SKILL.md
Plot Structure
Overview
Plan and manage story arcs, plot points, setups and payoffs, and the narrative timeline. Each arc is a markdown file in plot/arcs/, and plot/timeline.md holds the planned events and backstory in story order. The plot index lists all arcs, their status, and theme coverage.
Prerequisites
A story project must already exist (created via the story-init skill). Verify by checking for story.md in the project root.
Choosing a Story Structure
- Read
story.mdfor genre, themes, andform(novel,novella,novelette,short-story,flash,serial,picture-book,chapter-book). Forshort-storyandflash, usereferences/short-story-form.mdinstead of a multi-act beat sheet - Consult
references/structure-models.mdfor available structures - Recommend a structure based on genre (default to three-act if unclear). If the user wants to design the whole book top-down before drafting, or asks for the Snowflake Method, follow
references/snowflake.mdon top of the chosen structure - Update
plot/_index.mdfrontmatterstructurefield - Populate the story structure section with the beat sheet
- When the outline settles which chapter carries a beat, record it as that chapter's
beat(see Recording Beats on Chapters) - When CLI access is available, run
story reindex .,story wordcount . --write, andstory check .