This skill should be used when the user asks to "start a new story", "initialize a story project", "create a story", "new book", "set up a story", or wants to begin a new fiction writing project from scratch.

Story Initialization Overview Initialize a new story project with a structured markdown folder layout. Creates the story bible, registries, scene tracking, continuity state, glossary, worldbuilding folders, plot structure, and chapter tracker all as cross referenced markdown files with YAML frontmatter. When to Use Starting a new story, book, or fiction project Setting up the folder structure for an existing story idea NOT for adding to an existing story project (use the domain specific skills instead) NOT for converting an existing manuscript or chapter drafts: run story import <source title "{Title}" instead, then build out the bible from the entity candidates it prints Workflow 1. Ask for basic story information: Title Genre and sub genre Brief synopsis (2 3 sentences) Setting era/time period Key themes (2 4) POV style (first person, third person limited, third person omniscient) Tense (past, present) If the Story CLI is available, prefer using it to create the starter project, then inspect and refine the generated files as needed: If story is not installed, use the bundled maintenance fallback when available, resolving the script path relative to the story maintenance skill: If neither command is available, create the files manually using the steps below. 2. Create the folder structure at the current working directory: 3. Populate story.md with the story bible: Below the frontmatter, include sections: Synopsis the 2 3 sentence synopsis provided Tone & Style brief notes on the story's voice (derive from genre/themes) Notes empty section for the user to fill in 4. Populate each index.md with an empty registry: characters/ index.md : worldbuilding/ index.md : plot/ index.md : plot/timeline.md : chapters/ index.md : Also create the v2 support files: scenes/ index.md with frontmatter type: scene registry continuity/state.md with frontmatter type: continuity state , current chapter: 0 , and empty character state , object state , and knowledge state lists continuity/questions/ index.md with frontmatter type: question registry continuity/promises/ index.md with frontmatter type: promise registry glossary/ index.md with frontmatter type: glossary registry If manual initialization gets tedious, stop and ask the user to install or run the Story CLI rather than inventing a different project shape. 5. Present a summary of what was created and suggest next steps: "Add your first character" (triggers character management skill) "Start worldbuilding" (triggers worldbuilding skill) "Define your plot structure" (triggers plot structure skill) "Run story next . " to show deterministic next actions 6. When CLI access is available, run a final maintenance check: If using the bundled fallback, replace story with node ../story maintenance/scripts/story.js , resolving the path relative to this skill folder. Conventions These conventions apply across ALL story skills: Kebab case filenames for all entity files (e.g., sera voss.md , ashen citadel.md ) YAML frontmatter on every file for structured metadata Schema version story.md frontmatter includes schema version: 2 index.md files are authoritative registries for each domain story.md is the top level bible read by all skills for context Bidirectional cross links when referencing another entity, update both files Character identifiers use the kebab case filename without extension (e.g., sera voss ) Death tracking when a character dies on the page, set status: deceased and died in: chapter {NN} so story continuity can flag posthumous appearances mentions vs characters chapter and scene frontmatter lists characters present in scene under characters ; characters who are only referenced, remembered, recorded, or seen in flashback go under mentions Scene identifiers use chapter {NN} scene {NN} and live in scenes/ Continuity state lives in continuity/state.md , with open questions and promises tracked under continuity/questions/ and continuity/promises/ Markdown first artifacts create and edit story content directly in the target .md files. Do not create project local build scripts, generator scripts, or bulk writer scripts (for example build .js ) to emit story files. CLI helpers stay external the only JavaScript helper agents should run is the installed or bundled Story CLI ( story , bun run story , or story maintenance/scripts/story.js ) for deterministic maintenance. Do not copy it into the user's story project, and remove any unavoidable scratch helper before finishing.

story-init