Taking time to make maps

I’ve taken the last month to work on a world map. While I am not sure all the rivers and lakes are in their final positions, it is finished enough for me to move forward on the next phase: a push in on the main story location.

I am so excited about how this has turned out. So much of this map is hand sculpted and painted. I didn’t expect it to take so long to get to this point, but the world kept revealing little secrets to me from the Ashkelon desert to the great salt seas. I really feel like I understand the world better than I would have if I hadn’t taken the time to make the map.

While none of them are marked on this version of the map, many of the nation states have resolved themselves too.

Building this world is different from others.

Ash Dancer isn’t the first world I have built, but it has been a very unique experience so far. I feel less like I am crafting a setting than I am recording a world. It is a strange experience. I can’t really explain it all too well, but it feels like they want their stories told.

I fell in love with this story when it first jumped into my head, but I have never experienced anything like this in all my years of writing. I have read accounts of other writers who have had this sort of thing happen to them. I never thought it would happen to me, though I have always hoped that it would.

This story is so near and dear to my heart. I can only hope that I can share it in a way that you love too. More draft chapters of the book should be posted soon. Let me know what kind of features and story elements you want me to explain more. Together, we can bring this world to life.