/scene-craft

name: scene-craft
description: This skill should be used when the user asks to "plan a scene", "scene structure", "sequel scene", "dialogue subtext", "deep POV", "psychic distance", "try fail", "scene cards", "exposition", "info dump", "flashback", "time skip", "story opening", "first page hook", "introduce a character", or wants scene-level craft for drafting or revision.

Scene Craft

Overview

Plan and check scenes at the scene grain — the layer between plot beats and chapter prose. Covers the missing half of the chapter-writing scene model (Scene **and** Sequel), try/fail escalation, scene cards, dialogue subtext, deep POV and psychic distance, exposition handling, flashbacks and time skips, and openings. Use during chapter planning, before drafting, and in revision when a scene feels flat.

Prerequisites

A story project must already exist (created via the story-init skill), with characters defined (character-management) and a plot structure in place (plot-structure). This skill extends chapter-writing; it does not replace the outline-first drafting workflow.

Workflow

1. **Choose the craft layer.** Identify which scene-grain problem this is:

• Scene feels like incidents with no breathing room → `references/scene-sequel.md`
• Middle of the chapter sags or resolves too easily → `references/try-fail.md`
• Chapter has multiple POVs/timelines to order → `references/scene-cards.md`
• Conversation reads flat or voices blur → `references/dialogue-subtext.md`
• Narration feels distant or head-hops → `references/deep-pov.md`
• Worldbuilding facts are piling up undelivered → `references/exposition.md`
• Past events or a time jump are needed → `references/flashbacks-time.md`
• Starting the book or a chapter, or introducing a character → `references/openings.md`

2. **Read the relevant reference(s).** Each file carries its own checklists and planning fields; apply them, don't paraphrase them. 3. **Clarify missing inputs before planning or editing.** Ask the user for any required inputs you cannot establish from the project files — scene purpose, viewpoint, location, canon-changing intent, and the applicable craft layer. Never guess at these or proceed on assumptions; a wrong guess edits canon. Only continue to step 4 once every required input is known. 4. **Plan before prose.** For the scene in question, write the planning inputs the reference requires (sequel beats, try/fail positions, subtext wants, zoom level, exposition audit, flashback trigger, hook check) into the chapter outline or the scene's planning notes before drafting or revising. 5. **Record machine-readable state.** Update the scene file in `scenes/`:

• Set `sequel: true/false` and fill the `dilemma:` field plus the

`## Sequel` section (reaction/dilemma/decision) for scenes with sequel content (see `references/scene-sequel.md`)

• Add `flashback-to:` (freeform note of the flashed-back moment,

validated as a scalar by `story validate` but not used by continuity checks) and move flashback-only characters to `mentions` (see `references/flashbacks-time.md`)

• Keep `state-changes` current for every change the scene makes

6. **Run the reference's checklist** against the draft or the revision plan (try/fail checklist, deep-POV filter-word scan, tag-swap test, first-page hook check). 7. **Hand off cleanly.** Scene/sequel planning feeds the chapter-writing drafting workflow; theme-audit findings feed revision-continuity. When a scene decision changes canon (new knowledge, moved objects, changed relationships), update `continuity/state.md` and the affected entity files (bidirectional links, per the story-init conventions).

Conventions

• Scene ids stay `chapter-{NN}-scene-{NN}`; scene files live in `scenes/`

with kebab-case filenames.

• All planning metadata (dilemma, decision, subtext wants, psychic-distance

level) lives in frontmatter or a `## Planning` / `## Scene Card` section of the scene file — never only in chat.

• `characters` vs `mentions` follows the story-init rule: characters present

in-scene under `characters`; remembered, recorded, or flashback-only characters under `mentions`.

• Do not overwrite chapter prose merely to satisfy a craft checklist. Flag

intentional deviations (e.g. a deliberate info dump as a stylistic device) in the scene file's planning notes so a later audit doesn't "fix" them.

CLI Maintenance

Use the Story CLI when it is available. If `story` is not installed, use `bun run story --` from the Story Skills repository checkout or the bundled fallback `node ../story-maintenance/scripts/story.js` with the same arguments, resolving the path relative to this skill folder. If no CLI is available, perform the registry, backlink, and word-count checks manually.

After adding or revising scene records:

story reindex .
story links .
story validate .
story continuity .

Reference Files

• **`references/scene-sequel.md`** - Sequel mechanics: reaction → dilemma → decision (Dwight Swain's scene framework)
• **`references/try-fail.md`** - Try/fail escalation cycles and the Five Commandments scene shape
• **`references/scene-cards.md`** - Scene card unit (start state → change → end state), reordering, POV braiding
• **`references/dialogue-subtext.md`** - Subtext as planning input, dialogue-as-negotiation, voice differentiation, tag-swap test
• **`references/deep-pov.md`** - Psychic distance zoom levels and checkable deep-POV rules
• **`references/exposition.md`** - Drip-feed, conflict-carried exposition, in-world documents, info-dump warning
• **`references/flashbacks-time.md`** - Flashback entry/exit mechanics, tension-cheat warning, time-skip conventions
• **`references/openings.md`** - In medias res, "enter late, leave early", first-page hook check, character introduction technique