Structuring Your Story.

So how do you guys do it? I've heard of writers making a checklist of things they want to happen along the adventure. RPGs typically have 20 - 30 chapters. Stories have a beginning, middle, climax, and end. Something happens to jump start the story, next is travel time, and before you know it, the empire empire has been vanquished and you're on your way to the floating fortress to confront your overpowered nitzche-wannabe arch-nemesis whom is ready to activate the artifact of doom for the end of all mankind.

Short of joining a team and being part of an experienced planning process from the ground up, I thought I'd turn to the veterans to see what works.

Do the writers here generally work solo? How are co-writers involved in the writing process? Do you get a team going after creating a few ideas and a pitch, wait until most of the plot ideas have been worked out, or get a group effort going right away (with a few simple goals on what you want... some ideas on plot / setting / characters to start).

It varies a lot by different people. Sometimes I'll already know generally what I want to happen to make a point A and a point B, then brainstorm on how to connect the points in a way that seems interesting to me. Sometimes I'll just write without a known goal and see where it takes me, then go back and fix things where they are needed later. For the short time I worked in a guild group, I just pitched a basic overall idea to the group and let my teammates help shape it as a team as we went along. There's no one set process to creating a story, it's just a matter of finding a method that works best for you.

It's honestly good to start with an idea and present it to other writers in the group and brainstorm about it to make it overall better off.

Finally, something I'm good at.

Many writers work alone- I do, I find it saves a lot of time arguing. There are others who swear by team development. This can be useful if you have a lot of characters who need developing beyond a one-dimensional, one-liner personality. If you do work in a group, be prepared to compromise like hell. Don't even expect all of your ideas to see paper. Another reason I write alone is just that; this is my art, and for better or worse, I want it judged as the creation I envision.

Groups can kick start your idea motor. Groups can teach a lot of different writing techniques. If you're out of creative fuel that day, someone else at the table may take up your slack, if not inspire you. However, know that in the vast majority of groups, there is a clear leader and several people who contribute small chunks of story.

So now we come back to working alone. This is my completely non-logical meathod of storytelling, writing poetry, drawing, or most anything else that requires creative visualization:

Spoiler for:

Put pen to paper. The art will show you what it wants to be.

And then learn to take criticism.

Thanks to everyone who replied though to be honest, I am surprised there is little to contribute to this topic. Writing an epic is no easy feat and involves great planning.

Right now, the writing team I'm part of has a document they continuously cycle around. Each person adds commentary and ideas and every so often the document is given a makeover to steamline the ideas. I think a team of two, even three writers works great (if the enthusiam is there). For structuring, I believe it is important to figure out your primary cast of characters and add more characters as the story demands. One reason to know your cast is so that you can plan your subplots and then tie them into the story. Too many characters and your player could get confused or lose interest. Nima and I have structured our story by defining the theme of each character's subplot and what kind role they have to each other.

That is a bit about my experience. If anyone else has anything to contribute I'd gladly appreciate it =)

I don't like working with a team to form a story. Maybe get an idea from a friend or someone I know, but definitely not work with a team. If a team would write a story with each other, different ideas will be put together and each one would want their idea to be chosen, and perhaps have arguments and fights with each other. I like to work alone and write my story alone, getting inspirations from other stories, games, movies.

I first gather up the basics, beginning from the beginning, middle to the end. After I write the basics for those, I begin to write more in detail. And perhaps write some stuff as I go.
 

So, Love, you write form an "outside-in" perspective? I usually do the opposite. I will have only a skeleton of a grand plan, and take it slowly from one "act" if you will, to the next. Then I construct the connective scenes in the same manner as the main acts, all the while keeping the endgame in the back of my head. I fin that this gives you highly detailed areas and characters, but sometimes poses problems in general continuity. It seems the easiest for me, though.

I'm weird. I considering writing like puzzles as far as stories are concerned. I somehow always start with finding the ending first or something that I would like to be the outcome of a story then solve what's missing  (aka write the rest of the story). I'm just not very good at problem solving stories, hah. I do better problem solving visual art than writing.

@EvilM00: This way might lead to getting stuck at some point, though. I find that writing the beginning, middle and end  before going in details and such help me form the shape of the story and the main idea. Your way isn't bad, though, although I prefer my way.

@ Love: Yeah, it all comes down to one's comfort level. Whatever makes the art flow, right?

I used the process I previously described a ton in the D+D days. Here's your town/settlement/castle. What's beyond that? Dunno yet. Let's make it up as we go along. Keep the action constant, the characters developed and the plot believable.

lol I used this way in making my games but that was a horrible way in the term of game-making. Once I map/event what I know, I dunno how to go beyond that. lol

When you have a gaming group, the players supply a lot of direction, like what they want their characters to experience, so I guess maybe I was incorrect in saying that I dislike working with a team, lol.

My players would give me a skeleton of sorts to flesh out for the next session, but just as often I could anticipate their wants or have a plot twist ready to go. Nowadays I have a notebook full of ideas for my game characters to try. When I have a bunch of ideas, I'll pick X amount to string together into a storyline. I have to be careful though, some plot elements just don't work together in practice as well as on paper...

I first gather up the basics, beginning from the beginning, middle to the end. After I write the basics for those, I begin to write more in detail. And perhaps write some stuff as I go.

Mmm as Love says you should star whit the basics, main plot, main events from the beginning to the end of your game, then you should start having ideas for the gameflow, events, characters and a more complex plot as you go..
all written in paper explained and organized in a way you dont confuse yourself when you are transforming your ideas into events and maps.
just dont overcomplicate things, planning something massive is 100x easier than doing it in a program : )