Conceptualizing fantasy maps...

[ExMachina]

I suppose this counts as my first post here...discovered this gem by searching on Google for Photoshop map-making tutorials; I certainly found what I was looking for.

The reason I was searching in the first place is that I'm currently interested in creating a fantasy map for a novel I'm cooking up in my head. However, as a largely visual thinker, having a tangible map with which I can impose the story upon will help my creative process along.

I've reached an impasse though...how does a fantasy world "end"? That is, what lie at the very edges of the map? As I want to create the entire world, I must address this issue. It seems that making the world flat is most in line with the subject matter and is what I want to pursue. A boundless ocean is always possible but then the reason behind it must be explained...a perpetual fog is another possibility. I would really like to have huge waterfalls at every edge where the sea casts off into the abyss, but my abilities with Photoshop don't extend that far to produce it visually.

Of course when you look at someone like Tolkien, his maps look like just a small portion of the world, and the land beyond really has no meaning, but that bugs me. I suppose making the world round (talk about boring) will be my last resort.

Any thoughts or ideas?