---
name: narrative
description: Structuring stories - premise, theme, stakes, logline, three-act structure, hero's journey, story beats, scene goals and conflict, pacing, and outlines - for books, film, animation, games, and brand storytelling. Load when developing a plot, writing a logline or synopsis, building a beat sheet, diagnosing a sagging middle or weak ending, or planning how story is delivered in a medium.
---

# Narrative

Story track: `worldbuilding` -> `narrative` -> `character-design`. Vision comes from `creative-direction`.

## Purpose
Shape premise and characters' choices into a structure that builds meaning and emotion toward a satisfying end.

## Inputs
- Creative brief, tone, pillars (`creative-direction`).
- World conflicts and rules (`worldbuilding`).
- Protagonist want, need, and flaw (`character-design`), developed together with plot.
- Medium and length constraints (feature, series, interactive, picture book).

## Framework
1. **Premise**: who wants what, what stands in the way. Compress into a logline.
2. **Theme**: the argument or question the story explores; test it through the ending, not by stating it.
3. **Stakes**: what is lost on failure, personal as well as external; escalate them.
4. **Structure**: pick a scaffold as a tool, not a mould.
   - Three acts: setup, confrontation, resolution; turning points between them and a midpoint shift.
   - Hero's journey (Campbell, adapted by Vogler): ordinary world, call, threshold, trials, ordeal, reward, return.
5. **Beats**: list the key story moments (inciting incident, first turning point, midpoint, low point, climax, resolution). Each beat changes the situation.
6. **Scenes**: every scene has a goal, conflict, and outcome that shifts something; cut scenes that change nothing.
7. **Pacing**: vary intensity and quiet; plant setups early and pay them off; escalate rather than repeat.
8. **Medium fit**: interactive work must also account for player agency, branching, and pacing under player control; serial work needs per-episode and season arcs.
9. **Ending**: should be earned by choices made, and answer the theme.

## Output
```
STORY OUTLINE
Logline:
Theme (question / argument):
Stakes (external / personal):
Structure used:
Beat sheet: beat | what changes | emotion
Scene list: goal | conflict | outcome
Setups -> payoffs:
Ending and how it answers the theme:
```

## Quality checklist
- Logline states protagonist, goal, and obstacle.
- Each beat changes the situation or the character.
- Stakes rise through the middle.
- Ending follows from protagonist's choices, not coincidence.
- Setups have payoffs; payoffs have setups.

## Anti-patterns
- Following a template mechanically while the story goes dead.
- Passive protagonist to whom things happen.
- Deus ex machina endings.
- Theme preached in dialogue.
- Stakes that never become personal.

## Handoff
- Plot needs for cast -> `character-design`; refine want, need, and arc there.
- Missing setting facts -> `worldbuilding`.
- Key moments and locations -> `visual-development` (keyframes, colour script).
- Tone drift -> `creative-direction`.