I've completed two CYOA's and while I understand they aren't everyone's up of tea, I feel like I can at least talk about some of these.
>>317381
1. Yes, definitely.
2. Even if it forms later in the story, it shouldn't be toooo much later or things get a little hectic. Barbarianquest sort of had some issues with this, but it got focused later.
3. This… is pretty sound advice, one I ended up failing with. I curse my background in epic fantasies.
4. Filler can be fine if it fits into a greater whole. There is something to be said for short and sweet though.
5.I would say abolish them but a lot of people here have a very /tg/ background and love that sort of thing. Though it's always neat when the players remind you of something in the list that you forgot about.
6. It's fun to invent stuff! You can't have everything thought out though, a basic guideline will work because someone will say something you didn't think of and you'll have to say or no anyway.
7. (sweating)
8. Focus on the goal. If it's enticing or threatening enough, they'll go toward it.
9. Yes! Depending on your story, it's often from the PoV of the MC but writing interactions between characters that the MC notices is fun and adds flavor.
10. Death should serve a purpose. Sometimes that purpose is because the readers fucked up really bad, (see Warriorquest)
11. Art is fun an addicting.
12. While I agree with the basis of this, MB's can be fine- See "Tusktaker" by Orzh I think. There's an MB there who is common but isn't the focus.
13. Seriously, I cannot stress this enough. Even if you feel bad about it, finishing it will be so much more rewarding than regretting it.
>>317395
This is my addition to that. How you manage to keep going and finish a CYOA is dependent on you having discipline. You may think that's a meme, but you need to set yourself to write at specific intervals. For some people it's every other day, for others it's once a week, whatever. Readers love consistency/ updates regardless and will drop stories (unless it's Dragon bully) if you vanish without word for long periods of time. At least talk with people, even if it's to say, "Sorry, no update!" I don't know, maybe some people find it annoying but it's at least letting them know you're not dead.
Keeping with the always write at specific times, it keeps you focused on the goal. A lot of people get burned out when they get maybe one or two replies, but when it's time to write just say fuck it take what you have. I've felt multiple times the urge to just stop but then I tell myself, "You need to finish this, even if no one is reading, you need to finish this for yourself."
The more you write and the more confident you are in your writing, the better it will be in time. Everyone has their own style in writing CYOA's whether it's more or less freedom for the readers, or whether it's fairly wing it vs. planning everything from start to finish. In the end, well, pic related.