| name | Chapter Promise |
| description | Define the chapter's narrative promise and deliverable change - what shifts, what question is raised, what tension escalates, and what payoff arrives. |
Chapter Promise Skill
Define the chapter's narrative promise and deliverable change: what shifts, what question is raised, what tension escalates, and what payoff arrives.
Usage
/project:skills:chapter-promise {story_promise} {story_context} {chapter_number}
Process
Inputs
- Required:
story_promise, story_context, chapter_number
- Optional:
pov_character, prior_chapter_summary, next_chapter_target
Steps
- Identify the chapter's START state (emotional + situational).
- Identify the chapter's END state (what changed, what worsened, what new truth appears).
- Write the central dramatic question (CDQ) in one sentence.
- Define 2-3 escalating pressures (social, physical, moral, informational).
- Define the payoff beat (reveal, reversal, decision, arrival, loss).
- Produce a one-paragraph chapter promise statement.
Output Format
Chapter Promise
- Start State:
- End State:
- Central Dramatic Question:
- Escalating Pressures:
- Payoff Beat:
- Promise Statement (1 paragraph):
Quality Checks
- End state is meaningfully different from start state.
- CDQ is answerable by the chapter end OR deliberately sharpened.
- Pressures escalate (not repetitive).
- End state moves story narrative forward sharpening the central question or conflict or stakes of the story_promise.
