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Whelp, I've started a story and am in the process of outlining the whole thing, but I'm running into a bit of a problem. I haven't outlined half of it, but I've found 20 different endings. I like the story and am going to keep this project running, but for future reference: what methods do you all use to outline a CYS? How do you keep projects smaller while still being engaging?

I've found that just getting comfortable with having one option on some pages as opposed to 2+ could go a long way with helping to kill scope creep, especially in sections where it's harder to justify alternate choices.

It can also be helpful to look at the flowcharts of existing works to get an idea of how others handle their respective choices/pages/endings ratios and maybe find something that resembles what you want for yourself.

My rule is that paths need to be sufficiently different. If two are too similar one of them has to go. Then the amount of branching is almost immediately becomes dictated by the setting. The story can only branch when the protagonist has sufficient control to affect the events that will play out, or can at least change their own experience of these events.

One of the most difficult things, in my opinion, in writers writing choose-your-own-stories, is that as a writer you have to accept the fact that MOST readers will NOT READ most of your writing.

In other words, if a traditional story is 30,000 words, the author knows the reader has basically two options: read the entire story and every word; or read some portion and stop reading. The author, in general, knows the particular words that will be read, in order.

But, the choose-your-own-story author has to understand: if they write a typical 20,000 word story, but it has branching paths, the typical reader will read around 2,000 words, NOT the entire 20,000. In fact, it will be the RARE reader that goes back again and again to read every single word.

And that's tough.

The choose-your-own-story writer has to write KNOWING that most of what they write will never be read. That's hard! They have to write with the idea that EVERY permutation of their story needs to be good but they also have to realize if their "perfect" setting is just in one path, most people will not see that. So it is very hard to "keep it engaging" and have an effective branching system.

I think, as an author, you have to just understand that most people will not read most of what you write and live with it.

20 endings? Great! Many readers will see one or two. Understand that, live with it, and realize that many readers (the ones who don't find "the right" path) will hate your story. Ok. Move on. It's tough, but that is, in my opinion, the biggest difference between these stories and "normal" stories.

I suppose having less endings if you want to keep it small, cut some down or use ideas for non ending paths or scenes. You can keep a story small and focused primarily on one event or goal too even if it has a lot of moving parts. Sometimes a project just expands and now you have a larger storygame though. Always best to start off small though if you can. 

When I outline I just make a basic outline with branches and notes on variables and what pages and branches link to what. Length really has nothing to do with engagement, unless it's just meandering and off the walls. But if the story is engaging through character and plot and decent enough writing it should be fine. For a newer writer it's better to get the knack of that with smaller stories though before doing something bigger though usually. Unless you're just a fucking wizard then have at it.