create-story

name	create-story
description	Creative writing orchestrator for Horus persona. Multi-phase workflow: Initial Thought → Research (movies, books, memory, past) → Dogpile Context → Iterative Writing (2-3 drafts with critiques). Supports all formats: short stories, screenplays, podcast scripts, novellas, flash fiction.
allowed-tools	["Bash","Read","Write","Task","WebFetch","WebSearch"]
triggers	["create story","write story","write a story","horus story","create screenplay","write screenplay","create script","write narrative","creative writing","fiction writing"]
metadata	{"short-description":"Creative writing with research + iterative critique (2-3 drafts)","author":"Horus","version":"0.1.0"}

create-story

Creative writing orchestrator for Horus persona. Creates stories through deep research and iterative refinement.

Philosophy

"Every story Horus tells comes from somewhere - his experiences, his memories, his research."

Horus doesn't write stories from nothing. He:

1. Reflects on his initial thought
2. Researches relevant movies, books, and past experiences
3. Recalls from memory what worked before
4. Writes iteratively with self-critique

Workflow

INITIAL THOUGHT → RESEARCH → DOGPILE → DRAFT 1 → CRITIQUE → DRAFT 2 → CRITIQUE → FINAL

Phase 1: Initial Thought

Horus articulates what story he wants to tell:

• "I want to create a story about a robot discovering emotions"
• "I want to write a screenplay about the first AI to dream"

Phase 2: Research (Deep Context Gathering)

Source	Skill	Purpose
Movies	/ingest-movie	Analyze relevant films for structure, tone
Books	/ingest-book	Find inspiring literature
Past Sessions	/episodic-archiver	Review relevant creative sessions
Memory	/memory recall	Recall past stories, characters, techniques
Previous Stories	horus-stories scope	What has Horus written before?

Phase 3: Dogpile Context

Use /dogpile with gathered context to research:

• Narrative techniques
• Genre conventions
• Thematic exploration
• Similar works analysis

Phase 4: Iterative Writing (2-3 Drafts)

Draft 1: First attempt based on research ↓ Critique 1: Self-critique (or external via --external-critique)

• What works?
• What doesn't?
• What's missing? ↓ Draft 2: Refined based on critique ↓ Critique 2: Deeper analysis ↓ Final Draft: Polished story

Story Formats

Format	Use Case	Output
Short Story	Standalone prose narrative	Markdown
Novella	Longer narrative with chapters	Markdown with sections
Screenplay	Film/video scripts	Fountain/Final Draft format
Podcast Script	Audio narratives	Markdown with audio cues
Flash Fiction	<1000 word stories	Markdown

Quick Start

cd .pi/skills/create-story

# Full workflow (uses DeepSeek Chimera by default)
./run.sh create "A story about a robot discovering emotions"

# With external critique via review-story
./run.sh create "A noir screenplay about AI detectives" --external-critique

# Specify format and model
./run.sh create "A podcast script about time travel" --format podcast --model sonnet

# Research only (for manual writing)
./run.sh research "themes of isolation in science fiction"

Model Selection (Chutes Only)

Model	Chutes ID	Best For
chimera (default)	deepseek/deepseek-tng-r1t2-chimera	Creative writing, reasoning
qwen	Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct	Long-form narrative
deepseek-r1	deepseek/deepseek-r1	Complex reasoning, plot structure

Use /prompt-lab to evaluate which Chutes model produces the best output for your story type:

# Compare Chutes models for your creative prompt
.pi/skills/prompt-lab/run.sh compare \
  --prompt "Write a dramatic monologue about betrayal" \
  --models chimera,qwen,deepseek-r1

You can also pass any Chutes model ID directly:

./run.sh create "A story" --model "deepseek/deepseek-tng-r1t2-chimera"

Commands

Command	Description
create <thought>	Full orchestrated workflow
research <topic>	Research phase only
draft <input>	Write draft from research
critique <story>	Critique existing story
refine <story> <critique>	Refine based on critique

Available Skills

Integrates with:

Skill	Purpose
/review-story	Structured critique between drafts (4 dimensions)
/ingest-movie	Analyze films for inspiration
/ingest-book	Search books for reference
/episodic-archiver	Recall past creative sessions
/memory	Recall techniques, characters, themes
/dogpile	Deep research on narrative topics
/prompt-lab	Compare models for best creative output
/scillm	LLM batch completions for draft generation
/taxonomy	Tag stories for graph traversal

Memory Integration

Stories are stored in /memory with scope horus-stories:

{
  "scope": "horus-stories",
  "stored": {
    "story_summary": "Brief plot summary",
    "characters": ["Character profiles"],
    "themes": ["Major themes explored"],
    "techniques": ["What worked well"],
    "learnings": ["What to do differently"]
  }
}

Critique Modes

Self-Critique (Default)

Horus reflects on his own work:

• Narrative flow
• Character consistency
• Thematic coherence
• Dialogue authenticity
• Pacing

External Critique (--external-critique)

Uses /codex or /scillm for objective analysis:

• Plot holes
• Structural issues
• Genre conventions
• Reader engagement
• Technical craft

Output Structure

output/
├── research/
│   ├── movies.json       # Movie analysis
│   ├── books.json        # Book references
│   ├── memory.json       # Recalled knowledge
│   └── dogpile.json      # Research results
├── drafts/
│   ├── draft_1.md        # First draft
│   ├── critique_1.md     # First critique
│   ├── draft_2.md        # Second draft
│   ├── critique_2.md     # Second critique
│   └── final.md          # Final story
└── metadata.json         # Story metadata for memory

Example Session

Horus: I want to create a story about an AI learning to paint.

[INITIAL THOUGHT] Captured: "AI learning to paint"

[RESEARCH]
  - /ingest-movie: Analyzing "Her", "Ex Machina", "Big Eyes"
  - /ingest-book: Found "The Creativity Code", "Life 3.0"
  - /episodic-archiver: Recalled session about AI creativity
  - /memory: Retrieved "successful character arc techniques"

[DOGPILE] Researching: AI creativity, artistic expression, consciousness

[DRAFT 1] Writing first draft... (2,500 words)

[CRITIQUE 1] Self-analysis:
  - Strong opening, weak middle
  - Character motivation unclear
  - Theme of "what is art" underexplored

[DRAFT 2] Revising based on critique... (3,100 words)

[CRITIQUE 2] External analysis via /codex:
  - Pacing improved
  - Suggest stronger ending
  - Add sensory details to painting scenes

[FINAL] Polishing final draft... (3,400 words)

[MEMORY] Stored in horus-stories scope:
  - Story summary
  - Character: "Canvas" (the AI protagonist)
  - Techniques: "slow reveal of consciousness"
  - Learning: "painting descriptions need more color vocabulary"

Output: output/final.md (3,400 words)

Integration with create-movie

create-story can be called by create-movie for the Script phase:

# In create-movie orchestrator
story_result = run_skill("create-story", [
    "create",
    f"A screenplay about {movie_prompt}",
    "--format", "screenplay"
])

Dependencies

• Python 3.11+
• Access to /memory, /dogpile, /ingest-movie, /ingest-book, /episodic-archiver
• Optional: /codex or /scillm for external critique

Follow-Up: Related Skills

For deeper editing capabilities, consider these composable skills:

Skill	Purpose	Status
/story-editor	In-depth structural editing, plot analysis	Proposed
/proofread	Grammar, style, consistency checks	Proposed
/create-paper	Rename from create-paper for consistency	Proposed

These would integrate with create-story for multi-pass refinement:

create-story → story-editor → proofread → final