Plot Structure

Overview

Plan and manage story arcs, plot points, foreshadowing, and narrative timeline. Each arc is a markdown file in plot/arcs/ with a chronological timeline maintained in plot/timeline.md. The plot index tracks all arcs, their status, and theme coverage.

Prerequisites

A story project must already exist (created via the story-init skill). Verify by checking for story.md in the project root.

Choosing a Story Structure

1. Read story.md for genre, themes, and form (novel, novella, novelette, short-story, flash, serial, picture-book, chapter-book). For short-story and flash, use references/short-story-form.md instead of a multi-act beat sheet
2. Consult references/structure-models.md for available structures
3. Recommend a structure based on genre (default to three-act if unclear). If the user wants to design the whole book top-down before drafting, or asks for the Snowflake Method, follow references/snowflake.md on top of the chosen structure
4. Update plot/_index.md frontmatter structure field
5. Populate the story structure section with the beat sheet
6. When CLI access is available, run story validate .