What is your approach to creating a new world?

For me, my first approach is to create a plot for my story. I work out what events I want to take place and where I want the story to go. Then, with all of my major plot points in mind, I start to work out how the world I'm writing about came to be before I start writing my story proper. <br><br>This is all pretty straightforward- if my plot hinges on a specific event, I work out how it occurred. I think about who carried it out, and why it was carried out. This means that I have to think about the governments and people that were in place at that time, and what state the world was in at that time. <br><br>I start with the very long term history of the world. I want to know how it was formed, how life occurred, and what the major events were in the evolution of life. I want to know how life came to the planet, if at all, because that leads me to decide the first steps that life took. <br><br>For me, that's usually the creation of the oceans. I want to know how they formed, why they formed, and when they formed. From there, I can work out how the first life forms evolved, and work my way through the history of life until I have human beings. <br><br>I want to know how early humans interacted with their environment, what the climate was like at any given time, and how early man explored and settled the planet. I want to know early politics, and what drove early human migrations and conflicts. <br><br>I want to know how the planet changed. What was the climate like at any given point, and how did that impact human societies and the rest of the planet. Natural disasters also play a huge role in the formation of societies and the course of human history. From there, I can reasonably work out how man explored and settled the planet. <br><br>From there, I work out how politics fluctuated. What were the major powers, and how did they influence the course of human history? How did smaller nations interact with larger ones, and how did governments fluctuate over time? What wars were fought, how were they fought, and what was the outcome of those wars? <br><br>All of this- the long history of the planet and of humanity, governments, politics, war, climate shifts and natural disasters, help me to create the world as it is when my story starts to take place. <br><br>I know the politics, the governments, the climate, the geography, and the natural flora and fauna. I can go into my story knowing how the characters will interact with the world- what tools will they use? Where will they trade? How will they travel? <br><br>I can be certain that what I write in my story will be in line with the world I've written, and I can develop a consistent history and ongoing development over the course of my story. <br><br>But this is my approach, and I'd like to hear yours. How do you go about creating a new world? Do you start with the plot, the characters, the world, or something else entirely? What details do you consider crucial to creating a world? Do you start with the plot, or with the world? What are the most important things you consider when creating a world, and why? Do you start from a broad view of the world and zoom in, or do you start with the specifics and zoom out? If you've created multiple worlds, do you use the same approach each time, or do you change it each time? <br><br>For those of you who have also created a limited, small-scale world (small-scale in terms of geography or time frame, I mean), how do you approach that? Is it different from your approach to a larger world? Are there any limitations created by constraining yourself to a smaller territory or time frame? Do you ever find yourself wanting to explore the wider world?