I started venting my thoughts in the fan edit thread but this is a more proper thread for it.

NeverarGreat wrote a good crawl for the beginning.
The setting is that Luke has Vanished, the First order is sinister but probably does not possess a massive army. Enough evil however that a covert resistance led by general Leia is needed. The resistance tries to gather allies to fight the first order. Among the allies that needs to be found are ofcourse Luke.

Luke failing to train a new Jedi Order is ofcourse of grave importance to the story but that story can sort of unravel throughout the next trilogy.
The important story is how the Dark Side of the Force is rising and gaining followers again. Starting small as a disturbance in the Force would just make for a better story.
And Rey and Finn being more complex characters that are not sure if they want to be a part of this whole ordeal would also make for something way more believable. The dynamics of the grumpy Han Solo and Leia in the original trilogy was entertaining and compelling. The Force Awakens does not work in that aspect.