[You don't] have to be artsy (look at B_Munro; he's widely regarded as one of the board's best mapmakers, and he uses nothing but variations on that same basemap) or particularly creative, but simply take some time. Think about consequences... World events don't exist in a vacuum, and while it's an ATL and of course you have control, plausibility is remembering that while a six-sided die may roll a six fifty times in a row, it won't roll a seven.
Look at other mapmakers; see the comments and criticisms they receive. Look at older map threads. Find out what makes people really, truly enjoy looking at a map. (Hint: no matter what they say, it's rare for a simple Country X wank to be seen as 'good' unless, again, there's some other artistic value to the map.) Find the Map Challenge threads in this subforum and look at some of those maps; almost all of them are exceptional quality. And, again, take your time to make the best map you can make; when given the choice between a map a day we don't really care about, or a map every month or so that's brilliant, we'd pick the latter option every time.
