: Re: For Fantasy Stories, Should You Include a Map At the Beginning of the Book? If you're writing a fantasy novel, would it be best to include a map of the geography that the story takes place

@Dunderdale623

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A map can be a nice touch, or it can be a hindrance. Are there are particular scenes where a map would let you snip out several paragraphs of tedious explanation? If there are only one or two such scenes, this need might be better served by simply putting a rough map in those places, possibly even inline with the text.

I think that a lot of fantasy books have maps in the front of the book because Tolkien Did It First. It's worth keeping in mind that Tolkien created the languages and terrain of Middle Earth before writing the story, and Lord of the Rings grew out of his intense world-building efforts.

In summary, there's no shame in using a map to save yourself some work, but only use a map if there's a good story reason to have one. If a map is tacked on and not needed, it's just ornamentation and a mood-setting element; these are good and valuable things, but you're best off not spending energy now on what may be an art director's call down the road.

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