/theme-craft

name: theme-craft
description: This skill should be used when the user asks to "theme", "controlling idea", "premise", "moral argument", "character arc", "flat arc", "negative arc", "the lie", "antagonist design", "motif", "symbolism", "theme audit", or wants to plan, track, or revise the thematic layer of a story.

Theme Craft

Overview

Plan and audit theme as a working mechanism, not decoration. Covers the controlling idea (value + cause, in McKee's sense), the lie/truth machinery and the three canonical arc types, antagonist design as the embodied counter-argument, motif tracking, and a revision-time theme audit. Use at story start (working premise), during character design (lie/truth/arc-type), and after a complete draft (theme audit).

Prerequisites

A story project must already exist (created via the story-init skill). Character files (character-management) and a plot structure (plot-structure) should exist or be in progress.

Workflow

1. **Draft the working premise.** Read `story.md` for genre and themes. Consult `references/controlling-idea.md` and write a one-sentence premise (value + cause) and counter-premise. Store them in `story.md` frontmatter:

   premise: "{Value} triumphs because {cause}."
   counter-premise: "{Opposing value} triumphs because {opposing cause}."

If the user prefers discovering theme in the draft, record `premise: tbd-discovery` and skip to step 3. 2. **Build the lie/truth machinery.** For the protagonist and antagonist (and any significant supporting character whose arc touches the theme), consult `references/lie-truth.md` and add to their character files:

`arc-type` is one of `change-positive`, `change-negative`, or `flat`. Do not put that list in an inline comment. The frontmatter parser keeps the comment as part of the value.

   arc-type: change-positive
   lie: "{The false belief}"
   truth: "{The belief that resolves it}"
   ghost-wound: "{The specific backstory event that planted the lie}"

Check the character's turning points against the arc-type guidance: flat arcs need escalating tests of steadfastness, not growth beats; negative arcs need the truth visibly refused. 3. **Design the antagonist as the counter-argument.** Consult `references/antagonist-design.md`: give the antagonist an edge, a defensible belief in the counter-premise, a want/wound/plan, and scenes they win. When the opposition is institutional, personify it. 4. **Plant motifs.** Consult `references/motif-symbolism.md`; choose two or three concrete motifs, plant them literally, and track plantings, variations, and ending resonance in the motif ledger. 5. **Use the premise while drafting.** When a scene decision is unclear, ask which choice engages the value continuum and costs the protagonist something. Feed the lie into scene sequels (see the `scene-craft` skill): the sequel is where the lie gets examined. 6. **Run the theme audit in revision.** After a complete draft, consult `references/theme-audit.md`: trace the value through the draft, check the ending against the opening's value-question, verify theme is dramatized through consequence not commentary, and confirm motifs are paid off. Record findings in `continuity/theme-audit.md` with a `theme-holds` / `theme-broken` verdict. Hand structural findings to the `revision-continuity` skill as a developmental revision plan.

Conventions

• `premise:` / `counter-premise:` live in `story.md` frontmatter and are the

single source of truth for the story's theme; `plot/_index.md` theme tracking maps themes to arcs and chapters as before.

• Character `arc-type` values are kebab-case from the fixed set

(`change-positive`, `change-negative`, `flat`); `lie`, `truth`, and `ghost-wound` are one-line strings.

• Motif ids are kebab-case and tracked in the motif ledger with

`planned` / `planted` / `paid-off` status.

• Theme is dramatized through choices and consequences. Never add a

character speech, narration summary, or mentor lecture *explaining* the theme to satisfy an audit finding — rework the choices instead.

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 changing premise fields, character arc fields, or the theme audit:

story reindex .
story links .
story validate .

The motif ledger (`continuity/motifs.md` or the motif table in an arc file) and `continuity/theme-audit.md` are prose revision notes: the CLI does not scan, validate, link-check, or reindex them. Audit motif payoff and the theme verdict manually per `references/theme-audit.md`.

Reference Files

• **`references/controlling-idea.md`** - The controlling idea as value + cause (McKee), counter-premise, working-premise workflow
• **`references/lie-truth.md`** - Lie, truth, ghost wound, and the three arc types (change-positive, change-negative, flat)
• **`references/antagonist-design.md`** - Worthy opponent, antagonist as counter-argument, plan-the-antagonist-as-protagonist, personified institutions
• **`references/motif-symbolism.md`** - Plant-and-vary, object-symbol resonance with the ending, motif ledger
• **`references/theme-audit.md`** - Revision audit: ending vs. opening value-question, consequence vs. commentary, motif payoff