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With both work and drama dying down on my side, I've finally put some time aside to get to drafting my story. Being completely new to this though (creating a story with multiple paths), I've decided that I should ask for some help and advice on the forums. 

How did you start forming and organizing your ideas? With so many possible angles and paths to work with, where should I be starting? I've got an idea on how I want my story to proceed and the possible endings to it, but I've got a problem with tying in the choices to my game.

Overall, the main problem is just being stuck with a (linear) concept, and finding a way to branch off from that. Also, how do you guys organize your stories?

I have the very same problem, and it usually forces me to quit a story shortly after starting it.  The best advice I received on this specific issue was to write a linear story straight through in your favorite text editor, then break it up where it seems most logical for there to be a choice.  Keep notes of ideas as you go so you have them when you start writing another path, but don't stop until the path you are working on is completed.  I'm trying this technique right now.  Wish me luck...

After I get a rough idea for the Protagonist, Antagonist(s) and other Main Characters, I determine how many paths I want and figure out what the "main" ending is for each pathway. Then I draw a plot tree to represent the choices the character makes as he/she snakes his/her way through the plot. This works pretty well for me and is quite feasible for a branching story e.g. Eternal.

If you want to write a story that has parallel choices that lead to the same place and use variables to alter the ending based on said choices, I'd use some sort of notation in your notes so you know what variables each choice affects e.g. Price of Freedom.

Some people use computer programs when they do their plotting, but I prefer good old pencil and paper. Once I draw out an initial plot tree, I usually go through each scene in my head, and alter the tree as necessary. I then use this tree as an outline while I write the scenes, and add or delete scenes as necessary. The choices are always plot points.

Variables to alter the endings based on the various choices made by the player? I believe my plan was to create a "main" path and than creating pages branching off from those. I was planning to just rewrite pages should they diverge on to a different path, creating a huge klutz of pages and such. I might just run it like Eternal, and do that instead. My game isn't anything too fancy, with stats to track and such.

I'm a fan of the completely diverging paths method myself. The downside is that it takes a sizable word count to pull it off. But a plot tree should be very useful if that's what you plan to do.

I use a word or phrase next to each line to indicate what the choice is + what the scene is about. Personally, I find writing this down physically helps create a springboard for ideas. Since this method gives me a rough idea of where I'm heading, I still maintain freedom to get flexible if something pops into mind. The tree also gives me an idea of how big the overall story will be; because I try to stay within a certain word-count-range per page for the sake of consistency.

Hope this helps.

Having one main path with only a few branches can be tricky. Generally those kinds of games feel like you're just reading a normal story, where the other branches just lead to a page that says "You made the wrong choice, so now you're dead." I think in general, it's good for a story game to have more than one "good" ending, so you feel like the choices you made had some kind of affect on the outcome.

I'm with Briar Rose -- more various endings is fun.

I have written stories many different ways. Usually, the story develops as I write it. I might come up with a general plan that says, okay, there's three main paths to start. For example, you might go north, east, or west (not really, just illustrating a simple example). Then I might think that the main line north leads to an ending where you might become a king of a city. Then the east main ending might lead to you living on the banks of a river happily ever after. Finally, the west ending might have a main path of walking into a time machine and ending up in the past.

Then I start writing each section and end up finding more paths and potential endings in each one. My biggest issue is ending because once I start branching, I can't stop!

I do try to make sure that some of the branches are definite choices -- once you've gone north, for example, you're never going to end up in the east or west branches, anywhere. The side effect of this is that I end up writing much, much more than will ever be read. For example, in the story I'm currently working on there are eight chapters. Each chapter has 30-50 pages, so around 320 total pages. But when someone reads it, they are going to only read 3 chapters because of decisions the reader makes. And in each chapter, there are various options, so each reader is likely to only read 20 pages per chapter or less. So I'm writing 320 pages for a story that will be about 50-60 pages long. But the advantage is that you can read again and end up with a totally different story! Well, at least that's my goal...

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll definitely keep that in mind as I continue to develop the story.

The story is planned to have multiple endings so its going well, with more than just a "good" and "bad" ending. 

I just write one branch at a time. You go through just one choice line at a time. This develops each choice into its own story, and prevents degradation of your story.

Been making slow progress on my story thus far, but I've got another bid for advice.

Should I completely finish plotting and mapping out the choices and what will happen BEFORE I start filling in pages? Or should I go one page at a time and develop the map as I go? How do YOU prefer to do it?

I develop as I write. But then again, I have to have a destination in mind, or I will continue writing a story forever...