I've started to actually map
the Harrowmark. I've been thinking about mapping it since Animosity iii ended.
I have never wanted to draw all of it as that feels like it will undermine the
idea of an unnatural forest that seems to go on for 10,000 leagues in every
direction. And it takes away from the idea that it is easy to get lost there.
I also don't want to make some things too specific, like how far apart places
are, or where things are in relation to each other - both of these tend to get
nailed down by maps!
But I also really enjoyed the way the Aiii map made me think about The Prime Dominion in a different way to the way I think about the Harrowmark. My
worldbuilding was more holistic and more coherent, as well as more thorough.
But I had an idea this week: What if I don't draw it all on one page? What if
I draw each location separately, and the pages don't meet at the edges?
By putting each location on a page of it’s own, the distance between them is
elastic.
Not just in what I write, but in terms of the way it works in-universe. The
characters can't predict how long a journey will take, because things "shift"
in the supernatural forest.
The pages might fit together, but they don't have to. If they do fit
together in many configurations, is any of them "right"?
Then it's still very possible to get lost in the Harrowmark, even with a map.