That sounds a good approach to give yourself some grace to explore your story more. You got this!

That sounds like a really good solution!

One thing I have done in my stories is having a core group of characters and then a healthy number of side characters that show up sporadically throughout the story. Another thing that could help is referencing a character without them having to actually appear on the page.

I love it! Scooby Doo for the win!

I love making room for fantastical things in my work. I try to leave at least room for ambiguous fantastic elements.

6/ Use broad and detailed strokes when describing the world. A lot of times it is the smaller details that add that extra layer of reality to the world.

5/ Get an understanding of climate regions and how they interact with each other. While fantasy worlds can be different there should still be rules that govern how the world works when it comes to climate and weather.

4/ Mythology and belief systems show how people view their reality and the world around them. This is something that most readers can understand and provides a level of familiarity to how they see their own world.

3/ Give the residents of the world a rich and nuanced culture. Create diversity and friction between factions and nations. Show the differences in regions in how the people live and love.