Since I lost my ability to write, I've turned my focus to writing analysis and it's so fun cracking different aspects of story structure. I've planned, like, 5 different stories to varying degrees but from beginning to end and learned a lot in the process 😁
The thing that's helped me most is studying old Lovestruck stories because you've got a whole bank of visual novels doing similar things but in different ways and to different levels of quality, so you really get to pick up on what works why.
But my most surprising favourite is the episode structure. So, in Lovestruck, you'd release episodes in 3-episode batches and each batch would need to end on a cliffhanger to keep the audience raring for the next batch. I'm sure it was annoying to have to work to but by splitting up a story into mini-arcs with a cliffhanger at an end, it can give you a really strong sense of progression. You're always working towards an end, which can be one of the hardest things to come up with in a story, and you're forced to come up with new obstacles rather than meandering.
I might reblog with some of the fan routes I've come up with using this system because one you start nesting them -- planning routes like this > planning seasons like this > planning episodes like this -- coming up with complete stories from scratch can be a lot of fun!
