J.R.R Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings (LotR) said: “I wisely started with a map”, Birse headed this advice and when he was in the early stages of writing his fantasy novel, he started with a map and it has taken him to somewhere he did not expect.
Chris Birse, 37 from Darlington, has for the past five years has been creating LotR maps of all the counties in England and is now working on his Hertfordshire map.
It was a project which he had not expected to do but was one that has now snowballed into a full-time job and passion, with the fantasy novel taking a back shelf.
He started his Hertfordshire map at the beginning of August and said that he has particularly enjoyed making this one thanks to the mythical stories from the county.
He cites unique stories from the county which include witches (with the last known witch to be burnt in Tring!), megalithic rocks and giants.
He joked and said: “Yes, there were a lot of witches in this county.”
He starts by plotting all the natural features, rivers, hills, towns and so on, he then goes online to try to find out slightly more quirky points to plot.
However, his most valuable source for information is on local Facebook groups, where he posts his draft map and asks contributors to suggest “things that will not come up on google.”
Birse, as per his process, did a call out to Hertfordshire social media sites and said: “the reaction in this county specifically, has been so overwhelming.”
He revealed that he has had around 15,0000 comments in total and is still working his way through them!
Birse, unsurprisingly, is a LotR super-fan, however he has managed to not let his work take over his life thanks to his 2-year-old daughter.
The success of his work has meant that Birse was able to quit his job as a manager at Aldi and make his maps full time, meaning he also has more time to spend with his daughter while his wife is at work.
Now Birse fits in his map work when his daughter is having her naps and says that quitting his job was “the best thing I ever did.”
He has recently surpassed 10,000 sales of his maps on his Etsy shop.
When asked if he is going to impart his love for the franchise onto his daughter he said: “She is going to be a geek, she has got no choice about that!”
If you would like to purchase a map visit, https://www.etsy.com/shop/fantasyworldmaps/?etsrc=sdt&fbclid=IwY2xjawE8EBdleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHfav_FyyoM8P3ANkAOT9XlkZRulvRq2OPjksZ1ax2oFnY1YIn-tPIIbFvA_aem_6PcsQkvs22eYw3jaleAclg
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