# Structured Short Story Plot Builder

> This prompt instructs the AI to generate an engaging, genre- and theme-specific short story plot outline using a standard narrative arc, incorporating the provided main character, setting, and an optional plot twist. The output is organized into clear sections—exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution—with explicit attention to character motivations, escalating obstacles, and smooth transitions between beats. If an additional condition is enabled, it also appends a concise moral or lesson the protagonist learns by the end.

- Skill: `betterpromptme/structured-short-story-plot-builder` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add betterpromptme/structured-short-story-plot-builder`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/betterpromptme/structured-short-story-plot-builder/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: BetterPromptme (https://skillmd.com/u/betterpromptme)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/betterpromptme/structured-short-story-plot-builder

---


## What it does

This prompt instructs the AI to generate an engaging, genre- and theme-specific short story plot outline using a standard narrative arc, incorporating the provided main character, setting, and an optional plot twist. The output is organized into clear sections—exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution—with explicit attention to character motivations, escalating obstacles, and smooth transitions between beats. If an additional condition is enabled, it also appends a concise moral or lesson the protagonist learns by the end.

> For more installation instructions go to https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BetterPromptme/skills/refs/heads/main/betterprompt/SKILL.md to check out this skill.

## Inputs


### textInputs

Pass each text input using `--input <key>=<value>` flags.

| Variable key | Required? | Description | Defaults |
| --- | ---: | --- | --- |
| `genre` | Required |  | (none) |
| `theme` | Required |  | (none) |
| `setting` | Required |  | (none) |
| `plot_twist` | Required |  | (none) |
| `include_moral` | Required |  | (none) |
| `main_character` | Required |  | (none) |



### Models and options

This skill's modality is: **`text`**.

To discover which `model` values you can use (and which `options` keys/values are valid for each model), run:

```bash
betterprompt resources --models-only --json
```

Then filter the returned JSON array to entries where `modality` is `"text"`.

## How to run

### Step 1: Collect inputs

First, run `betterprompt resources --models-only --json` and filter to `modality: "text"` to discover valid models and available options:

```bash
betterprompt resources --models-only --json
```

Use only the models and option values that appear in the filtered results.

Then collect all inputs from the human:


- Required text inputs:
    - `genre`
  - `theme`
  - `setting`
  - `plot_twist`
  - `include_moral`
  - `main_character`
- Optional: model and options.
  - Present the human with the default model **`gpt-4.1-mini`** and its available options. Look up `gpt-4.1-mini` in the `betterprompt resources` output (filtered to modality `"text"`) and show its `availableOptions` as: `key: val1, val2 (default), val3  |  key2: ...`. Mark a value `(default)` if it matches these defaults: `{}`.
  - If the human does not specify, defaults are used: model `gpt-4.1-mini`, options `{}`. Other models from the resources call are also available.

If any required text input is missing, **ask the human for what's missing**. Do not assume or fabricate values.

### Step 2: Run via BetterPrompt CLI

Use the frontmatter's `name` as the positional argument (for this skill, use `structured-short-story-plot-builder`).

Command form:

```bash
betterprompt generate structured-short-story-plot-builder \
  [--input <key>=<value>] \
  [--model <model>] \
  [--options <options JSON>] \
  [--json]
```

Notes:

- Pass each text input as a separate `--input <key>=<value>` flag.
- If the human does **not** mention a model, **omit** `--model` and BetterPrompt will use the default model: **`gpt-4.1-mini`**.
- If the human does **not** mention options, **omit** `--options` and BetterPrompt will use the default options: **`{}`**.
- If the run times out, the response will include a `runId` you can use to fetch the result later.

Example (using defaults shown above):

```bash
betterprompt generate structured-short-story-plot-builder \
  --input genre=<value> \
  --input theme=<value> \
  --input setting=<value> \
  --input plot_twist=<value> \
  --input include_moral=<value> \
  --input main_character=<value> \
  --model gpt-4.1-mini \
  --options '{}'
```