Charting the Adventure: How Maps Brought The Armoured Butterfly Series to Life.
When I began writing the Armoured Butterfly series, I didn’t have a map. The lands in which Adaliah awoke evolved in my mind as I travelled with her through a yellow forest and into the rolling green plains of Targe. It wasn’t until the story became more complex, with multiple journeys, towns, landmarks, and kingdoms, that I sketched something out on paper. This was firstly to keep things straight in my own mind, that is, to ensure I had described correct compass directions as the characters traversed the lands and to help me consistently step out how long it would take to travel from one place to another. In this way, the map began its role in guiding and informing the pace of the story; although, in those early days, I also sometimes adjusted the map to fit with the story. The sketch soon advanced into a rudimentary painting, but at that stage I only included the kingdoms of Targe, Jazmarda, and Casmodia—where the first book, The A’zyon Warrior, primarily takes place. It wasn’t until I was well into the series and had added Delya and the White Isles to the landscape that I created the digital map that is now included—unchanged—in the books. I used stock images of parchment and geographical symbols to create a picture authentic to my vision. By then, that level of detail was needed to fully express what was now known overall as the Rhea Lands.
The purpose of the map quickly became more than assisting me in my story development. I could see that a visual companion was just as important for those reading the series as it had been for me in creating it. The map serves as a visual representation of the story, bringing to life the lands that Adaliah and her allies are fighting so hard to preserve from their enemies. Therein are the borders of contention, the towns that have been compromised, and the sacred river that provides life. Therein is the keep where Adaliah grew up and the town where Alexia faced immense grief. The map makes the story more real, more tangible, and raises the tension in the battle against evil in that the reader can see how far the enemy has invaded, how close they are to the heart of all that matters.
Just as it did for me, the map provides a guide to the characters’ journeys, affording a more immersive reading experience. Combined with the landscape descriptions in the stories themselves, the map helps readers to trace and imaginatively walk in the footsteps of the characters, fostering a deeper understanding of the challenges they face. It also offers a way to escape and transcend reality, transporting the reader from their chair and into a world where wonder and adventure abounds.
What literary maps have you found to have these effects on you?
A copy of my first painting of the map - a very simple one before it really evolved! You can view the final map that was published in the books here.