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For those of you who love seeing proper world building in fictional stories, there's nothing quite like seeing an expansive and detailed map at the forefront of the book you just picked up.
Thankfully, there are people out there with similar fascinations, so think of what's to come as a primer to suit your needs.
Writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce has an extensive list of writing credits. He's written such noted children's fiction as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Rides Again and Framed, and has been lauded for his collaborations with film directors Michael Winterbottom (The Claim and 24 Hour Party People) and Danny Boyle (Millions).
Cottrell-Boyce, luckily for us, also has a thing for maps and world building. He used Twitter to speak about his love for maps inside novels and shared some of his favorites.
Take this one, from Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea, for instance:
Thread: I love a book with a map in the front. I used to spend forever staring at this map of Earthsea, hoping tha… https://t.co/coSQO97ThL— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@Frank Cottrell-Boyce) 1548260038.0
There's also this cool map from the Milly Molly Mandy stories written by Joyce Lankester Brisley:
And this one from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island:
I was wondering where this started. Treasure Island? Stevenson drew the map himself for his step-son before he wro… https://t.co/M17OVxMvqJ— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@Frank Cottrell-Boyce) 1548260253.0
John Bunyan's Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Comeincludes this rather detailed map:
Then remembered that there were maps of the pilgrim's progress in Pilgrim's Progress ... and maps were a big part o… https://t.co/hHEJSDLMMU— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@Frank Cottrell-Boyce) 1548260338.0
Matthaus Seutter was one of the most important German map publishers of the 18th century and his Siege of the Castle of Love is a work of art:
Then there's Matthaus Seutter's Siege of the Castle of Love - a male heart surrounded by a frozen moat attacked by… https://t.co/sQcKe10BiY— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@Frank Cottrell-Boyce) 1548260895.0
It's a bit moving that this looks like a proper siege map from the War of Spanish Succession or something - he did maps of real places too.— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@Frank Cottrell-Boyce) 1548260949.0
And then we have this rather simplistic map (drawn by Pauline Baines) for C.S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
Despite Pauline Baines brilliantly evocative drawings, the geography of Narnia is a bit basic and the geography of… https://t.co/x7Gc63tlao— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@Frank Cottrell-Boyce) 1548261154.0
Maybe what you want from the fiction map is some sense that there are other stories in that world beyond the ones in the book ...— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@Frank Cottrell-Boyce) 1548261210.0
And let's not forget this one from Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen:
Then there was this ... from the Weirdstone of Brisingamen ... which was thrilling because it was a real place! You… https://t.co/Iqw0ElRTze— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@Frank Cottrell-Boyce) 1548261329.0
And who doesn't love L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz?
The map of OZ ... looks more like those allegorical maps https://t.co/JAEL5YfTnv— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@Frank Cottrell-Boyce) 1548261578.0
He also gave a shoutout to the Selenographia, by astronomer Johannes Hevelius...
I guess the most important fictional map is the Selenographia - map of the Moon. Simultaneously accurate map of th… https://t.co/Q1fa3xAZNi— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@Frank Cottrell-Boyce) 1548262532.0
...and the instantly recognizable map of The Hundred Acre Wood from A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh books:
Thanks @mdgtame for reminding me that Alderley Edge and the Moon are not the only real places with fictional maps .… https://t.co/ISLqDsM61z— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@Frank Cottrell-Boyce) 1548262837.0
People soon chimed in with some of their favorites...
@frankcottrell_b My Peter S. Beagle foreword copies of The Hobbit & LoTR have brilliant maps (apologies for the poo… https://t.co/laKkQEvROS— Midnight Dreamer (@Midnight Dreamer) 1548294023.0
@frankcottrell_b Agatha Christie always included a Cluedo board style map of the ‘playing field’. People often unde… https://t.co/V7kzZua92N— Jonathan Gibson (@Jonathan Gibson) 1548265030.0
@jgib1996 @frankcottrell_b @redbreastedbird Robin Stevens has marvellous maps for her murder mysteries too! https://t.co/w8TqaOAK9e— Menai N 🏛🦉🌋🏺 #fff #Talk2MeMH (@Menai N 🏛🦉🌋🏺 #fff #Talk2MeMH) 1548282693.0
...including one fan who draws his own!
@frankcottrell_b I Love maps in books! I loved them so much I've been drawing them since I was 10! Finally started… https://t.co/lOEEfkHjT6— KAZIAH (@KAZIAH) 1548290385.0
Let your imaginations run wild, friends!