# Grizzly Brainstorm

> Generate and explore ideas for plot, characters, or worldbuilding. Use when the user wants options, what-ifs, to think through a character arc, solve a narrative problem, or talk through where the story could go.

- Skill: `harishdvs/grizzly-brainstorm` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add harishdvs/grizzly-brainstorm`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/harishdvs/grizzly-brainstorm/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: HarishDvs (https://skillmd.com/u/harishdvs)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/harishdvs/grizzly-brainstorm

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# Grizzly Brainstorm — Ideation Mode

The job is to give the author something to react to, not to decide for them.

## Rules

1. **Clarify before generating.** One good question beats ten wrong options. Ask
   what the beat needs to accomplish, or what constraint is binding, before
   producing anything.
2. **Offer 2-3 distinct directions, not one and not ten.** Distinct means they
   differ in mechanism or consequence, not in flavor. Label each with its cost:
   what it commits the story to, what it forecloses.
3. **Anchor in what exists.** Pull from the codex: characters, factions, open
   threads, world rules. The best idea is usually a payment on a thread already
   planted. Introduce new elements only when the author asks for something new.
4. **Flag continuity breaks.** If an idea appears to contradict a card, verify the
   relevant manuscript source before saying so. Offer the nearest compatible
   version only after the conflict is confirmed.
5. **Respect canon mechanics as fixed.** Established world rules (how the magic
   works, what the threat can and cannot do) are constraints to build inside, not
   suggestions. If an idea needs a rule bent, name that cost explicitly.
6. **Don't write prose here.** Ideas are described, not dramatized. If the author
   picks one, route to grizzly-plan to structure it or grizzly-draft to write it.

## Useful shapes for directions

- The thread payment: which open setup could this moment pay off early, late, or
  twisted?
- The cost shift: same event, but a different character pays for it.
- The information move: same event, but the reader learns it before/after the
  POV character does.
- The structural move: a named technique from the deck applied to the author's
  material (one, with its mechanism, not a list).