: Re: Creating a compelling story from a prebuilt world I have during the last couple of years developed a fantasy world. It's a hobby project I work on when I have the time. Every now and again

@Ann1701686

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"the world is quite rich with events"-->Are these events related to one another? If you have an enormous series of unrelated events, you need to work on stringing them together. Find ways to make them relate, or change them entirely until they do. Possibly George Lucas started off with something like--

"A spaceship the size of a moon vs. a fleet of little ships!"
"Dark overlord fighting hero with light swords!"
"Young boy finds robot with secret message that draws him into something bigger than himself!"

Then he thought to himself...man, these have nothing to do with each other at all. What do I do? And then he realized-- wait! What if the young boy who finds the message eventually becomes the hero who fights the dark lord with a light sword? Hey, now I have to have a scene where he finds a light sword! Idea! And a scene or three where he learns to use it. This could be good. Then...hmm...what about the space ships....well...I suppose I'll figure that part out later.

^But you see where I'm going with this? Finds ways to tie them together. If you hit the problem of "this event was about this character and that event was about that character and they have nothing to do with each other!", then make them have something to do with each other. Make the characters run into one another and conveniently become entangled by the overlap of their separate purposes. Just the way Han Solo is a convenient "ride" for Obi-Wan and Luke before he becomes a main character. Up until then, he was just a guy in a bar avoiding a bounty. And later, that comes back as an extended sequence in Jabba's palace. And the people he once gave a ride to, come back to save him!

Take all these threads and make a tapestry!

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