Are maps necessary in fantasy novels?

[chongjasmine]

I don't think maps are really necessary for the fantasy novels, but I enjoy looking at them.
I especially enjoy well drawn maps.

 

[Harpo]

Sometimes they show comparative distances well, and some people like that sort of thing.

 

[Oligonicella]

I think useful for author to work out times to travel, distances, keep story consistent. But it depends on the story if needed for the reader.

I put the two I developed for stories in appendices out of the text flow. Any others are just verbally referenced.

 

[Ursa major]

I've mentioned elsewhere on the Chrons (with respect to maps in digital books), that the place to put (in particular) detailed maps would be an author's/book's website.

 

[ablackenedrose]

I'll be honest, I have never looked twice at a map in a fantasy novel. I'm here for the writing, not cartography.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Is it necessary? In my opinion, no. Can it be useful? It depends on the story. Not all fantasy involves extensive travelling or politics between different nations or regions. But for some stories many readers might find a map useful (not all readers can keep physical distances and directions clear in their heads without something to look at—some people can, but some people can't), and just because other readers might ignore it, that is no reason not to provide a map for the sake of those who might benefit from including one. Of course if the author has no artistic bent and has no talented friend willing to oblige and can't afford to pay an artist, then I think the writer should not worry too much about not having a publishable map. (Although I do think a rough map, not for publication, for the author's personal use only, can be very helpful.)

 

[Astro Pen]

I would say that, regarding contemporary fantasy, adding maps conjures up impressions of conspicuous teenage writer "World building".
Also, although functional, it is still an illustration. So you are bringing a graphic style to the book, much as you do with cover design.
The more imagery you design in the less space you leave for the readers imagination.

Counterpoint: As a six year old I used to spent much time looking at this endpaper map from the Wind in the Willows. I would travel around it in my mind making up stories of my own. Very much part of my relationship with that book.

image via amazon

 

[paranoid marvin]

I would say that, regarding contemporary fantasy, adding maps conjures up impressions of conspicuous teenage writer "World building".
Also, although functional it is still an illustration. So you are bringing a graphic style to the book, much as you do with cover design.
The more imagery you design in the less space you leave for the readers imagination.

Counterpoint: As a six year old I used to spent much time looking at this endpaper map from the Wind in the Willows. I would travel around it in my mind making up stories of my own. Very much part of my relationship with that book.



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image via amazon

Good example. They say a picture can speak a thousand words. A map, and a good imagination, can create many more than that.

The example of the WIIWabove os a good example, as I think are the maps of Middle-earth in LOTR, and also Thorin's map in The Hobbit. When reading the latter, with the fold-out map beside me, I felt a part of the adventure that the dwarves were undertaking.

 

[Orcadian]

I have a particularly poor 3-D sense and always find a map very helpful when the characters undertake journeys.

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

I've never read Lord Of The Rings. I listened to the whole thing as an audio book and large parts of it meant nothing simply because I couldn't refer to the maps. I think in that specific case, the maps are an important part of the book.

 

[Swank]

I am not able to follow SF stories that don't include 3D star charts.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Some people have difficulty imagining spatial relationships, even when familiar places are involved. I get the streets and directions mixed up in the town where I live, and I have lived here for almost forty years. So maps in books do help me, and I appreciate when they are offered. I don' t expect people who don't have my problem to understand or accommodate me, but at the same time I don' t think it's a subject for mockery, and I see no reason for readers to complain if someone has taken the trouble to offer one when they don' t personally need it. Flip past it: that's not so hard.

 

[Swank]

I don' t think it's a subject for mockery

Heavens! What do I have to do to convince you that the confusing trip from Tatooine to Alderaan and then Alderaan to Yavin leaves me unable to concentrate on the part where Gran Moff Tarkin is attempting to parallel park the Death Star in firing position? At least that part has an infographic!

