Start out simple, pace yourself, make that epic tale you want to tell slowly show itself. I had a gamemaster who was much like you, the stories weren't bad but it just wasn't very interesting having a newly created character thrown into some sort of epic tale that really didn't relate to him at all.

I DM'ed a group once where it got fairly epic. But we started out small, lvl 2 characters, basically the troubleshooters of a local lord. A duke, I think. They went out and handled small problems, like goblin infestations, bandits, villages not paying their taxes, so forth and gradually uncovered that several of these minor stories were actually related. We spent a long time playing these small stories, building characters and such, which made it so much more interesting when the epic tale finally unveiled itself.

In short: Make it simple, let your players get to know their characters, let them handle small, easily contained scenarios where it is easier to improvise if(when) they don't follow your carefully laid plans.