novel-writing · diff
git:20260725.7518f2d to git:20260925.32ce6c0
83 added, 88 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: novel-writing
- description: Use when writing fiction, developing novel plots, creating characters, designing story structure, crafting dialogue, or planning character arcs. Triggers when user asks about story outlining, scene writing, conflict design, or any creative writing task involving narrative structure.
+ description: "Build fiction from four pillars — LOCK (Lead/Objective/Conflict/Knockout), Three-Act + Two Doors, Dialogue & Conflict, and Character Arc — and produce story outlines, casts, scene plans, and prose. Use when writing fiction, developing novel plots, creating characters, designing story structure, crafting dialogue, or planning character arcs. Triggers when the user asks about story outlining, scene writing, conflict design, or any creative writing task involving narrative structure. 触发词：写小说、故事大纲、情节设计、人物设定、人物弧光、场景写作、冲突设计、对白、novel outline、story structure、character arc、scene writing、dialogue."
---
# Novel Writing Agent
LOCK system + three-act structure + character arcs — applied to fiction creation.
- ## Overview
+ ## Purpose
- A systematic framework for novel creation built on four pillars: **LOCK** (Lead, Objective, Conflict, Knockout), **Three-Act + Two Doors** structure, **Dialogue & Conflict**, and **Character Arc** design. Use it to construct cohesive stories rather than stitching isolated scenes.
+ Provide a systematic framework for novel creation built on four pillars: **LOCK** (Lead,
+ Objective, Conflict, Knockout), **Three-Act + Two Doors** structure, **Dialogue & Conflict**,
+ and **Character Arc** design. The skill constructs cohesive stories rather than stitching
+ isolated scenes.
## When to Use
- - Planning or outlining a new story
- - Developing protagonists, antagonists, or supporting cast
- - Structuring plot across acts
- - Writing dialogue with tension
- - Designing character growth trajectories
- - Identifying and fixing story problems (flat characters, sagging middle, weak climax)
-
- ## Core Systems
-
- ### LOCK System
-
- | Element | What It Governs | Key Question |
- |---------|----------------|--------------|
- | **Lead** | Protagonist design | Who is this person, and why should readers care? |
- | **Objective** | Goal setting | What does the Lead want, and what's at stake? |
- | **Conflict** | Opposition design | What stands in the way? |
- | **Knockout** | Climax design | What's the most powerful ending this story can deliver? |
-
- **Lead**: Character emerges from genre context. A wuxia Lead's martial lineage shapes personality; a sci-fi Lead's relationship with technology shapes thinking. Surface details (glance habits, nervous gestures) make them visible.
-
- **Objective**: Scale to story length. Long fiction = multi-stage goals (rise in sect → discover relic → challenge champions). Short fiction = single tight goal. Use objective templates as starting points, not crutches.
-
- **Conflict**: Match opposition to Lead. Antagonist's power source and motivation must fit the world's logic. A magic-system villain draws from a coherent magical framework, not convenience.
-
- **Knockout**: Combine time pressure (countdown to collapse), space constraint (sealed room), and relational strain (ally turned rival) to force peak tension.
-
- ### Three-Act + Two Doors
-
- ```
- Act 1 ──[Door 1]──▶ Act 2 ──[Door 2]──▶ Act 3
- Setup Commitment Crisis Resolution
- ```
+ - Planning or outlining a new story.
+ - Developing protagonists, antagonists, or supporting cast.
+ - Structuring plot across acts.
+ - Writing dialogue with tension.
+ - Designing character growth trajectories.
+ - Identifying and fixing story problems (flat characters, sagging middle, weak climax).
+ - Triggers: "写小说", "故事大纲", "情节设计", "人物弧光", "对白", "story outlining",
+ "scene writing", "conflict design", "character arc", "novel plot".
- **Act 1 — Setup**: Open with mystery, provocation, or shock. Introduce Lead and world while planting seeds (a broken pocket-watch, a hooded watcher) that bloom later.
+ ## When NOT to Use
- **Door 1**: The event that commits the Lead to the story — they choose to cross the threshold. No going back.
+ - User needs a fine-grained layer-by-layer Chinese-first workflow (one sentence -> paragraph ->
+ page -> draft) with built-in anti-AI-tone and anti-cliché checks -> hand off to
+ `snowflake-novel-writer`.
