If you're going to have a complicated story you must work to a map; otherwise you'll never make a map of it afterwards.

Imagine you have to tell the story of a journey through an unknown country. How could you keep track where you are going, where you have been, how far away places are and how long it might take to get there? The easiest way is to use a map.

If the new country is an imaginary one, you will have to invent all the place names. You might also need to describe the shape of the land: its rivers, hills, mountains, forests and towns.

What else would you need to know? How far north or south a place is has an effect on the weather. It also affects how long or short the days and nights are throughout the year.

In Lord of the Rings Tolkien had to keep track of many characters scattered across Middle-earth. Having a map helped to work out how long it takes to travel between places. When people can only travel on foot or horseback, going anywhere takes a long time.

At times in the story, characters notice the moon in the sky. The sighting of the moon links different strands in the story. Tolkien used a 1942 diary to find the phases of the moon on particular days.

The first editions of Lord of the Rings were issued with a large fold-out map, drawn by Tolkien's son Christopher. This helped readers to understand the places and the distances and directions involved in the story. It also set a standard for stories of fantasy worlds. Now every new imaginary land comes complete with map.

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