own for a while.