McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Geography
Quantus:
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on September 22, 2011, 05:29:43 PM ---I have a perverse fondness for stories set in locations where the geography cannot actually be mapped in a consistent logical sense.
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What do you mean? Are you talking settings with amorphous geography or some such?
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Quantus on September 22, 2011, 06:00:01 PM ---What do you mean? Are you talking settings with amorphous geography or some such?
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Sort of.
One example would be a traditional sort of Faerie, where geography among other things does not necessarily behave entirely rationally. (I'm pretty sure the faerie realms in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell would not be mappable, for example.) If walking a mile north, a mile west, and a mile south takes you to a different place from where just walking a mile west takes you, how would you represent that on a map ?
Another would be the sort of space-opera that has interstellar travel, because i see nothing to require that distances in whatever form of hyperspace or wormholes etc. you use for interstellar travel have to be consistent with distances in relativistic space; I am pretty sure that the wormhole linkages between systems in the Vorkosigan books don't map to the relativistic-space positions and distances between those worlds. In that case there is a map, I think in The Vor Game in the editions I have, illustrating that the wormholes are sufficiently consistent with each other to be mappable by themselves (ie, ignoring where they are in relativistic space), but I see no reason why they would have to be.
Quantus:
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on September 22, 2011, 08:18:41 PM ---Sort of.
One example would be a traditional sort of Faerie, where geography among other things does not necessarily behave entirely rationally. (I'm pretty sure the faerie realms in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell would not be mappable, for example.) If walking a mile north, a mile west, and a mile south takes you to a different place from where just walking a mile west takes you, how would you represent that on a map ?
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On a globe near the south pole ;) Sorry, old riddle. I see your point though
--- Quote ---Another would be the sort of space-opera that has interstellar travel, because i see nothing to require that distances in whatever form of hyperspace or wormholes etc. you use for interstellar travel have to be consistent with distances in relativistic space; I am pretty sure that the wormhole linkages between systems in the Vorkosigan books don't map to the relativistic-space positions and distances between those worlds. In that case there is a map, I think in The Vor Game in the editions I have, illustrating that the wormholes are sufficiently consistent with each other to be mappable by themselves (ie, ignoring where they are in relativistic space), but I see no reason why they would have to be.
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Oh certainly in space, or even islands out at sea, to one degree or another, unless travel times need to become an issue for whatever reason. And even that's really just a matter of x is further from z than y is. Unless there are natural regions, for example in the sea scenario, there would be climate differences for those islands further north (or possibly south) than the others, and more tropical ones near the equator. Assuming a earth-like planet of course.
But have you come across it much in your average land-bound story? In instances where the geography is not actively changing/mutable I mean.
Snowleopard:
Another thing to keep track of - is how long it takes to get from one place to another in the setting of your story/novel. Every now and then I've read an author who got that mixed up leaving me scratching my head and going - wait a minute - it took you an hour last time to get from there to there - now it takes you five minutes.???????
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Quantus on September 22, 2011, 08:53:58 PM ---But have you come across it much in your average land-bound story?
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I don't actually write many of those, fwiw.
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