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I read an article from the Help and Info section about how to go about writing stories. I don't know the specific article, so it would be nice if you could link it below (I'm lazy). My question is, how do you go about writing a structured story line. I know what you have to do but, what are some suggestions as to good places to write the storyline in (paper, microsoft word).

I write as my english professor said to write essays. Brainstorm 7 ideas related to the thesis --> pick 3 best ones --> make bubble cluster bs for each of those being expansive as abosolutely possible --> pick one with most info --> write draft

I usually do that on paper for the familiarity aspect, though one could do it online.

This kind of question you may want to put in Writing Workshop. Fair warning, some of the writing articles at of...questionable quality and shouldn't always be taken as gospel. We had an admin here at one point just approving everything without reading it first, apparently.

Uh....I'll be at my computer in an hour or so and give you some suggestions on plotting out a story, there really is no short version of this.

I was having trouble explaining the question, but I was just asking what program or thing should I use to help organize my storygame?

Well, you could use Google Docs or write it on a paper/notebook.

IMO the best answer is to use Scrivener, but if you can't/don't want to pay for the program, there's a free CYOA making tool called Twine that works pretty well for plotting out story maps if you don't get too complicated.

Old fashioned pen and paper works pretty well too. You don't have to go into every detail of every branch, you can plot the major plot lines in a similar way to plotting out regular stories. Just treat every major path as a potential alternate version that still hits all the same beats a standalone story would. Introducing setting, characters, conflict, and the ways the character tries to overcome it, whether they succeed or fail and why.

I'm not sure how much previous experience you have writing regular stories, I can go into more detail there if needed.

Many people do it different ways.

Sometimes I write with a pencil on paper and have boxes, lines, and arrows all over the place. Sometimes I use Microsoft Word, tables, with boxes and colors. Many other people have other options and ways to do it. What makes the most sense to you?

I think writing is easier, seeing how I am not going to go out and buy a big board or something.

Pushing pins into index cards is an advanced skill, best just stick with something easy like writing on paper, yeah.

Lately I do my rough planning on a whiteboard, then transfer it to notecards pinned to a physical corkboard to flesh it out, for example:

 I've tried a lot of outlining software, but something about having a physical board is very motivating. It's also easy to rearrange plot points this way and put things in whatever location you want, see the whole thing at once, etc. Scrivener has a corkboard thing as well, but I haven't actually tried that one.

As far as story structure itself goes, I recommend reading Save the Cat by Blake Snyder.

LOL, Axiom. Transparent excuse to show off your corkboard.

The dude didn't want to go through the trouble of finding an article again, somehow I doubt he's serious enough to buy a board and read books and etc. to improve his CYOAs.

Well yes, but look at how beautiful my corkboard is! Actually, it has a lot more stuff on it since I took that picture. It's so official-feeling. I would actually really recommend getting one. They're like $25 or $30 on Amazon for one that size, and pinning stuff to it is way more psychologically motivating than doing it digitally. Plus you can hang it proudly in your living room and impress everyone with your writerliness.

I am impressed and halfway convinced to do this.

Do it. It's totally worth the money. You don't even have to drill holes in your wall! I got some adhesive picture-hanging strips that were easy to put up and work great.

Well, it is better than writing in a notebook :)

I love the corkboard, quite impressive.

The only reason I'm not going to buy one right now is because I need portability. I have random ideas and writing bursts at different times and places, so personally I do better with written paper more often than not.

Yep, fair enough. I find I really like the corkboard in combination with something else, though. I use whiteboard + discussion + random note-jotting for rough ideas, then they wind up on the corkboard when they become a bit more solidified, and then they go into a computer document for more detailed planning (e.g. individual scene conflict/emotional change/relation to theme/etc) once the corkboard is fleshed out.

Buy some bristol board and a pack of pencils. Draw a bigass flowchart. Shouldn't cost you more than a few bucks. Alternatively, make one using Twine