danjdewhurst/story-skills/plot-structure

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

1. Read story.md for genre, themes, and form (novel, novella, novelette, short-story, flash, serial, picture-book, chapter-book). For short-story and flash, use references/short-story-form.md instead of a multi-act beat sheet
2. Consult references/structure-models.md for available structures
3. 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.md on top of the chosen structure
4. Update plot/_index.md frontmatter structure field
5. Populate the story structure section with the beat sheet
6. When the outline settles which chapter carries a beat, record it as that chapter's beat (see Recording Beats on Chapters)
7. When CLI access is available, run story reindex ., story wordcount . --write, and story check .

Recording Beats on Chapters

A chapter's optional beat frontmatter field names the beat-sheet beat it delivers, so story grid, story context, and the codex can show the structure chapter by chapter.

1. Use the beat names of the model in plot/_index.md, as references/structure-models.md spells them (Inciting Incident, Midpoint, All Is Lost, Ten (Twist)), or the writer's own label when they adapt the model. The field is free text, and the CLI checks only that it is text, not that it names a known beat
2. Write it with the chapter: story add chapter '{Title}' --number {N} --beat '{Beat}', or add beat: {Beat} to an existing chapter's frontmatter. Quote a value that looks like a number or contains : or # (beat: "Try/Fail #2"), since an unquoted # starts a comment
3. Keep it a short label: story validate warns beat-too-long above 60 characters. What happens in the beat goes in the chapter's ## Outline
4. Leave beat off the chapters between beats. A beat that runs over several chapters, such as Fun and Games, goes on the chapter where it starts
5. Run story reindex ., story wordcount . --write, and story check ., then story grid .. Once any chapter has a beat, the grid shows a (beat) row above its hook and outcome rows. Check each beat against its position in the model (a Midpoint near the middle chapter, All Is Lost near three quarters of the way through): beats that bunch up, or a long run of chapters with none, are where a middle sags

Creating an Arc

1. Read story.md for themes
2. Read plot/_index.md for existing arcs
3. Read characters/_index.md to understand available characters
4. Ask for:

• Arc name
• Type (main, subplot, character, thematic)
• Which characters are involved
• Which themes it serves
• Which MICE threads the arc carries (optional mice-threads: frontmatter, written as a block list with one - event or - character item per line, or as a [event, character] flow list; see references/mice-quotient.md)

1. Build the arc through conversation: setup, escalations, climax, resolution
2. Scaffold the file with story add arc '{Name}' --type main --character {id} --theme '{theme}', which writes plot/arcs/{arc-name-kebab}.md with the sections of references/arc-template.md and lists the arc in plot/_index.md, then fill in the sections. Without the CLI, write the file from references/arc-template.md to plot/arcs/{arc-name-kebab}.md
3. Leave the arcs table in plot/_index.md to story reindex ., which rebuilds it from the arc files; never add a row by hand
4. Update the hand-written ## Theme Tracking section in plot/_index.md
5. If characters are referenced, verify they exist in characters/
6. When CLI access is available, run story reindex ., story wordcount . --write, and story check .

Managing Plot Points

Plot points live within arc files in the "Plot Points" table. When adding a plot point:

1. Read the relevant arc file
2. Add the plot point to the table with chapter reference (if known)
3. Add the event to plot/timeline.md in chronological order
4. If the plot point sets up a later payoff or raises a question, record it in the one place Setup and Payoff Records below gives it
5. When CLI access is available, run story reindex ., story wordcount . --write, and story check .

Timeline Management

plot/timeline.md is the hand-kept plan: a chronological list of the story's events across all arcs, including backstory and events not drafted yet. It does not own when a drafted scene happens: the scene's date and time do, and story timeline . orders the drafted scenes from them. Do not add a plan row for each drafted scene.

