World Building - 2: Landscape

Once I have a rough map of a country, city or town I start thinking about its landscape.  This might involve creating a topographical map or making notes about its climate and terrain.  I often start looking at pictures at this point – there are so many lovely photos available on the web!


Landscape has always been a source of inspiration for me – the giant trees of the redwood forests, the misty sweep of Puget Sound, the old castles I visited in Scotland.  One of the big differences I have noticed between landscapes in the United States and those in Europe and Asia is that the obvious layers of civilization are far more noticeable on the latter.  Though we have ancient native civilizations here, they are much smaller, fewer and less elaborate than in other places around the world.  Landscapes in the US often fell much wilder for this reason. 


At the moment I am working on the country of Hynovia which is somewhat based in the eastern Mediterranean. For inspiration I have been looking at pictures of Turkey which has both stunning landscapes and fascinating ancient buildings.  Here are a few of my favorites - they are linked to their original sites: