How to visualise a world

Keeping track of places is hard, especially when using apple maps. Luckily, we writers get to make it all up as we go along, and no one will die if we decide to move a city. But eventually you have to go back to a place you went or spoke about already and then, just like in the real world, it helps if everything is where it should be.

I don't know how other people do it -- i'm guessing scrawled sketches on napkins -- but I've tried to make it all a little more ordered this time round. I want my sequel to not only be consistent with the first book, but also expand on the world i've created.

So as I work on refining 'The Sceptre and the Sword' I am referring to, (and sometimes enforcing godlike powers of continental drift) to the map of Arkadia that will hopefully make it into the published copy.

As of today, this is where i'm up to.

Still lots of work to do, but it really helps when writing the detail of a chapter if I can refer to this map and describe the direction of travel, for instance, between Thaumaturge and Celenia.

Of course, you could argue that all this is just elaborate procrastination and I really should close photoshop, get off blogger and get back to writing.

And you'd be right.

November is almost over, after all.

T.B