When adding events:

• Insert in chronological order
• Keep entries concise (one line per event)
• Use the | When | Event | Arc | Chapter | table with these cell formats:
• When: story-relative time for story events (e.g. Day 1, morning), or how long ago for backstory (e.g. 12 years ago, ~300 years ago)
• Event: one concise line describing what happened
• Arc: the arc's display name as written in its file (e.g. The Drowned Witness), or - when the event belongs to no arc. story rename arc rewrites ids but not display names, and nothing checks this cell, so after renaming an arc search for the old name (grep -rn "Old Name" .) and update each hit by hand, including the timeline rows
• Chapter: Ch {N} once the event is written (e.g. Ch 1), or - for backstory and unwritten events. Once a row has a chapter, its scenes' date and time say when it happens: if the row's When disagrees, the scene is right, so correct the row

When reviewing the timeline:

• Run story timeline . to see written scenes in story-time order from their date/time fields, with scenes told out of order marked, and compare it with plot/timeline.md
• Run story diagram timeline for a Mermaid timeline of dated scenes and chapters, and story diagram arcs for which chapters advance each arc (add --out dist/<name>.mmd to save either; keep generated diagrams out of entity folders)
• Run story grid . for the plot grid: arcs as rows, chapters as columns, an x where a chapter or its scenes list the arc in arcs-advanced, plus each chapter's beat (once any chapter has one), hook, and scene outcomes. Use --format csv for a spreadsheet and --from/--to for a range of chapters. An empty row is an arc no chapter advances, a long gap is an arc the reader may forget, and an (unknown) row is an arcs-advanced id with no arc file
• Check for chronological consistency
• Identify pacing issues (too many events clustered, long gaps)
• Flag arcs that haven't progressed

Pacing, Outcomes, and Hooks

Two optional fields make pacing checkable:

• Scene outcome: yes, no, yes-but, or no-and — whether the POV character got what they wanted in the scene. yes-but and no-and are the complicating outcomes that drive a plot forward (see the scene-craft skill).
• Chapter hook: how the chapter ends — cliffhanger, question, revelation, reversal, decision, emotional, or resolution.

Plan both in the outline, then run story pacing . for a per-chapter dashboard of words, scene and sequel counts, scene outcomes, and hooks. It warns about three or more consecutive yes outcomes (no pressure), four or more scene units with no sequel (no breath), chapter length outliers (over twice or under half the median once three chapters have prose), three or more consecutive chapters ending on resolution, and drafted chapters with no hook. Treat the warnings as prompts to reread, not rules: a quiet resolution chapter after the climax is right.

Setup and Payoff Records

Each setup has exactly one record. Pick it by use, update only that record, and never copy a setup into a second place:

A promise or clue record is planned until the setup is on the page, then planted with planted: chapter-{NN}, then paid-off with payoff: chapter-{NN}. --payoff may name a chapter with no file yet, and so may --planted, which then records the setup as planned. When --planted names a chapter that has a file, story add records planted even if that chapter is still an outline, so pass --status planned until the setup is drafted. A question is open with introduced: chapter-{NN} until it is answered with resolved: chapter-{NN}. The records give a promise, clue, or question its arcs and characters, so the arc's ## Foreshadowing table holds only the arc's small hints, each with Planted, Payoff, Chapter Planted, Chapter Payoff, and a Status of planned, planted, or paid-off.

story context packs the open promises, clues, and questions into each chapter's drafting context, chapter-writing's outline step reads the arc Foreshadowing rows planned for that chapter, and story next . counts the open questions and the promises and clues still planned or planted. For mystery clues, story clues . prints a clue-by-chapter fair-play matrix and story diagram clues the plant-to-reveal flow (see the genre-craft skill).

Scaffold chapters and scenes with story add chapter '{Title}' --number {N} --pov {id} --arc {arc-id} and story add scene '{Title}' --chapter chapter-{NN} --scene {M} --pov {id} --location {id}, then write the prose and outline content into the created files. Set outcome on scene records and hook and beat on chapters as the outline settles them, then run story reindex ., story wordcount . --write, and story check ., then story pacing ..