Creating my own world... Options

[redsrock]

I was trying to decide on what NON-TES story I wanted to write next, and it donned on me that I have never actually tried to create my own personal world. So that is what I am going to do, but I need your help. Right now I am clueless as to where I want to go with story. I have the map already drawn out in "Paint", but I don't have a name for the 'world', nor do I have any idea on what the plot should be, or what creatures/species I should have.

Can anyone out there help a writer out? Have any of you all tried to create your own world? If so, what are the DOs and DONTs? What caused you to succeed/fail? I don't mean to sound offensive with the 'fail' part, but obviously there's a reason if you failed, and I want to know what it was so that I don't make the same mistake.

This project is pretty high on my list of things to accomplish right now, so I want to get things right. And even if you haven't tried to create your own world, I would still love to hear your opinions.

[MstrOfPppts]

Well there's nothing wrong with islands for me. What I was trying to say; more important is that not everything is on the map. make a bigger island cut off by the edges of the map and give that world some continuity instead of assuming that the rest is just one big ocean.

This is just my opinion of course ...

[LadySaira]

Well there's nothing wrong with islands for me. What I was trying to say; more important is that not everything is on the map. make a bigger island cut off by the edges of the map and give that world some continuity instead of assuming that the rest is just one big ocean.

He's creating the -world- though, not the story. So he draws everything, then decides what the characters in one place knows about... you don't leave out part of your world when your making the entire thing, besides for continuities sake, it wouldn't be endless oceam stretching out, it'd be a ball... so one end of the map connects to the other... except up and down... those are just confusing.