chapter-promise

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

1. Identify the chapter's START state (emotional + situational).
2. Identify the chapter's END state (what changed, what worsened, what new truth appears).
3. Write the central dramatic question (CDQ) in one sentence.
4. Define 2-3 escalating pressures (social, physical, moral, informational).
5. Define the payoff beat (reveal, reversal, decision, arrival, loss).
6. 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.