 

[Swank]

Anyhoo...
The purpose of a map is to help orient the reader in several situations:

1. The LOTR boondoggle - multiple characters simultaneously in multiple locations causes the reader to constantly question how these events relate to each other.
2. Scope and scale - the map in the front of Dune dissuades the reader that Sietch Tabr isn't just a 20 minute taxi ride from town. Our tendency as readers is to assume that locations are close unless we read about the length of the journey - which modern convenience like aircraft obscures.
3. Repetitive features - crossing one river, then later another river can cause some reader confusion. A map shows there are two rivers in an affirmative way.
4. Authenticity - as a worldbuilding shortcut, a map makes adds unimportant details that make the world more real - distant cities and plateaus that make the story more real despite never appearing in text.
5. The passage of time - locations on a map can serve as a proxy for different periods in the story. The three homesteads in Little House on the Prairie are easier to keep straight when you can think of them visually.
6. Economics - showing the geographic features of different locations is a shorthand to their wealth, as we assume coastal cities have wealth and abundance while settlements closer to wastelands or the poles have much less.


Of course, all of the above are arguably problems with the text. SFF is a blank slate - you can write whatever kind of journey you want with whatever details you like. So you can choose to write a simple and linear trek from A to B to C. Or keep everything in one area, or make the description of environment, direction and time so rich that the reader has no doubt where and when the events are happening. It's a choice you make when you design your plot.

 

[Culhwch]

Heavens! What do I have to do to convince you that the confusing trip from Tatooine to Alderaan and then Alderaan to Yavin leaves me unable to concentrate on the part where Gran Moff Tarkin is attempting to parallel park the Death Star in firing position? At least that part has an infographic!

The map of the Star Wars EU/Legends galaxy is one of my favourite fictional maps.

 

[Fiberglass Cyborg]

I'm generally in favour of fantasy maps. I don't think it's compulsory, but it can add a lot to the sense of realism and make things less confusing if there's a lot of travel / many different locations. I also love maps in history books, especially when it's a time and .or place I don't have a lot of pre-existing knowledge of. It can all get a bit grey-void-y otherwise. "Fine, so Russian agents infiltrated the Sultante of Bukhara, but where IS that?" "OK, so we're now dodging the Storm King's minions in the Grianspog Mountains - is that near to or far from where we were before? NSEW? Gimme a clue."

 

[Oligonicella]

I would say that, regarding contemporary fantasy, adding maps conjures up impressions of conspicuous teenage writer "World building".
Also, although functional, it is still an illustration. So you are bringing a graphic style to the book, much as you do with cover design.
The more imagery you design in the less space you leave for the readers imagination.

You can also overestimate their imaginations. Example:

Long ago a friend of mine from Brussels, Thomas, was coming to New York for a conference. Congrats, yada, yada. He knew full well I live in Southern Missouri but he didn't realize full well I live in So Mo.

Thomas: "How about we get together for lunch?"
(internal smile) "Sure. How about we meet half way?"
Thomas: "Sounds good. Where do you suggest?"
"How about Richmond, Virginia? That way we each only have to drive about ten hours."

Obviously he was stunned. He never realized how big the US is or that there was a mountain range between us.

I think the map provided with LoTR provides a good indication of the scale of the epic and foreshadows the travails ahead.

 

[BAYLOR]

Yes, because In fantasy there is no GPS .

 

[Guttersnipe]

@Brian G Turner I'd say a lot of epic fantasy, high fantasy, medieval fantasy, etc. include maps, but this is not necessary for many fantasy novels. Fantasy novels can be set in an otherwise realistic world where magic is intrusive; I don't think there are a lot of maps in urban fantasy novels, for example. War for the Oaks by Emma Bull is like that; so is American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

Alice in Wonderland has a dizzying geography with some very hilarious post-hoc attempts at maps (none by the author) And yet it works extremely well as fantasy.

We can say the same about Oz.

Both stories are all about travelling through these fantasy worlds and yet the authors have kept millions of readers engaged for more than a century (in each case) without a map to guide us.

So, no. Fantasy novels do not REQUIRE maps.