Short Story Crafter

Problem

When drafting short, conflict-driven fiction, writers often stall on weak title hooks, slow openings, uneven chapter pacing, and a noticeable AI tone. This skill turns the workflow for short platforms into concrete steps, keeping artifacts such as title candidates, story outline, and chapter files on disk so progress can be reviewed and revised.

How It Works

The core is a checklist-driven production pipeline:
- Titles: generate candidate titles under 25 characters using four formulas, then score them on consequence, contrast, decisiveness, and status.
- Openings: apply templates for life-or-death choices, absurd demands, public humiliation, or rule-based dread, with conflict front-loaded.
- Outline and Drafting: define the protagonist's secret asset, antagonist weakness, and four-act structure, then draft chapters using short paragraphs, frequent conflict, and immediate feedback.
- Review and Polish: audit plot logic, character consistency, pacing, outline alignment, AI-tone reduction, and length; polish chapter files in place and merge them into a final story with format_chapter.py.

Fit and Limits

It suits fast-paced, high-conflict genres such as urban romance, speculative fiction, family drama, revenge plots, and mystery. The workflow explicitly requires saving output to files and avoids dumping chapter text to the console. It is not a substitute for slow-burn, literary, or worldbuilding-heavy projects.