Draw a Map for a Place That Has One Small Problem

Start with three places

Choose three locations that look different from one another. A bakery, a bridge, and a lighthouse are enough. Put one near each edge of the page. Draw a line between two of them, then let that line bend toward the third.

The locations do not need names yet. A roof, a few trees, a curve of water, or one small flag will do the early work. If the drawing feels too empty, add one kind of repeated mark: fence posts, waves, stepping stones, or little trees. Repeated marks make a place feel like it has rules without asking you to write an encyclopedia about it.

Give the route one unreasonable delay

Now put one small problem where the route ought to be easiest. Keep it gentle. It can be inconvenient, sleepy, overgrown, or mildly bureaucratic. It does not need to be dangerous.

For the example map, a sea monster has chosen the bridge for a nap. That means the dotted path takes the long way past the bakery garden. The monster is the joke. The detour is the story.

This part matters because it gives the places a relationship. A bakery alone is a building. A bakery on the only detour becomes a useful stop. The bridge is not just a bridge anymore. It is where something happened, very slowly.

Let the map stay small

Pick a limit before you add too much. Use four colors. Draw only one type of tree. Give yourself fifteen minutes. Leave some of the paper blank.

A map can always receive another island, tunnel, or alarming weather system. For the first version, stop when someone could point to the route and explain why it bends. The next drawing can show what is on the other side of the bridge. You do not have to solve the whole coast today.

A small map prompt

Your place can be stranger or quieter than this one. The point is not to make the definitive map. The point is to make a place where the next mark has a reason to exist.

• Draw three places: a bakery, a bridge, and a lighthouse.
• Join them with one dotted route.
• Put one sleepy sea monster on the bridge.
• Give yourself fifteen minutes and four colors.