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Welp, I kinda revived since new job and new place let's me write a bit more on the site. It was a long time, but here I'm getting words together once again.

But what I'm writing about is something wholly different - there is this story I'm working on, fantasy setting and all. I was wondering if should I stop myself and focus on episodic format or start writing the whole story as one thing - mainly because I tend to put in too many choices and then get lost in my own stories. And never end them.

For the curious ones: http://chooseyourstory.com/story/gray-elf (no clicky links, I already forgot how to make them).

And please diregard failed romance segment I'm kinda still getting hang of how should teenage love/crush.

Wow - you really have a solid start there!

Thanks for the praise! However I would like to turn my question to you (since nobody else bothered to answer) - what would be better - longer, but more convoluted story, or shorter, episode-like format? I'm really afraid that I'm going to screw this up if I'll put too much thingies inside...

That's an easy question (IMO anyway) - I can highly recommend against any sort of short or episodic format (unless each episode is a hundred pages long).

Folks seem to be really harsh on rating shorter works, so going for the long story and taking the time to do so seems to pay off better.

Welp, so this is pretty much what I was thinking - I do know that people here prefer longer stories... and that there is some backlash against ones that are perceived to be done by lazy guys :P.

I guess I'm going to try really hard, because last story I started got really messy at 200+ pages and now I don't even know where to continue (because of branching paths). Oh well, thanks for the help anyway! :)

You could ask Endmaster on how to take notes for your storygame if you need help. He's mentioned his notes a few times and considering the size of his stories...

Thankfully I mostly know where I'm going with this one... so it hasn't become a problem. Yet.

And this is only a fear of mine - like I wrote before there is a story I may never end, just because my writing and different aspects of story intermingled so much that I'm not really sure what exact storyline each new page is adhering to...

Keeping track of my own stuff is harder, but I was asking just because I'm a lazy guy and was wondering if shorter and episodic format would work on the site :P. It seems not, and that means it harder path for me to take. Oh well...

If you get lost in your own stories, twine outline them?

Isn't that like whole different medium? I'm on CYS for few years and kinda got used to the editors here (not counting these damn scripts of course!) so I would prefer to stick to it...

Or is there something I'm not getting about Twine? (I spared only short look on the site)

It's a relatively simple medium to locate the paths of your choices via a web-like network.  Linking one page / passage to another is a little different (you'll have to use double brackets and | to do it.).

Whatever floats your boat.

This is coming along nicely! Your English is very good, although you sometimes leave out articles (the, a) or possessives (her, his) before some nouns, for example: "but he brushes her off with [a] short gesture," "After a meal he went to [the/his] workshop."

If you finish it, I'd be willing to proofread and correct it. ^_^

Also, Twine is awesome, although I can certainly understand if you don't want to transfer this much work to a new format. Still, I decided it was worth it after I tried it, so it's something to consider!

Thank you! Sadly English is my second language so some grammatical errors are inevitable. I'm would be more than happy to grant you access and correct any mistakes made :). Either now or after I finish first in-game chapter.

Yeah, I keep hearing about the Twine here and there, but like I wrote before - I'm just used to slightly obtuse format used in the CYS site :P. I may try it with one of the other stories I started, but haven't really gone that far with (since so many people are such enthusiasts of program).