How to write an interactive story without getting lost in the process

Castle of Despair: game asset pack by brullov

A step-by-step guide to creating interactive stories with clear structure, meaningful choices, and branching narratives

Writing an interactive story can be exhilarating, but it can also feel overwhelming. Multiple endings, branching paths, and player choices can make even the simplest story hard to track. This guide will walk you step by step, helping you stay organized while crafting a story that engages and challenges your audience.

With Arcweave and some planning, you can create your interactive story without losing your way.

Step 1: Summon your story idea

Every interactive story begins with a spark.

"Right now it's only a notion, but I think I can get the money to make it into a concept, and later turn it into an idea."

—Annie Hall (1977),
screenplay by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman

Where do story ideas come from? There's no single answer, but there are plenty of ways to spark inspiration, some of which you've probably heard before:  read the news, eavesdrop on conversations, carry a notebook, keep a journal, dig into your own experiences, or simply write the game you'd want to play. They all work. There's really no wrong way to come up with ideas.

What problem do you want to solve?

Sometimes, your idea might emerge from a desire to solve a real-world problem. Questions like the following can ignite an interactive story that's both meaningful and engaging:

• How can you help a child with autism navigate their morning routine?
• How can you encourage schoolchildren to embrace diversity?
• How can you support an adult working through emotional trauma?

What genres do you like?

Other times, ideas come from genre or gameplay ambitions. Love mysteries? Will you create an escape-room style puzzle, or an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit? Into action thrillers? Maybe your story has car chases, plot twists, and split-second decisions. Want to explore the darker side of human nature? You could craft a psychological horror that challenges players to confront the unknown. Or perhaps you want to twist any of these into a comedy.

A good approach is to look at the stories and authors that excite or even intimidate you. What you admire most can guide the kind of interactive story you want to create.

Step 2: Define the story world

Castle of Despair: game asset pack by brullov

The setting is more than just a backdrop; it's an organic part of your story, a place where characters emerge and the narrative unfolds.

Relation of setting & genre

Often, the setting aligns with the genre (a western in the Far West) or intentionally twists it (a noir thriller set in space).

Believable world-building

No matter the genre, it's crucial to define—or build—a believable world. Here are a few practical tips for building a world the players of your interactive story can believe:

• Set clear rules: Decide what is and isn't possible in your world and stick to it. Consistency helps players suspend disbelief.
• Include environmental details: Describe locations, weather, architecture, or culture to make the world feel lived-in.
• Reflect culture and society: Even fantasy worlds have economies, traditions, and social structures. These small details make choices feel real.
• Integrate choices naturally: Make sure the world reacts to the player's decisions, reinforcing the sense of immersion.

Step 3: Structure your interactive story premise

In order not to get lost in your own interactive story, you need a single, short sentence that describes the core of what is happening. This is the story's premise or logline.

The premise must include the protagonist. An inciting incident triggers some big conflict that they must face. That conflict can be anything: save someone from danger, survive an ordeal, pull off a heist, compete in a championship, etc.

In order for the conflict to be inevitable, there must be consequences that raise the stakes. We don't want our player to be able to simply walk away from it.

Finally, an interactive story is a journey for both the player and the protagonist, involving not just an external conflict, but also emotional growth. In most stories, the protagonist begins with a character flaw and learns an important lesson along the way.

Therefore, your story's premise will look like this:

When [the inciting incident happens], a [flawed protagonist] must [resolve the conflict] or [face consequences].

Ideally the story's main conflict and the protagonist's flaw should be connected in an ironic and meaningful way; in order to resolve the conflict, the protagonist is forced to confront and outgrow their flaw.

Step 4: Plan multiple endings

After figuring out the premise, it's time to think about the endings. Yes, plural. Unlike traditional narratives, an interactive story can branch into multiple outcomes, as the player can choose different paths.

Skipping to the end is a quick way to test your interactive story: it must not only start well, but also end in ways that are satisfying and meaningful. The various endings should ideally illuminate different sides of the story's theme.

And let's not forget about all the horrible death endings that will cause you to RESTORE or RESTART. Death and rebirth are not exactly frequent events in someone's life, so your interactive story also provides a kind of existential service: a safe framework for players to experience inaccessible events.

Step 5: Outline your interactive story

After defining your endings, it's time to reverse-engineer the middle: what player decisions could push the interactive story toward one ending or another?

Start messy. Grab a pencil and graph paper, sketch your branching paths, and give yourself permission to make mistakes. At this stage, your creativity needs space to explore possibilities.

Once you've got a rough draft, move to a digital tool like Arcweave. Create an interactive outline, with one element per scene, and test it in Play Mode. For a deeper dive into this process, check out our guide on how to write an interactive outline.

No illusion here: outlining your interactive story is one of the most demanding and time-consuming stages, but it's only through this careful curation that it can evolve into a coherent and unforgettable experience.

Step 6: Write, test, refine

Writing an interactive story means dedicating regular time and effort to turning your outline into the actual text or script for your interactive story, experience, or game.

In a nutshell, creating interactive stories is a journey across five essential steps:

• Researching: Finding the necessary information on your story's subject.
• Planning: Designing the plot, characters, and world; outlining is part of this.
• Drafting: Writing the actual words to create your story draft.
• Testing: Running the story to check flow, player choices, and discover bugs.
• Editing: Manipulating the draft; cutting sections, reordering scenes, taking notes, and preparing rewrites.

There's no single order for these steps, and multiple revisits of all five are strongly encouraged to refine your interactive story into a polished, engaging experience.

Step 7: Get feedback

No matter how much you value the previous steps, there's one more, often-overlooked step in creating an interactive story: getting feedback.

Testing is essential, and as the writer, you're naturally the first playtester. But no matter how thorough your testing, it's never enough on its own. You need input from others: friends, family, or ideally a professional experienced in designing and writing interactive stories. 

External feedback helps you spot pacing issues, unclear choices, or plot holes that you might have missed.

Now's your time to start writing

Writing an interactive story has no shortcuts. There are courses, books, articles, videos, advice, and endless pep talks, but at some point, you just have to do it. It takes practice, perseverance, and regular time spent actually writing.

So why not start today?

We designed Arcweave to make writing interactive stories as easy and intuitive as possible. To get started immediately, check out our Arcweave QuickStart Guide. To explore all the basic features, read our article on how to write your interactive story in Arcweave. For even more tips and tactics, watch our video tutorial series.

See for yourself how easy and rewarding creating interactive stories can be.

And don't be shy! Join the Arcweave community on Discord, where the AW-Team and fellow creators answer questions, celebrate bug-hunting, and brainstorm new features together.