Where can I find online resources about writing a visual novel?

Question

I have read/played quite a few visual novels and am interested in the process of creating one.

Where can I find (preferrably free) online resources, such as How-To-Write or styleguide articles and blogs, about writing a visual novel?

The main reason for asking specifically about a visual novel is that I am having problems with the idea of creating a branched storyline and would like to see what common ways are for creating such a story.

Furthermore the way of presenting the story has always reminded me of theater and I would like to see whether visual novel authors use different formatting or descriptions when writing than text-only novel authors.

The fact that players can choose a path and that I have seen different ways of presenting these options is also fascinating, because some visual novels were giving the complete text a character would say while others would summarize the main content and I am not sure whether there are guidelines for what way should be preferred.

Answer 1

I would look at movie scripts for ideas on how to layout the dialog and then look at how to write a book outline and use that format for keeping track of your plot branches. Finally character sheets to do detailed write ups about your characters. Hope that helps.