/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", "scene outcome", "yes-but no-and", "chapter hook", or wants scene-level craft for drafting or revision. NOT for book-level pacing or act structure (use plot-structure), or drafting the prose of a scene or chapter (use chapter-writing).

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. Read `language` in `story.md` (a missing field means `en`) and plan and draft in that language. The structural tools (scene and sequel, try/fail, scene cards, psychic distance) apply in any language; the word lists and dialogue-tag advice in `deep-pov.md` and `dialogue-subtext.md` are English, so for another language look for the same effect in that language and take dialogue punctuation from the style sheet. 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 `outcome:` to how the scene's goal resolves for the POV

character: `yes`, `no`, `yes-but`, or `no-and` (see `references/try-fail.md`). Prefer the complicating `yes-but` and `no-and`; a run of clean `yes` outcomes drains tension

• 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`. A dated flashback warns `timestamp runs backward`; record that finding in `continuity/exemptions.md` rather than changing the date (see `references/flashbacks-time.md`)

• Set `date:` (`YYYY-MM-DD`) and `time:` (`"HH:MM"` or `dawn`,

`morning`, `midday`, `afternoon`, `evening`, `night`) once the scene's moment is settled, and `travel-hours:` (a number) when the POV character had to travel since the previous scene, with `travel-mode:` (one of the `story.md` `travel-modes`, such as `horse`) when the book records geography; `story continuity` then warns when the hours cannot cover the distance. Undated scenes switch off the clock and route checks in `story continuity` without a warning, except a scene with `travel-hours` above 0, which warns; `story timeline` shows what is still undated

• Keep `state-changes` current for every change the scene makes
• When the scene ends its chapter, set the chapter's `hook:` to how the

chapter ends: `cliffhanger`, `question`, `revelation`, `reversal`, `decision`, `emotional`, or `resolution` (see `references/openings.md` for the first-page counterpart) 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). If `story prose` reports the filter-word check skipped for the book's language, do that scan by reading. Run `story pacing .` to see scene outcomes, sequel counts, and chapter hooks across the book: it warns after three or more consecutive `yes` outcomes, four or more scene units without a sequel, and three or more chapters in a row ending on `resolution`. 7. **Hand off cleanly.** Scene/sequel planning feeds the chapter-writing drafting workflow. When a scene decision changes canon (new knowledge, moved objects, changed relationships), update `continuity/state.md` and the affected entity files (bidirectional links, per