This is a map. Clearly. But it's not just any map. This one hangs on my wall right behind my desk, and it has brought me much joy since it was given to me for Christmas last year.
You may notice that this particular map isn't anywhere on the known earth. That's because this map was drawn out based on a world that I created! That's right, I made that world. And isn't that pretty much the sole prerequisite to being a God? Creating an entire world out of nothing??
Sadly this world has been shelved along with the characters that I so lovingly created (and managed to gain fans for). But the excitement I felt when I first saw the finished project is something I feel every single day when I'm planning, writing, and even editing.
As a writer, every day I get to create worlds. I get to dream up new games, and creatures. I get to commit words to paper that one day may even get read by others.
In fact, when I'm writing, all I ever think about is how the people reading my words will get involved in the worlds I've created. Will they care about the main characters and the plights they have to survive? Will they want to visit that part of the world because they would really love to see that creature I created? Will they get so mad at someone that they'll be tempted to stop reading because if they don't they might just throw the book against the wall?
Will they fall in love with a character and cry when they die? Will they clap and laugh in glee when those two characters that have been fighting the attraction they obviously feel for each other finally get together? Will their eyes mist when a new life is brought in to that world?
I want my world's to be as real to my readers as they are to me. I want my readers to feel like they're there. Like they knew the cities and the countries that I create. Like they're best friends with my characters.
If I can achieve that, no matter how well I do as an author (according to the publishing houses and whatever agent I may eventually get) then I know I have achieved everything a writer could ever really want.
So, I will continue to be a God. To play around with the world's I create, throw my character's twists that they never saw coming, and kill off characters that I would rather see live, because it's what I do. I am a writer.
**Map created by the ever amazing Eric A. Satchwill. Visit his site to find out how to order your own map of your world, and become a God by your own right!**
