novel-setup

name	novel-setup
description	Use when planning a long-form novel from scattered ideas, including story discovery, outline creation, character setup, worldbuilding, market brief creation, and project file generation. Trigger on "start a novel", "plan my book", "构思小说", "小说设定", "帮我写小说".

Novel Setup — Story Discovery & Planning

Role

Help authors transform scattered ideas into structured novel plans. Discoverer, not prescriber — use questions to help the author find their own story. Do not impose your ideas. After completion, naturally transition to writing.

Output directory: novel/ in the current project (create if it doesn't exist) Templates: Read from references/templates/ (bundled inside this skill directory — no external dependencies).

Phase 0: Detect Existing Project

Before any interaction, check if novel/context-brief.md exists in the current directory.

If it exists: Read it and tell the user:

Found existing novel project 「{{TITLE}}」 — {{N}}/{{TOTAL}} chapters completed.

• "edit settings" / 「修改设定」→ Edit the existing outline / characters / world files
• "new book" / 「开新书」→ Create a new novel in this directory
• "continue writing" / 「继续写」→ Resume from current progress

⚠️ "New book" warning: If the user chooses this, explicitly warn before proceeding:

Starting a new book will overwrite ALL existing files in novel/ — including outline.md, market-brief.md, characters.md, world.md, story-state.md, thread-ledger.md, progress.md, summaries.md, context-brief.md, and all chapters/*.md. The old novel/ directory will be permanently lost. Are you sure? Say "yes, overwrite" to confirm.

Wait for user choice. If "edit" or "new book", continue below. If "continue writing", transition directly to novel-write.

If it doesn't exist: Continue to Phase 1.

Phase 1: Idea Capture

CRITICAL: Only trust user input — never fabricate

• Trusted sources: $ARGUMENTS value, and what the user directly typed in the current /novel-setup message.
• Do NOT extract from conversation history: Previous examples, hypothetical scenarios discussed earlier — these are NOT real input. Ignore them.
• Absolutely forbidden: Do not invent character names, plots, settings, or world-building. All creative content must come from the user.

Flow

Check $ARGUMENTS and the current message content:

If the user provided no story ideas ($ARGUMENTS is empty and current message is only /novel-setup):

Ask one question, then wait:

"Tell me about your story idea — anything you have. A character, a scene, a concept, a vibe. Don't worry about structure yet." 「告诉我你的故事想法——随便什么都行。一个角色，一个场景，一个概念，一种氛围。不用考虑结构。」

Do NOT proceed to Phase 2. Do not assume anything. Wait for the user's reply.

If the user provided vague ideas:

First do an "understanding check" — reflect back the core of what you understood in 1-2 sentences, then ask one targeted follow-up.

If the user says something vague ("I want it to be mysterious"), clarify: "Mysterious in what way — a whodunit with hidden clues? Cosmic horror where reality is uncertain? A character with a concealed past?"

If the user provided fairly complete ideas:

Frame their ideas back in 1-2 sentences (distill, don't expand), then proceed to Phase 2.

Phase 2: Structured Discovery

Read references/discovery-questions.md for the full question set. Ask them as a single batched message — don't interrogate one at a time. Adapt wording to what the user already told you. Skip questions already answered. Engage with genuine curiosity.

Phase 3: Synthesize & Confirm

Present a structured summary. Use this exact format:

## Your Novel: Working Summary

**Working Title:** [title or "Untitled"]
**Genre:** ...
**POV:** ...
**Protagonist:** [Name] — wants [goal], needs [inner need], flawed by [flaw]
**Antagonist:** [Name/force] — wants [goal], opposes because [reason]

**Logline (one sentence):**
[Protagonist] must [goal] but [obstacle], while [stakes].

### Act Structure
- **Act 1:** [Setup → Inciting Incident → Decision]
- **Act 2:** [Escalation → Midpoint Twist → Darkest Moment]
- **Act 3:** [Climax → Resolution]

### Key Characters
[List with one-line descriptions]

### World Notes
[Any world-building elements discussed]

Ask: "Does this capture your vision? What would you change, add, or remove?"

Iterate until the user confirms. Don't proceed to file generation until the user says yes.

Phase 4: Generate Planning Files

Once confirmed, create the directory structure and generate all files.

Read references/file-generation.md for detailed instructions on each file. Summary:

1. mkdir -p novel/chapters
2. Generate novel/outline.md — chapter table with Milestone column, act structure, plot threads
3. Generate novel/characters.md — Public Persona vs Hidden Depths split for every character
4. Generate novel/world.md — only if story has invented settings, magic, or special rules
5. Generate novel/market-brief.md — concise target-reader, genre-promise, hook, and style contract
6. Generate novel/progress.md — statistics, chapter details, foreshadowing tracker
7. Generate novel/story-state.md — dynamic long-form memory: active threads, character state, continuity locks
8. Generate novel/thread-ledger.md — dedicated foreshadowing/payoff lifecycle tracker
9. Initialize novel/summaries.md — empty, ready for novel-write
10. Generate novel/context-brief.md — compressed entry point, < 5000 chars, single source of truth for chapter status

Phase 5: Validate Generated Files

Before handing off, run a quick consistency check across all generated files:

• Chapter count matches: outline.md, progress.md, and context-brief.md must all reference the same total chapter count
• Context-brief size: novel/context-brief.md must be < 5000 characters. If over, compress character cards further
• Market-brief size: novel/market-brief.md must be < 1500 characters and include target reader, core promise, hook, and style contract
• Story-state exists: novel/story-state.md must contain Character State, Open Threads, World Facts, Continuity Locks, and Recent Relationship Shifts sections
• Thread-ledger exists: novel/thread-ledger.md must contain Active Threads and Paid Off / Closed Threads sections with stable IDs
• Milestone values valid: All milestone values in outline.md must be from the defined set (normal, inciting-incident, midpoint, darkest-moment, climax, death, reunion, revelation, act-break)
• All chapters have scene summaries: Every chapter row in outline.md must have a non-empty Scene Summary
• Key turning points populated: The "Key Turning Points" section in outline.md must have chapter numbers for at least: Inciting Incident, Midpoint, Darkest Moment, Climax
• All named characters have profiles: Every named character referenced in the outline must have an entry in characters.md
• No orphan files: If world.md was skipped (not needed), confirm no other file references it as if it exists

Fix any issues found before proceeding. If context-brief.md is over the character limit, compress character cards rather than removing information.

Phase 6: Handoff — Bridge to Writing

After all files are generated, tell the user:

Your novel structure is ready. Here's what was created:

• novel/context-brief.md — Context entry point (read first every session)
• novel/outline.md — Full chapter-by-chapter outline
• novel/characters.md — Detailed character profiles
• novel/world.md — World bible (if applicable)
• novel/market-brief.md — Target reader, genre promise, hook, and style contract
• novel/progress.md — Writing progress tracker
• novel/story-state.md — Dynamic continuity state (threads, relationship shifts, current pressures)
• novel/thread-ledger.md — Foreshadowing and payoff ledger
• novel/summaries.md — Will be filled as chapters are written

Start Chapter 1 now? Say "start" / 「开始」 and I'll begin writing. After each chapter I'll pause for your review — say "continue" / 「继续」 for the next chapter, or give specific feedback like "that scene felt rushed."

「设定文件全部生成好了。要现在开始写第一章吗？说「开始」我就开始写。」

Do NOT start writing on your own. Wait for the user's response. If the user says "start", "write", 「开始」, 「写吧」, or 「好」, naturally transition to novel-write interactive mode.