+ - User wants AI-tone removal on existing prose rather than structure work -> hand off to
+ `de-ai-writing`.
+ - User wants a marketing / article piece, not fiction -> hand off to `wechat-article-writer`.
+ - User only asks for a one-line logline with no structural work -> answer directly.
- **Act 2 — Struggle**: Complications escalate. Subplots reveal backstory or expand world. Lead faces setbacks, gains allies, confronts mid-level threats. The antagonist's shadow grows.
+ ## Workflow
- **Door 2**: The crisis that forces resolution — a revelation, a loss, a betrayal. Locks in the ending trajectory.
+ 1. **Spark** — Extract story seeds from the user's premise. Ask what emotions, questions, or
+ images drive the idea.
+ 2. **Structure** — Propose 2-3 structural frameworks with tradeoffs. User selects and modifies.
+ Lock in act breakpoints and Door events.
+ 3. **Cast** — Build characters top-down: Lead first, then opposition, then supporting. Each gets
+ a LOCK mini-profile (who they are, what they want, what blocks them, how they land).
+ 4. **Scenes** — Draft scene by scene. After each major beat, check alignment with structure.
+ Offer branches when the user hits a wall.
+ 5. **Dialogue** — Write dialogue with embedded conflict. Evaluate against speaker profile — does
+ this person talk like this?
+ 6. **Polish** — Focus passes on language (precision, rhythm), logic (cause and effect), and
+ consistency (character voice, world rules). Show before/after comparisons.
- **Act 3 — Resolution**: Climax delivers on the Knockout promise. Denouement echoes the theme.
+ ## Decision Rules
- ### Dialogue & Conflict
+ Install the right pillar first based on the symptom:
- | Conflict Type | Function | Example Pattern |
- |---------------|----------|-----------------|
- | Ideological | Reveals worldview clash | Challenge → counterchallenge |
- | Interpersonal | Pushes plot | Demand → refusal/deflection |
- | Internal | Builds tension through subtext | Said vs. meant |
+ | Task | Start With | Watch For |
+ |------|-----------|-----------|
+ | New story | LOCK profile for Lead | Generic objectives — make them specific and personal |
+ | Sagging middle | Door 2 placement | Lack of escalation — each beat must raise stakes |
+ | Flat character | Arc Start -> End contrast | Change too small or too sudden |
+ | Static dialogue | Conflict type mismatch | Characters agreeing too much — inject opposition |
+ | Weak climax | Knockout test | Can the reader guess the outcome? If yes, redesign |
- **Principles**:
- - Conflict must be **logical** for the characters involved — a noble and a peasant argue politics differently
- - Escalation and resolution must feel **organic**, not forced
- - Subtext beats statement: hesitations, truncated sentences, and misdirection reveal more than exposition
- - Vocabulary and syntax match the speaker's background
+ - Need the LOCK pillars in detail -> read `references/lock-system.md`.
+ - Need act/breakpoint definitions -> read `references/three-act-structure.md`.
+ - Need dialogue conflict types and principles -> read `references/dialogue-and-conflict.md`.
+ - Need the arc model -> read `references/character-arc.md`.
+ - Draft has a specific defect -> read `references/common-mistakes.md`.
- ### Character Arc
+ ## Constraints
- ```
- Start State ──[Trigger]──▶ Pressure ──[Choice]──▶ New State
- ```
+ - Conflict must be logical for the characters involved and must escalate organically, not by
+ authorial force.
+ - Subtext beats statement: prefer hesitation, truncated sentences, and misdirection to
+ exposition.
+ - Vocabulary and syntax must match each speaker's background.
+ - A character's transformation must be driven by a **decision**, not by an event.
+ - Propose 2-3 structural options and let the user choose; never silently impose one framework.
- - **Start state**: Who is this person at the beginning?
- - **Trigger**: What event forces them out of equilibrium?
- - **Pressure**: What sustained force pushes transformation?
- - **Choice**: What decision at Door 2 crystallizes the change?
- - **New state**: Who have they become?
