SJ Longthorne

Narrative designers! Anyone got any good tips for keeping my flowcharts from getting out of control? (Structuring branching non-linear story) I try set them up as simply as possible but they seem to inevitably end up getting convoluted.

If it’s a case of too many permutations, most can be boiled down to some common element. I try to identify what those are, then find a way to merge my branches back down to two, maybe three branches (if a complete merge is not possible).

An alarm starts to ring in my bead when my architecture gets too complex or cumbersome. I’ll look for emotional common denominators, such as whether an NPC is generally upset or content and coax the narrative to a point where I can use more universally-appropriate terms.

Do you think categorically before you start or do you let those form as you work through it. I often find that I go in with some kind of plan but my best writing comes from running wild a little bit.