junaid18183/novel-architect-skills

Overview

This skill guides writers through a patient, interview-driven process to turn a vague idea into a full novel project. It prioritizes emotional truth before formal structure and creates a complete directory of foundation files, character sheets, outlines, and chapter drafts. The output is a ready-to-work project organized at ~/writing/novels/{novel-name}/.

How this skill works

I begin with a gentle, reflective interview to uncover your North Star, voice, themes, and core idea. I propose each section in small steps, wait for your explicit approval (Yes / Tweak / Rewrite), store approved sections in memory, and write files only when all sections for a file are approved. Once foundations are set, I scaffold chapter-by-chapter outlines and offer options to draft and review chapters sequentially or in parallel via background tasks.

When to use it

• You want to start a new novel project and need structure
• You have a germ of an idea and need help clarifying emotional truth
• You want stepwise scaffolding: braindump → characters → world → outline → chapters
• You prefer an interactive, approval-based workflow that preserves voice
• You want to generate and manage all project files in a consistent directory
• You need staged parallel drafting or reviewing of many chapters quickly

Best practices

• Answer interview prompts honestly and in emotion-first terms; reflection guides structure
• Approve or request tweaks per the required confirmation format to keep progress clean
• Use the suggested parallel background tasks for 5+ chapters to save time
• Keep one project open at a time so the skill stores and writes files predictably
• Avoid asking to rewrite completed files unless you explicitly request a revision

Example use cases

• Quick-start command to set up a project: /novel-architect an english novel named lost-horizon "A man discovers his small town is slowly disappearing from maps"
• Interactive session that builds Braindump, Genre, and Style before any files are written
• Generate detailed character sheets one at a time and save them only after approval
• Create chapter beat sheets sequentially or launch parallel agents to draft chapters 2–N
• Run a final continuity check after chapter reviews and archive old drafts