How do you figure out landmass shape?

[TrueUndeadHero]

So, this isn't so much a "How do I create landmass shape", but more literal in essence.

Lately, I have been working on a map for a novel and I love it. I think it's great, but I was asked to create a homebrew setting for a group who lost their DM. I was excited because I much prefer homebrew settings rather than the written adventures, but I will LOVE to run adventures (pre-written ones) in the homebrew world.

However. Lately, I've been throwing rice and dice to find a shape and lately, the same spark that led to the creation of my current (amazing!) world isn't hitting me. It's like I lost my spark and the landmasses don't make me happy or even feel right and I don't know why. I am worried that maybe I am taking on too much or I am not as good as I thought I was and I would like to know how you all figure out this problem.

[waldronate]

Step 0: Don't map more than you need to.
Step 1: Draw really vague and blobby "here is forest that is X days travel across, here are mountains that can only be passed here and here, here is desert of badness, this is the big river full of dolphins" things. Refine only as needed. Adding distances and adjectives can really help with inspiration.
Step 2: If inspiration hits (and only if), draw something and then proceed immediately to step 0.

Seriously, tell a little story. Start with a silly creation myth. "Back in the dawn, giants ruled the land. They were too large, so the gods got rid of them. It was messy. Then the gods got lonely and bored, so they started doing stuff. The largest god created the littlest people and dropped them on top of mount SparklyStuff, where they began digging. The God of Drug Use created people who were fond of plants and put them in The Great Green Wood with the directive "make it Greener and Greater". Old Zerg (not to be left out) made a race whose primary attribute was breeding. Lotsa breeding. All the time. Not culture, not pretty things, just breeding. Turns out all of these peoples didn't like each other much. " And so on. You'll get some races and places. Mark down some battles, nations, and memorable plagues. Have some things that are visibly incongruous, like impossibly and stupidly narrow waterways or an isthmus made only of mountains. Put deserts next to the ocean just over the mountains from a rainforest. Why not have a big river run right smack through the middle of a dry desert?

Remember that maps are always made by somebody for a particular purpose. They are unlikely to show every detail and very likely to show only details important to the map's author (someone trying to curry favor with a local ruler is unlikely to make an accurate map that shows how much smaller and poorer the local place is than its neighbor). Every map will differ in what it shows and is also unlikely to have correct distances unless you're a modern mapmaker with access to accurate surveying equipment and GIS databases. An old map will show Kingdom XXX in a hidden valley as large huge and fantastically wealthy, but will turn out to be a few hovels in a swamp when the players get there. The historian might recognize their map as the joke map of Mad Old Edgar who kept making those things and sending them out. He will also know where there's a temple to Old Zerg that's been in need of some visiting (if you know what I mean). Bad maps make great adventure hooks! Plus, the maps will need to be refined over time. If your players somehow get an "accurate" map and word gets out, certain local factions may want to get that map.

In short, don't worry too much about having an accurate (or even plausible) map. A few points of light here and there are enough for many adventures and a few well-placed bad maps will do a lot for long-term campaigns. "Huh, I guess the dragon breeding colony in the high mountain canyon there explains the 100 mile desolation that we thought was DM laziness on that first map we got some years ago."