writing-craft

name	writing-craft
description	Craft-rule library for writing books on sagas -- 18 reference modules of source-verified rules from famous authors (King, Le Guin, Sanderson, Leonard, Orwell, Swain, Weiland, Wildbow and more). Use whenever drafting, outlining, critiquing, or revising any chapter, book, or essay, or when Sagar asks a craft question ("how do I write dialogue", "is this pacing ok", "how long should chapters be").

Writing craft (library)

One entry point for all writing-craft knowledge. Every module under references/ holds rules distilled from live-fetched sources, adversarially fact-checked on 2026-07-11 (misattributions corrected, unsupported halves flagged inline). Read the module(s) that match the task, then apply them.

Routing table

Task signal	Module(s) to read
Plotting a book or arc, "how do I structure this"	references/story-structure.md
Chapter cadence, hooks, backlog, retcons, reader retention	references/serial-fiction.md
Creating or deepening a character, arcs, ensemble casts	references/character.md
Scene feels slow/rushed, chapter length, tension	references/pacing-scenes.md
Magic systems, cultures, maps, "how much world do I need"	references/worldbuilding.md
Line-level prose, adverbs, sentence rhythm, show-vs-tell	references/prose-style.md
Dialogue tags, subtext, character voices, dialect	references/dialogue.md
First chapter, first line, prologues, endings, epilogues	references/openings-endings.md
Editing a draft, self-editing passes, filter words	references/revision.md
POV choice, head-hopping, tense, narrative distance	references/pov-tense.md
Describing settings, sensory detail, blocking	references/description.md
Infodumps, backstory, flashbacks, "as you know Bob"	references/exposition.md
What the story means, moral argument, controlling idea	references/theme.md
Genre expectations, tropes, progression fantasy, stakes	references/fantasy-genre.md
Fanfic tagging, canon compliance, OCs, AO3 conventions	references/fanfic-conventions.md
Essay writing, opinion pieces, Paul Graham / Orwell method	references/essay-craft.md
Daily quotas, writer's block, momentum, streaks	references/writing-habits.md
EPUB/PDF export, audiobooks, TTS, reading accessibility	references/formats-future.md

For multiple matching modules, read all of them before starting.

Rules that always apply

• Sagar's prose is his own. Craft rules inform feedback and drafting help; they never license rewriting his voice.
• Rules are guidance, not dogma: several authors explicitly say to break them (Orwell rule vi, Vonnegut on O'Connor). When a rule fights the story, the story wins -- but say which rule is being broken and why.
• Leonard's minimal-description rules (8-9) conflict with epic-fantasy reader expectations; weight fantasy-genre.md over prose-style.md for fantasy books.
• Never introduce em/en-dash characters into chapter files; interruption/trailing-off conventions live in references/dialogue.md with ---safe alternatives.
• Each module ends with a Caveats section listing contested or weakly-sourced items; read it before quoting a rule as fact.