I am deeply grateful for you taking the time to write such a detailed response.
Re: Mezmar’s Maze, yes, I had two separate tracks panned to either side.
As for my overall approach, I often write out in prose what I want to happen with the instrumentation, pitch collections, textures, etc. Once I have a road map of sorts, I attempt to start composing it all. Some ideas might magically work the first try, and others just utterly fail. I am back and forth from the piano scribbling down ideas on manuscript paper to working in notation software and a DAW. It all comes together eventually.