Look about you and take in the landscape. Is it a wretched wasteland or an idyllic pastoral view? Either way, a narrative awaits you there!
The environments around your characters can be inspiring landscapes or troubling terrain that acts as an obstacle. Think of the things that can hide in the surroundings or the possible places to get lost. What is there to eat and what survival or navigational challenges are there? So much opportunity to mess with the little lives of your characters…
Landforms, Terrain, and cool sounding vistas
- woods, mangrove, jungle, forest, stand,
- fell, dale, hill
- mountain, peak, arroyo, draw
- cliff, bluff
- desert, arid steppe, cracked plain, xeric shrubland, dry grassland, desolate waste, bare earth,
- taiga, muskeg
- meadow, field
- oasis, refuge, watering hole, waterhole, shelter, harbour
- scrub, thornscrub, matoral (Spanish),
- flume, abutment, spillway wasteland
- steppe, grassland, valley, hollow
- dell, dingle
- coomb, escarpment, fall, fall line, coastal plain
- cirque, col, saddle, high meadow,
- dune, gully abyss gulch
- pass cleft clove
- glacial till, moraines, drumlins,
- terrace, delta, alluvial deposits, saltpan,
- veld, swale, arroyo, gulch, gully,
- barrow, mound, hillock, rise,
- tundra, flat land, frozen plain,
- drift, dune, deposit,
- ghyll, gill, abysm, abyss, nappe, hogback, accretion, donga, acclivity, declivity, pinnacle,
- tall-grass prairie, short-grass prairie, fen, tussock, chasm, crevice,
- trail, path, pass, passage, way,
- sward, cataract, draw, levee, wall, burm, tract, moor, embankment, clay bed, esker, erratic, iceberg, glacier, striation, strata, couloir,
- incline, bayou, tuft
- rain forest, boreal forest, rise mound
- hillock, knoll, butte, hummock
- mesa, ridge, mount, slope, dry land, dust bowl,
- bank drumlin kame crag and tail, downs, corestone, cornice, abyssal plain, accumulation,
- plateau summit glacier fjord
- estuary coast platform
- pinnacle, top,
- coast, beach, shore, atoll, reef, barrier, enclosure, island, archipelago, peninsula,
- headland, promontory, horn, cape, point, head, foreland, highpoint, prominence
- delta, bayou,
- swamp, slough, marsh, bog, muskeg, wetland, marsh, morass
- incline, rise, slope,
- dry gulch, dry riverbed, wadi, arroyo,
- flood plain,
- lowlands, heath, moors, flatland,
- stretch, tract,
- ravine, gorge, canyon, crevasse, chasm, channel, trough, flume, notch, drop, drop off, slope, descent,
- cliff, arête, wall, bluff, arete,
- vale, glen, valley, hollow (holler down South), dale, coulee, bottom, swale,
- brush, thicket, copse, old growth forest, ancient woods,
- eternal land,
- volcano, cinder cone, caldera, lava field, lava spout,
- Geyser, spout, waterfall
- Ice mountains, glacier fields, snow mounds, ice wall,
- avalanche, slide, slump, scree slope,
- adhesion ripple, rift, tear, rip, score, scratch, fissure, fracture, cut,
- dent, alcove, dint, trough, carve, indent,
- funnel, chute, tunnel,
- adret, aiguille, agglomerate, alas, chenier rift, anticline, alp, atoll, aven, arch, glacial trough, corries, chine,
man made:
- farm, ranch, orchard, paddy, grove, plantation, vineyard, garden, cultivated land, causeway
Seas, Lakes, Rivers and other bodies of water
- river creek brook pond
- lake, sea, ocean, bay,
- archipelago, island, string of islands, reef,
- lagoon, bay, strait,
- affluent,
- quay, rivulet, fountain,
- flume muskeg
- basin,
- reservoir inlet delta estuary
- marsh, morass,swamp, coulee, mangrove
- bayou stream puddle bog
- confluence artesian basin chute waterfall
- cove glacier moor gully
- sewer channel gutter canal
- passage dugout runoff outwash
- tributary, meander, head water, flood ox-bow
- kettle lake, basin, pool,
- upland river, tributary, watercourse, waterway, spillway,
- divergence, convergence, fork, split,
- waterfall, falls, cascade, cataract, chute, rapids, shoot,
- gill, ghyll, fleet, dub, rivulet, causeway, flume, donga, plash, puddle, brook, horseshoe lake, sludge pit, sewer, gulf, strait, dugout, iceflow, runoff, meander,
- ground water, water table, melt water,
- outwash, ditch, watercourse, braided stream, bog, artesian basin, chott, chute, cove, glacier,
- the doldrums, calms,
man made:
- reservoir, spillway, weir, dam, dugout, canal, irrigation ditch, aqueduct, diversion