A little more detail would be nice. If I'm just by myself, I'd draw them the right way. If I'm trying to confuse people, I'd draw a sideways L, the short end facing up being the way to go, the short end facing down the wrong way. It's be confusing enough for people not to follow me, but if it's long enough or they know the way, it'd be easy enough to figure out, since there's only four possible states to the symbol.
if meant to direct myself back out of it, i'd draw them the opposite way i'm heading, on my way in...
Thanks. Me and my friend have been arguing about this for 4 years in our collaboration project - our characters are lost in a maze... (I'd say labyrinth, since it's stone and underground, but I *believe* those actually are pretty straightforward and circular?) I'm just wondering which the weight of popular opinion goes. Back the way you came, or the way you've gone? A "we've gone this way before" to a "this is the way out"? If you see an arrow, you would follow it - to me it makes no logic to walk the opposite way to an arrow you know is friendly, and you'd be drawing them as you go, so that if you need to back track you can follow your arrows and know you're walking against them as an exception, and if you happen to wander in a circle, seeing one of your arrows pointing on the way shows you've already been there. Coming across one of your arrows is basically saying "Ha ha, you already explored that way, idiot" so the instinctive reaction on coming back to an old fork means the arrow is pointing the way you've already been, marking it rather than saying, "go this way next time, dumbass" If you went in EXPECTING the arrows pointing back to the entrance it'd be different, but imagine being the 2nd lot of explorers to arrive in the maze... You don't notice the arrows for the first few hundred meters, then come across one at a fork. Would your instinct be to say, "this arrow must point another route back to the entrance!" or "this arrow must be pointing the way we have to go to make progress!"
I would point the arrows in the direction I am going. Then, if it proves to be the wrong way, X those arrows out when I backtrack.
When you are blazing a trail, you usually place any arrows in the direction you are travelling. Part of that is because the return trail might NOT exactly coincide with the way in, particularly if there might be some climbing involved. The maze need not be flat, after all.
This would also depend on whether the antag is hot on your trail - in which case, your protag would be an idiot to draw arrows leading straight to himself.
Personnally I'd draw the arrows in a way that the tail showed the way I came and the head of the arrow the way I went. This way no matter which junction I arrived at, if there was an arrow there and I came in from a 3rd path. I'd be able to choose some other way instead of accidently going the way I came. Depending on how many forks there are at the junction.
No arrows needed.... The natural thing to do is to direct to where I am going. But here is an innovation for you, without arrows. Assuming that you have the possibility while entering, touch with your hand either side and keep it touched while you go through the maze. You will always come out, albeit not in the most efficient way. Of course, when you have major challenges that require you to disconnect from the wall, you are in trouble.....
Maybe you could have a code - up for left, down for right that way anyone you don't want to follow doesn't know.
why would one enter a maze to escape, when there's no way out but the way they came in?... and if they are, why would they leave any visible marks to show they'd been by that way?
What if they are stuck in the maze? Like if they got lost in a maze-like area? I'm not sure what the OP's circumstances are. But I'm probably just playing devil's advocate at this point, so I'll give it a rest.
Like in the Cat's Return she is running in the maze to a goal (getting home) whilst being chased by the cats that want her to marry their king. But there are three of them and sometimes they get seperated.
The circumstances really are relaxed - a group of explorers, no one chasing them, just wandering around. Think the old screen saver with the maze, where it just determinedly went down every corner until it had seen it all - if you're not smart like the... floating triangle? Mouse? I can't remember what it was ... then you would need to make some marks not to get lost.
