/scene-craft

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 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. Undated scenes switch off the clock and route checks in story continuity without a warning; 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). 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; 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 .
story pacing .

Reference Files

• references/scene-sequel.md - Sequel mechanics: reaction → dilemma → decision (Dwight Swain's scene framework)
• references/try-fail.md - Try/fail escalation cycles, scene outcome values (yes/no/yes-but/no-and), 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