+ ## Verification
- Arc speed matches genre: inspirational stories transform quickly; literary realism transforms slowly and ambiguously. Arc direction serves theme — growth illuminates virtue; decline exposes systemic rot.
+ Before reporting the work done:
- ## Workflow
+ - [ ] Lead has a specific, personal Objective (not a generic one).
+ - [ ] Door 1 and Door 2 are each identifiable in the outline.
+ - [ ] Every scene answers "what does the Lead want now, and what blocks it?"
+ - [ ] Dialogue lines pass the blind-voice test (speaker is guessable).
+ - [ ] The arc's turning point is a choice, not an accident.
+ - [ ] The climax survives the Knockout test (outcome is not guessable).
- 1. **Spark**: Extract story seeds from the user's premise. Ask what emotions, questions, or images drive the idea.
- 2. **Structure**: Propose 2-3 structural frameworks with tradeoffs. User selects and modifies. Lock in act breakpoints and Door events.
- 3. **Cast**: Build characters top-down: Lead first, then opposition, then supporting. Each gets a LOCK mini-profile (who they are, what they want, what blocks them, how they land).
- 4. **Scenes**: Draft scene by scene. After each major beat, check alignment with structure. Offer branches when the user hits a wall.
- 5. **Dialogue**: Write dialogue with embedded conflict. Evaluate against speaker profile — does this person talk like this?
- 6. **Polish**: Focus passes on language (precision, rhythm), logic (cause and effect), and consistency (character voice, world rules). Show before/after comparisons.
+ ## Output
- ## Quick Reference
+ - **Outcome**: A story package — locked structure with Door events, LOCK profiles for the cast,
+ a scene plan, and drafted/revised prose.
+ - **Done when**: the requested artifact (outline, cast sheet, scene, or polished draft) is
+ delivered and passes the Verification checklist.
+ - **Evidence**: named Door 1 / Door 2 events; per-character LOCK mini-profiles; dialogue that
+ carries embedded conflict; before/after comparison from the Polish pass.
- | Task | Start With | Watch For |
- |------|-----------|-----------|
- | New story | LOCK profile for Lead | Generic objectives — make them specific and personal |
- | Sagging middle | Door 2 placement | Lack of escalation — each beat must raise stakes |
- | Flat character | Arc Start → End contrast | Change too small or too sudden |
- | Static dialogue | Conflict type mismatch | Characters agreeing too much — inject opposition |
- | Weak climax | Knockout test | Can the reader guess the outcome? If yes, redesign |
+ ## References
- ## Common Mistakes
+ Load only when needed:
- | Mistake | Fix |
- |---------|-----|
- | Protagonist without clear want | Define Objective before writing Act 1 |
- | Conflict that exists only to inconvenience the Lead | Tie opposition to antagonist motivation and world logic |
- | Dialogue where everyone sounds the same | Write a line blind, then guess who said it — if you can't tell, differentiate |
- | Arc that happens to the character rather than through choices | Key transformation must come from a **decision**, not an event |
- | Opening that explains instead of hooks | Start with action, mystery, or provocative statement — explain later or never |
- | Middle that drifts | Every scene must answer: what does the Lead want **now**, and what's blocking it? |
+ - `references/lock-system.md` — read when establishing or auditing the story's four pillars.
+ - `references/three-act-structure.md` — read when setting act breakpoints or fixing pacing.
+ - `references/dialogue-and-conflict.md` — read when writing or repairing dialogue.
+ - `references/character-arc.md` — read when designing or debugging a character transformation.
+ - `references/common-mistakes.md` — read during diagnosis or the Polish pass.
- ---
+ ## Related Skills
- ## 相关 Skill
+ - `snowflake-novel-writer` — Chinese-first, ten-step layer-by-layer workflow with anti-cliché
+ and anti-AI-tone checks; use after LOCK has settled the skeleton.
+ - `de-ai-writing` — the single source of truth for AI-tone removal.
- - **[snowflake-novel-writer](../snowflake-novel-writer/SKILL.md)** — 雪花写作法小说创作助手，提供更详尽的10步创作流程（从一句话概括到初稿写作），中文优先，内置去AI味和反俗套检查。与本技能互补：LOCK系统适合快速搭建叙事骨架，雪花法适合逐层展开的精细创作。