How close is the depiction of Maine (and other places) to reality?

[Gerald]

Is that map by Frank Jacobs that MemnochTheDevil linked officially approved by Stephen, ms. Mod?

There have been maps of streets and town in books, but never one of the whole of his fictionalized Maine for his whole work as far as I know. Does he use such a map for himself as reference to remember how he laid out roads, towns etc. in previous books?

[Moderator]

I don't think we included that when we did the last site update as it needed a lot of tweaking but it was on stephenking.com at one time. No, he doesn't use a physical map to the best of my knowledge--it's pretty much in his head and he can always go back to the books if he needs to to refresh his memory.

We had grand plans to create an interactive map at one time that would include all the places, fictional and real, not just in Maine but in all his stories with overlays, pictures of real locations, etc. but it was too much for us to take on with the staff that we have so had to let that idea go.

[not_nadine]

You guys lookin to hire?

[blunthead]

...We had grand plans to create an interactive map at one time that would include all the places, fictional and real, not just in Maine but in all his stories with overlays, pictures of real locations, etc. but it was too much for us to take on with the staff that we have so had to let that idea go.

I'd sooo love that.

[Gerald]

So, the Jacobs map is the only one we have then.

That interactive map idea sounds great, exactly the thing I'd like. It would also make a great poster I'd imagine.To see all the houses of characters, the summerhouses, places where certain events took place etc.

Hopefully the idea remains alive and the staff is able to pull it off at a certain moment.

[Moderator]

You guys lookin to hire?

Sorry, afraid not which is why we had to give up the idea.

[Moderator]

We'd even tossed around ideas about having maps of The Territories and the real places where Jack "flipped" back and forth, maps for the Dark Tower including real locations, e.g. pics of the real park where the statue of the turtle is located and the skyscraper mentioned, etc., maps for the locations from The Stand, and on and on for his works. The idea was that when you clicked on a spot all those extras would become available for viewing. As I say a very ambitious plan but would have been tres cool. Unfortunately, a lot of logistics for getting photos, creating overlays, making it all work smoothly, etc. that made it impossible.

[not_nadine]

I should have put a winky face after.. That would be very cool to have, thou.

[Gerald]

Has he been to New Hampshire?

And Louisiana?

And Los Angeles?

I always think you can write best about a place you know to avoid mistakes (usually the advice given and taught), but then in the end it doesn't matter that much perhaps: Stoker is said to never have visited the Carpathians, yet from the book you'd never tell - only the people who've been there might find mistakes.

[Robert Gray]

I can honestly say that he captures Maine quite accurately. In my mind's eye at least, I saw what I later walked. Derry which is a fictionalization of Bangor, Maine not only shares many landmarks, the descriptive feel in general is there.