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Mar. 29th, 2006 03:30 pmI am very pleased with myself, especially taking into account my near-complete inability to draw. My map is almost usable.
The map is partly for teaching (the workshop at Conjure will play with it the week after next) and partly to test how well archaeological studies can be used for fantasy worldbuilding (the answer: archaeologists rock!) and partly for the current novel.
The current novel just got a kick up its backside because I just had a fantabulous offer to go to Varuna for another week and finish it there (since it is partly based in Katoomba). This will give me the chance to do extra bits of research that come through in the writing and revision and also to have focussed time to finish the thing. It does mean I have to work hard for a little while, though, which is one reason I need that map. The town intrinsic to events.
And if all that makes sense to you, you are doing better than I am. All I know is that my map shows a whole lot of things that affect everything from walking up the street to knowing where to buy bread or a drink to the weak parts in the town defences. It is a doozy of a map.
And it only has about 40% of the things I planned for it because 24 by 32 inches just wasn't big enough (and my design skills were too feeble, even with the help of a real map and of a scanner) to cram a snapshot of all that is known onto. What I am thinking of doing for the rest is falling back to my old notecard/research technique. The thing that got me through my doctorate. I can do that while watching TV, too. It is not as amazing as having everything on a single map, but maybe I can do little overlays for sections of the map I need more data for. Or dream of overlays, anyhow.
The thing is, the archaeological survey I am working from includes such things as law disputes, rentals and objects found. I am curious to see how deep into daily life a fantasy novel can go and still have a decent narrative drive, so I want to at least digest this information. How much of it I use and how warped it becomes in the using depends on the writing and the characters and things.
I am not just jubilating because the map idea is working. I am also jubilating because so many of the plot-things I have for the novel *fit* the map. Wherever I have assumed characters would know each other I find their shop-types next to each other in High Street. My dreams of a town match the reality without much stretching. Which means I don't have to rethink the second strand of the novel: all I have to do is sit down and write it.
What it also means is that the story comes first (as it should) without me having to fall into despair about the lack of historicity. Some of my historical fiction writer friends just do this as a matter of course, but I was really nervous about it. It's why I have avoided too much reliance on the historian side of me till now. People keep pushing me to write a medievalish novel because of my PhD, but I was just too scared. I look at my map and wonder where all that fear came from.
The map is on my coffee table saying 'use me' and I begin the next section of writing tomorrow. Expect nerves.
The map is partly for teaching (the workshop at Conjure will play with it the week after next) and partly to test how well archaeological studies can be used for fantasy worldbuilding (the answer: archaeologists rock!) and partly for the current novel.
The current novel just got a kick up its backside because I just had a fantabulous offer to go to Varuna for another week and finish it there (since it is partly based in Katoomba). This will give me the chance to do extra bits of research that come through in the writing and revision and also to have focussed time to finish the thing. It does mean I have to work hard for a little while, though, which is one reason I need that map. The town intrinsic to events.
And if all that makes sense to you, you are doing better than I am. All I know is that my map shows a whole lot of things that affect everything from walking up the street to knowing where to buy bread or a drink to the weak parts in the town defences. It is a doozy of a map.
And it only has about 40% of the things I planned for it because 24 by 32 inches just wasn't big enough (and my design skills were too feeble, even with the help of a real map and of a scanner) to cram a snapshot of all that is known onto. What I am thinking of doing for the rest is falling back to my old notecard/research technique. The thing that got me through my doctorate. I can do that while watching TV, too. It is not as amazing as having everything on a single map, but maybe I can do little overlays for sections of the map I need more data for. Or dream of overlays, anyhow.
The thing is, the archaeological survey I am working from includes such things as law disputes, rentals and objects found. I am curious to see how deep into daily life a fantasy novel can go and still have a decent narrative drive, so I want to at least digest this information. How much of it I use and how warped it becomes in the using depends on the writing and the characters and things.
I am not just jubilating because the map idea is working. I am also jubilating because so many of the plot-things I have for the novel *fit* the map. Wherever I have assumed characters would know each other I find their shop-types next to each other in High Street. My dreams of a town match the reality without much stretching. Which means I don't have to rethink the second strand of the novel: all I have to do is sit down and write it.
What it also means is that the story comes first (as it should) without me having to fall into despair about the lack of historicity. Some of my historical fiction writer friends just do this as a matter of course, but I was really nervous about it. It's why I have avoided too much reliance on the historian side of me till now. People keep pushing me to write a medievalish novel because of my PhD, but I was just too scared. I look at my map and wonder where all that fear came from.
The map is on my coffee table saying 'use me' and I begin the next section of writing tomorrow. Expect nerves.