/theme-craft

Theme Audit

A revision-time audit that checks whether the story dramatizes its theme — through choices, consequences, and the ending's verdict — rather than merely declaring it. Run this after a complete draft exists, as part of a developmental revision pass (see the revision-continuity skill).

Audit procedure

1. Recover the working premise. Read premise: and counter-premise: from story.md frontmatter. If premise: tbd-discovery, draft the premise the manuscript actually argues (value + cause, one sentence — see controlling-idea.md) before auditing. Record the recovered premise in story.md.
2. Trace the value through the draft. For each act (or each third of the chapters), note one scene where the protagonist's choice engages the value continuum, and whether the scene cost the protagonist something. Theme without cost is theme stated, not dramatized.
3. Check the ending against the opening. The opening poses the value-question (usually unknowingly: the protagonist acts on the lie). The ending must engage that question — not necessarily answer it cleanly, but the climax must stage premise vs. counter-premise and deliver a verdict the preceding story earned.
4. Check the antagonist. Re-read antagonist-design.md's checklist against the draft: did the antagonist's counter-premise get a fair hearing? Did they win scenes? Is their climax defeat a thematic defeat?
5. Check the motifs. Every row in the motif ledger (see motif-symbolism.md) must be paid-off, or have a recorded reason for being left open.
6. Check the arcs. For each significant character with an arc-type (see lie-truth.md), verify the turning points contain what the arc type requires — growth beats for change-positive, refused truths for change-negative, escalating tests of steadfastness for flat.

The five audit questions

Answer each in one or two sentences, with chapter references:

1. Does the ending engage the opening's value-question? Quote the opening's implicit question and the ending's verdict. If the ending resolves a different question, either the premise or the ending is wrong.
2. Is theme dramatized through consequence, not commentary? List the three most expensive choices the protagonist makes. If the theme is mostly delivered in dialogue speeches, narration summaries, or a mentor's lecture, flag it: move the theme into choices with costs.
3. Is the motif paid off? Every planted motif needs its ending resonance; see the motif ledger.
4. Does the climax stage premise vs. counter-premise? The final confrontation must be about the value, not adjacent to it. A climax won by superior firepower after a thematic story is a broken promise.
5. Would the story collapse without the theme? If you can remove the premise and the plot still works, the theme is decoration — wire the value into the protagonist's decisions or cut the pretense.

Recording findings

Write the audit as continuity/theme-audit.md (one file per project, updated each revision round) with the premise, the five answers, and a verdict: theme-holds (minor fixes) or theme-broken (structural revision needed, with the specific scenes to rework listed). If the audit changes the premise, update story.md's premise: field and the theme tracking in plot/_index.md, then run story reindex . and story validate ..