By saying I could start from higher level to lower level, do you mean size? or sea level?

That was my plan, make a world map. I hadn't even thought of using tectonic plates. I'm at a stand still on story and making cultures because personally, I need a physical representation of land and landscape in order to do all that. So from there I can base cultures on the landscape. For example, a culture that worships mountains isn't going to live in marshy flatlands. And that effects story, and where the characters travel.

I've tried starting with shape, and then from there making smaller shapes of islands, etc. So yes, continental scale. I have been using world maps for scale and reference.