This is making me so HAPPY!!! I'm so excited that you're planning to write something and extremely touched and honored that you felt inspired by something I wrote <3333.

When I first started on Notion I used this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO8HKR6KsuY

It's specifically for school (I was in a program at the time and wanted to see if I could use it for school, and it worked great for that purpose too) but I also found that the skills I learned translated over into using it for writing too, and in general I just got a lot more confident and competent with building pages and using different blocks for the effects I wanted.

In terms of my own planning, I now pretty consistently start with an overview section (a relevant quote, approximate word count and rating, main ship, and an image that matches the vibe of the story). From there I add a gallery of some kind where I put research and brainstorming, and then a plot map, which you saw in my video. Anything else is an exciting bonus that means I had more time and was probably procrastinating on something important.

My actual first step though is almost always chatficcing. I love bothering my friends. I love going into someone's DMs and wondering 'what if...' aloud and bouncing things off of them. I sometimes describe my brain as a large dog that has a lot of energy to burn. Chatficcing (or, if you're just wanting to do it on your own, stream-of-consciousness writing in a journal or notes app page) is the equivalent of taking my brain to the dog park to run around for a while. Once I've burned some of that energy, I find it a lot easier to distill an idea to the important parts and start planning with any amount of direction.

I'm always happy to talk writing so if you have any more specific questions I'd be happy to try to answer! <3