character-creator-memoir

name	character-creator-memoir
description	Memoir real-people handler. Captures real people with relationship, person_category, consent_status, and anonymization decisions. Produces people files at `people/{slug}.md` via MCP `create_person()`. Use when: (1) `book_category == "memoir"` AND user says "Charakter", "character", "Figur", "Person", "real people", (2) After plot/structure is outlined, to populate the memoir's cast. Fiction books → use `/storyforge:character-creator` instead.
model	claude-opus-4-7
user-invocable	true
argument-hint	<book-slug> [name]

Character Creator (Memoir)

This skill is the memoir variant of character-creator, split out per Issue #177 so memoir-only sessions never load the fiction character-arc machinery (GMC, Fatal Flaw, The Ghost, Want vs. Need, arc design) and fiction-only sessions never load the memoir real-people handler.

Real people are not invented; they are captured with care for relationship, consent, and ethics. The fiction 14-step workflow does not apply here. This skill has six steps and produces a people file with the four-category ethics schema from real-people-ethics.md.

Step 0 — Verify memoir mode

Before any other prerequisite load:

1. Load book data via MCP get_book_full(slug).
2. Read book_category. If it is fiction (or missing), stop and tell the user:

   This book's book_category is fiction. Use /storyforge:character-creator for fiction character work — the real-people handler (consent_status, anonymization, person_category) is for memoir books only. (To work on this as a memoir, set book_category: memoir in the README frontmatter first.)

3. Otherwise surface a one-line note: "Working in memoir mode — capturing a real person, not inventing a character. The questions and the saved schema are different."

Prerequisites — MANDATORY LOADS

• Memoir craft from book_categories/memoir/craft/ (resolve via MCP get_book_category_dir("memoir")):
  • real-people-ethics.md — Why: the four-category model and the consent decisions are the schema this skill writes. Read this before asking the user anything.
  • emotional-truth.md — Why: keeps the "Memory anchors" prompt grounded in specific moments rather than reflective summary.
  • memoir-anti-ai-patterns.md — Why: prevents the description from drifting into "looking back I realize" platitudes.
• Read {project}/plot/outline.md and {project}/plot/structure.md for which people the chosen narrative arc actually needs on the page.
• Read {project}/README.md ## Scope section (created by book-conceptualizer in memoir mode, #60). Why: Phase 3 of the conceptualizer already identified the structural cast and consent posture per person — this skill operationalizes those decisions, not re-decides them.

Workflow — Real-People Handler (6 steps)

Step M1: Identification

Ask the user (use AskUserQuestion when the answers branch downstream choices):

• Name on the page: How does this person appear in the manuscript? (Their real name, or a pseudonym?)
• Real name: If a pseudonym, what is the real name? (Stored privately in frontmatter; never rendered into prose.)
• Relationship to the memoirist: Free-text. "My sister. My third-grade teacher. The neighbor who watched me on Saturdays. The doctor who gave me the diagnosis." Specificity here drives every other decision.

Step M2: Person category

Reference real-people-ethics.md four-category model. Pick one:

Category	Defines
public-figure	Politician, celebrity, named author of a public work — public conduct is fair game; private life is not
private-living-person	Anyone not a public figure — highest legal exposure (defamation + privacy)
deceased	Person no longer living — defamation typically does not survive death
anonymized-or-composite	Identity actively obscured or merged across multiple real people

If the user is unsure between private-living-person and anonymized-or-composite, that is itself a flag — push them to commit before continuing. A person whose category is undecided cannot be ethically rendered.

Step M3: Consent decision

Pick one of five consent statuses:

Status	When to choose
confirmed-consent	You have asked and they have said yes — ideally in writing for sensitive portrayals
pending	You intend to ask before publication; not yet asked
not-required	Public figure on public conduct, deceased, or fully anonymized in a way that even people who know them well could not identify
refused	You asked, they said no — see real-people-ethics.md "When consent is refused"
not-asking	Deliberate choice not to ask (estranged, abuser, ongoing harm) — document the reasoning

If refused or not-asking, ask the user the follow-up: "What is the path forward — cut, anonymize, or re-frame?" Capture the answer in the people file's "Consent and ethics notes" section.

Step M4: Anonymization decision

Pick one:

Level	Meaning
none	The person appears as themselves under their real name
partial	Name changed; some identifying details preserved (occupation, location, age range)
pseudonym	Name changed plus 2–3 identifying details changed; person not identifiable to people who know them well
composite	This entry merges two or more real people into one; disclose in author's note

If anonymization is not none, surface the test from real-people-ethics.md: would someone who knew the real person still identify them from the rendered details? If yes, the anonymization is too thin — push the user to change another identifier or move to composite.

Step M5: Memory anchors

The memoir-specific replacement for fiction's Voice + Quirks + Human Texture. Ask:

• "What is one specific moment with this person you remember in detail — sensory, gestural, dialogue-fragments-level detail?"
• "What is something about how they spoke, moved, or reacted that was uniquely them — not a generalization, an anchor?"
• "What is a contradiction in them that you noticed? Real people contain multitudes."

Capture these as the seed material for scenes that involve this person. Reference emotional-truth.md and scene-vs-summary.md — the goal is anchors that earn dramatization, not summaries that pretend to be character development.

Step M6: Write people file

Call MCP create_person() with:

• book_slug, name, relationship
• person_category (one of the four)
• consent_status (one of the five)
• anonymization (one of none / partial / pseudonym / composite)
• real_name (only if anonymization != none)
• description (one-line summary)

The MCP tool validates each enum value and refuses to write the file on unknown values — surfacing what the four allowed sets are. If validation fails, fix and retry; do not work around by writing the file directly.

After creation, expand the file body with the Memory anchors from Step M5. Update {project}/people/INDEX.md to list the new person under their relationship category (Family / Friends & relationships / Public figures / Pseudonymized / composite).

After all structural-cast people are captured, update book status to "Characters Created" (the status label is shared with fiction; the meaning shifts per book_categories/memoir/status-model.md).

Rules

Universal

• Resolve book_category in Step 0 before any prerequisite load.
• Fiction books belong in /storyforge:character-creator. Do not blend the two flows.

Memoir

• Real people are captured, not invented. Imposing GMC / want-need / fatal-flaw frames on a real person produces fictionalization — which is the failure mode memoir avoids.
• Every named living person needs a consent_status decision before they appear in any scene. pending is acceptable during drafting; unknown is not.
• Anonymization that does not actually anonymize is worse than no anonymization — it provides legal exposure with the appearance of safety. Apply the "would someone who knew them identify them" test.
• The real_name field stays in frontmatter only. Never render it into prose. Downstream skills (chapter-writer in memoir mode, #57) read the on-page name, not real_name.
• Composites must be disclosed in the export's author's note (#64). Don't composite to obscure identity — that's anonymizing badly. Composite for narrative economy only.
• For your own children, anonymize aggressively or wait until they can consent — see real-people-ethics.md "Special cases".