Worldbuilding: Maps/Geography

A fictional world with complex inner workings has long been a hallmark of fantasy, especially high fantasy. A lot of worldbuilders and authors focus on things like magic or politics when making their world, and often time just scribble down a map that works best for their story without trying to think of whether or not the map actually makes sense. This is a mistake, as making a realistic-ish map is actually relatively easy, and does not require a major in geology and geography to get started. If you look at maps of the real world, you'll discover three basic rules that if you follow them will almost always give you a good map that makes sense and won't have people immediately noticing it's fake. The three rules are, 

1. Mountains always run parallel to coasts.
2. Rivers always run perpendicular, or the closest to that possible, to the coasts. 
3. Coasts are never straight.

These are the most basic rules. Obviously, you can get a lot more complex, especially if you get into plate tectonics to determine where exactly the mountains would be realistically, but remember, you're writing a story, not a textbook. None of your readers are going to ask about your plate tectonics, the type of soil, or your ground's density. So, follow the above three rules, and if you really want to you can dig deep into the sciences to make an ultra-realistic map, if that's your thing, but you don't have to do that.