Maps and pens and words and things.

First, a thing of note:

One of the diarists I follow here on OD became an author when she wrote a story for NaNoWriMo…I want to say it was last year or the year before. She got the book published and now she’s just heard that they are going to add ‘New York Times Bestseller’ on the covers of the US copies of the book!!!!

X-D

Anyway, just so exciting. I’ve had her bookmarked for a long time and I’m so happy for her! It’s so cool to be able to witness that kind of success. And it’s so inspiring!

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I started inking in the map yesterday. I still need to add some place names and decided how some of the borders are going to lay out, but it’s almost done!

It’s. Almost. Done!

That’s more than I’ve been able to say about any map I’ve ever drawn ever. Granted, the last map I tried to draw was so ridiculously extensive and encompassed land masses that really had no bearing on the story at all. This map is just one page instead of three, and while it’s not the whole world, it’s the part of the world that counts (besides, all the rest of the world is basically dead anyway, as per the nature of the story). I will be working on it a bit tonight, but I will be focusing more on the scenes today than the map.

I’ve decided I want to story to have sort of a quirky, fantastical feel to it, however I’m troubled about the very beginning of the story.
I’ve started it with my main character coming from our own world, but somehow being whisked away into the world in which the story takes place. I don’t really like this idea, but I like it better than having her be a part of the other world from the beginning. I want her to have no idea what’s going on at all, and aside from some sort of amnesia, I can’t think of a better way to do it.

We’ll see. The reason it troubles me is because I feel like this idea of people from the real world being suddenly transported to other worlds is grossly overdone. I’ll roll with it for now and change it if it still bothers me at the finish. Maybe I’ll be able to twist it in such a way that it doesn’t feel so cliche…but I have a feeling that’s not going to happen.

Anyway. Onward!