Systematically analyze existing media to extract transferable elements for new settings. Use when adapting TV, film, or games to fiction, translating tropes across genres, or transforming genre elements for new contexts.
Design evolving language systems for fictional worlds. Use when creating language families, dialects, linguistic history, or when language should reflect cultural and historical development.
Structure scenes and control pacing using scene-sequel rhythm. Use when individual scenes work but don't accumulate, when pacing feels off (too rushed or too slow), when transitions feel mechanical, or when readers can follow but aren't compelled forward. Based on Dwight Swain's Goal-Conflict-Disaster and Reaction-Dilemma-Decision structure.
Generate speculative fiction stories about systemic exploitation by collapsing comfortable moral distances. Use when exploring how privilege and harm are connected, when writing about systems that export consequences, or when you want stories where innocence becomes impossible.
Structure stories around protagonists who refuse to acknowledge what they're becoming. Use when exploring self-deception, moral transformation, or the gap between self-perception and reality.
Diagnose sentence-level issues after structure is solid. Use when prose feels flat, sentences are monotonous, word choices are generic, or voice is inconsistent.
Generate stories where ordinary people become crucial through their structural position in systems. Use when you want protagonists who aren't chosen ones but accidental pivots, when mundane jobs should reveal conspiracies, or when you need structurally inevitable involvement rather than coincidence.
Structure stories around essential emotional moments using Rodriguez's approach integrated with elemental genres. Use when plotting feels mechanical, when emotional beats need defining, or when building stories from vivid scenes rather than plot outlines.
Diagnose world-level story problems. This skill should be used when settings feel thin, institutions feel designed rather than evolved, economies don't make sense, or non-human species feel like humans in costume. Keywords: worldbuilding, setting, world, institutions, economy, culture, species, consequences.
Systematically evaluate completed short stories or novel chapters to identify strengths, weaknesses, and improvement opportunities. Use after drafting to assess whether the piece achieves its narrative goals.
Evaluate representation and flag potential harm concerns. Use when writing characters from marginalized groups, depicting sensitive subject matter, or wanting to check for stereotypes and harmful tropes.
Create fables that embody paradoxical wisdom without resolving into simple morals. Use when exploring tensions that can't be resolved, when you need narrative forms that bypass analytical defenses, or when creating teaching stories.
Design cultures for closed-loop life support systems in space. Use when worldbuilding stations, ships, or habitats where recycled matter creates novel social structures, beliefs, and conflicts.
Create the perception of cultural depth through strategic juxtaposition of familiar and unfamiliar elements. Use when settings feel shallow, when you need centuries of implied history without exposition, or when worldbuilding lacks the texture of real cultural evolution.
Systematically identify what's missing in non-fiction writing—both blind spots (inherent limitations) and blank spots (gaps that could be addressed). Use before finalizing non-fiction or when feedback feels incomplete.
Transform clichéd story elements by pushing along the emotional vector toward statistical edges. Use when first instincts are too predictable, when elements feel generic, or when you need the core methodology for avoiding statistical-center defaults.
Design multi-generational societal evolution for science fiction settings. Use when creating civilizations that diverge from baseline humanity, when exploring how environments shape cultures over generations, or when worldbuilding requires deep time development.
Diagnose branching narrative problems. Use when choices feel meaningless, when branching is unmanageable, when player agency conflicts with authored story, or when interactive elements break narrative flow.
Design and troubleshoot character transformation arcs. Use when characters feel static, when transformation feels unearned or abrupt, when you can't articulate what false belief needs to die, or when characters serve plot without having internal journeys. Covers positive, negative, and flat arcs.
Diagnose what any story needs regardless of its current state. This skill should be used when a writer is stuck, evaluating story problems, when narrative feels broken, or when someone asks 'what's wrong with my story?'. Keywords: story, diagnosis, stuck, narrative, plot, character, worldbuilding, revision.
Evaluate representation and flag potential harm concerns. Use when writing characters from marginalized groups, depicting sensitive subject matter, or wanting to check for stereotypes and harmful tropes.
Diagnose what any story needs regardless of its current state. Use when a writer is stuck, when evaluating story problems, when a narrative feels broken, or when someone asks "what's wrong with my story?" Applies diagnostic model to identify the specific story state and recommend appropriate interventions.
