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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34215
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34215
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I suggest you start with an Innocent (or an Outsider) — a Cabbagehead kind of character, someone who doesn't know anything about your world so the world has to be explained to and/or experienced by this character.

This gives you an easy path to explain things about your world to the reader, because everything is also being explained to the character. Once you've given your reader an on-ramp to your created world, bringing in other characters who are more complex, crazier, higher up in politics, etc. to star in other books is much easier, because you aren't trying to explain the world at the same time.

As an example: Mercedes Lackey has written like 50 books in her Valdemar series, around different characters, set in many different times and cultures. The first trilogy was about a 13YO peasant girl who is selected to become part of the main kingdom's magical police force, the Heralds. Through her literal schooling and training, she learns about the kingdom, magic, history, culture, society, and neighboring countries. From there, Lackey had the freedom to add on other characters and countries as she saw fit in future books. Some stories are set over a thousand years before her original trilogy; some are set thousands of miles away and barely interact with the main kingdom if at all.

Outsider/Isolated Child Who Becomes Chosen One is a classic opener: the Belgariad, Harry Potter, _A Wrinkle in Time_, The Dark Is Rising, _The Wizard of Oz,_ Menolly from Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall series, I'm sure you can think of more. Having other wiser characters teach your Chosen One about the world not only lets you do world-building in a way which is relevant to the plot, it opens up lots of places to introduce other characters/settings/nations/cultures/etc. who can then be the focus of future stories.

Original score: 12