Writing a Branching Plot - How to approach?

[NotSubmohr]

I'm in the beginning process of writing my (first) visual novel, and the way the story's leaning, it's going to be one with a branching plot. Having never written for this medium before, I wanted to ask - how do you approach plotting/writing this?

I was coming at it by trying to think of all possible branches somewhat at once - for context, my game involves a series of natural disasters, and the branching plots would differ by how the main character deals with them, and who he deals with them with - so I was thinking to myself, "so an Earthquake hits at this point... and in plot A, he's with girl 1, and does this thing, but in plot 2 he's already..." etc etc. Rather - I was approaching it trying to write all the stories in parallel, and I'm increasingly thinking that's the wrong way to do it.

Is it more usual to write a single storyline first, then go back and write side plots (sort of as "what if" situations)? How do you deal with characters that may show up in multiple storylines but have varying degrees of importance across them? My trouble is essentially: I want to make sure that my 'major' characters have at least some roles even in branches that they aren't prominently featured in - but I haven't fully characterized them yet, because I'm a primarily story-driven writer and mold my characters to fit the situations and roles they need to fit - and I don't know what those roles are until I've written their 'routes,' essentially. So - I don't essentially 'know' my character until I've written them into a route, which means a good number of my characters won't have real personalities while I'm writing some of my routes.

Do I just plot each route loosely and add these characters in later, after I've written their routes and defined their characters? Should I try to put in the effort to develop these characters for myself before I write any of the routes? Are both of my approaches for writing branching stories wrong, and I should consider a different one?

Thanks for the input, friends.

[Ozitiho]

There was this great tool on the forum somewhere on plotting branching paths... But gosh I just can't find it. If someone knows what I mean please link it for me.

Otherwise, usually we don't try to do two things at the same time. Write each plot as they come. No need to think about plot B when plot A is nowhere near finished. If you're dealing with many different branches you try to take it in strides. Start at the first branching point. Write it out until the point it leads back to the common branch. If there is no such point, write it out till the end. Personally, I wouldn't think about branching at all until I've written at least one coherent story. But that of course depends on your style. When I outline something a scene might be "they go swimming" and that's all it is until I start with the real script.

Also... Speaking from experience, finish your characters before writing about them. If you do it like you do ( and I did ) you will want to change them like 4 times before you're satisfied. And then you have to go over your entire script to change them, which in turn changes your story too and there's just a whole lot more work to do... I suppose though that this doesn't as much apply to an outline.

[KuroOneHalf]

There was this great tool on the forum somewhere on plotting branching paths... But gosh I just can't find it. If someone knows what I mean please link it for me.

Renpedit?

In regards to the topic, the standard way I've seen writers deal with the problem is having a common route that you start with, and then at some point (or different points in the story) you branch into unique routes. You can be prompted with choices during the common route, but it's only at the branching points that they come into effect and allow you to go into unique ramifications of the base story.

Here's a visual example of how a branching novel can be structured. See if maybe that helps.

So - I don't essentially 'know' my character until I've written them into a route, which means a good number of my characters won't have real personalities while I'm writing some of my routes.

I don't think that's that necessarily bad. After all, you are likely going to have to do several revisions on your script. You could always build the route for a certain character, then on the following revision go back and work him into the common route (and possibly make appearances on other characters' routes) with the personality and backstory you developed.

[NotSubmohr]

@Ozitiho - yeah... I suppose I just need to stop thinking of all my routes as "many sides of the same story" and instead choose one to be a 'main route,' at least for now (as I write it). I guess I'm just overly afraid of throwing stuff out during revisions (as far as characterizing characters goes) - I suppose I can put shells of characters into the early routes as I write them, and rewrite those stories to better utilize the characters once I've written their routes and have a better idea of who those characters are.

@Kuroonehalf - Both of those links are incredibly helpful. I've never seen that Katawa Shoujo flowchart before, but it's a pretty clean visualization of the branching that goes on in that story... I'm downloading Renpedit now, and hopefully it'll be useful later on when I start actually drafting concrete story points.

Thanks for the responses!

[Krel]

I disagree with Ozitiho, I think it's good to plan out all your routes before starting to write any of them. Planning before writing any of the branches lets you sneak in different details in each branch that add up to give a full picture. Then, it also solves your character problem; you see what sort of 'roles' need to be filled across multiple routes, and then write characters that fit nicely into multiple routes.

I agree with you in that the routes don't need to be exactly parallel. Using the example of Katawa Shoujo, the different routes take a different story time span, but there are still common events in each.

[NotSubmohr]

I disagree with Ozitiho, I think it's good to plan out all your routes before starting to write any of them. Planning before writing any of the branches lets you sneak in different details in each branch that add up to give a full picture. Then, it also solves your character problem; you see what sort of 'roles' need to be filled across multiple routes, and then write characters that fit nicely into multiple routes.

I agree with you in that the routes don't need to be exactly parallel. Using the example of Katawa Shoujo, the different routes take a different story time span, but there are still common events in each.

I'm pretty sure I'm just going to have to deal with... more passes and drafts than usual. Even if I plan out the plot points and events in each route ahead of time, things may change as I write the characters, so I don't think I can get around having to go back and sometimes significantly modify already-written segments to make the characters more consistent.

[Krel]

I'm pretty sure I'm just going to have to deal with... more passes and drafts than usual. Even if I plan out the plot points and events in each route ahead of time, things may change as I write the characters, so I don't think I can get around having to go back and sometimes significantly modify already-written segments to make the characters more consistent.

I meant planning both characters and story before writing. That way you would never have to go back and significantly rewrite because you would have already planned character consistency. I think I was too vague in what I was saying, sorry.

Although, are you saying that you've already started writing? If so, I've completely misinterpreted you, and planning everything may not be efficient when you've already made writing progress.

[NotSubmohr]

This thread was useful, but in the process of writing my story I realized that it's probably better served as sequential stories - think something like Fate/Stay Night, where playing through it once 'unlocks' the next route, with other routes potentially following. Writing some of the routes' plots down, they didn't make sense if they happened before other routes - and sorting it out, a clear 'order' showed up. So... it's looking more and more linear as time goes on

Thanks for the input, though - it was a more concrete planning process that brought me to the realization, so even though my initial post isn't incredibly relevant anymore, the thread itself is.

[Ozitiho]

I disagree with Ozitiho, I think it's good to plan out all your routes before starting to write any of them.

I actually meant to say this too. But looking back that's a stretch based on what I wrote.

I assumed NotSubmohr is still in the planning stage of your story. Now that doesn't appear to be the case. Always write an outline of your story before you start writing it. This goes double for a story with heavy branching like yours. Not to repeat what Krelsin said, but it can't be said enough. Personally I'd still go back after I started. Which I did, when I realized I don't know how to get where I want to be in the story.

Since you changed mechanics it might be less relevant to use one of those flow chart tools though (Thanks Kuroonehalf for linking it). But for this kind of pathing the same thing applies, plot each route separately.

[OokamiKasumi]

There was this great tool on the forum somewhere on plotting branching paths... But gosh I just can't find it. If someone knows what I mean please link it for me.

I use FreePlane to plot out my multi-path games.

More aboutFreePlane, and more about multi-path game planning.

[juunishi master]

Some other tools that might help:

Twine: http://twinery.org/

Inklewriter: http://www.inklestudios.com/inklewriter/

[DrGonzo]

... I'm downloading Renpedit now, and hopefully it'll be useful later on when I start actually drafting concrete story points.

I just came across some older posts about this app called "Renpedit".
And while these are older threads, the application sounded quite good.

Was this thing really just write only, and lose your project once you close the program?
No reloading function to keep working on it?