Maps for Chapters 1 and 2 of “Semiosis”

I appreciate maps. When I was a newspaper editor, my coworkers called my office the “war room” because the walls were covered with maps.

Since the setting is important to the novel Semiosis, I made maps for Chapters 1 and 2 to help me write consistently. If a character in a specific location heads left/north, they should wind up in the same place every time.

Generally, when you write a short story, you might be able to hold the whole idea in your head at once, but novels are too big. Notes, charts, pictures, outlines, and other kinds of memory aids can be a big help not just for consistency but for the writing itself. Although some authors like to write “by the seat of their pants” and see what happens, that approach can take much longer than writing with a plan.

The Chapter 1 map shows the village and its fields.

The Chapter 2 map shows the bigger picture, including the route to Rainbow City. These maps were originally made on graph paper, although the grids did not come through in the scans of the maps to show the scale.