Captures

Captures Skill

Generate {% capture %} blocks for book reviews from rough notes.

Usage

/captures --- Pass your rough notes (often voice-transcribed) and get back the capture blocks needed for books, authors, and series you reference.

What This Skill Does

1. Parse rough notes for mentions of books, authors, series, short stories, movies, games
2. Fix common voice transcription errors (see below)
3. Generate capture blocks following the site's naming conventions
4. Validate against existing content when possible

Output Format

For each book referenced, generate the full bundle:

1. Author link
2. Author possessive
3. Author lastname
4. Author lastname possessive
5. Series link (if part of a series)
6. Book link

Group by book:

{% capture banks %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture bankss %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture banks_lastname %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" link_text="Banks" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture bankss_lastname %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" link_text="Banks" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture culture %}{% series_link "Culture" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture surface_detail %}{% book_link "Surface Detail" %}{% endcapture %}

{% capture stross %}{% author_link "Charles Stross" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture strosss %}{% author_link "Charles Stross" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture stross_lastname %}{% author_link "Charles Stross" link_text="Stross" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture strosss_lastname %}{% author_link "Charles Stross" link_text="Stross" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture a_colder_war %}{% short_story_link "A Colder War" %}{% endcapture %}

{% capture terminator %}{% movie_title "Terminator" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture fallout %}{% game_title "Fallout" %}{% endcapture %}

If multiple books share the same author, only include the author bundle once (with the first book):

{% capture banks %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture bankss %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture banks_lastname %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" link_text="Banks" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture bankss_lastname %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" link_text="Banks" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture culture %}{% series_link "Culture" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture surface_detail %}{% book_link "Surface Detail" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture use_of_weapons %}{% book_link "Use of Weapons" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture look_to_windward %}{% book_link "Look to Windward" %}{% endcapture %}

Voice Transcription Errors

These notes are often voice-transcribed and will contain errors:

• Misspellings ("shriek" for "Shrike", "telehard" for "Teilhard")
• Wrong words ("forecaster" for "farcaster")
• Missing capitals or articles
• Phonetic spellings ("bobiberse" for "Bobiverse")

Figure out the correct titles, authors, and series from context. Check existing reviews in _books/ for correct spellings. Use your knowledge of sci-fi literature to resolve ambiguities. If you're unsure, ask.

Special case: Disco Elysium is treated as a book, not a game.

Naming Conventions

Authors

{% capture banks %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture bankss %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture banks_lastname %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" link_text="Banks" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture bankss_lastname %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" link_text="Banks" possessive %}{% endcapture %}

Variable naming:

• banks --- full name
• bankss --- full name possessive (double s for names ending in s)
• banks_lastname --- lastname only
• bankss_lastname --- lastname possessive

Multiple Authors

For books with multiple authors, generate captures for each author separately, plus combined versions:

{% capture el_mohtar %}{% author_link "Amal El-Mohtar" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture el_mohtars %}{% author_link "Amal El-Mohtar" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture el_mohtar_lastname %}{% author_link "Amal El-Mohtar" link_text="El-Mohtar" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture el_mohtars_lastname %}{% author_link "Amal El-Mohtar" link_text="El-Mohtar" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture gladstone %}{% author_link "Max Gladstone" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture gladstones %}{% author_link "Max Gladstone" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture gladstone_lastname %}{% author_link "Max Gladstone" link_text="Gladstone" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture gladstones_lastname %}{% author_link "Max Gladstone" link_text="Gladstone" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture el_mohtar_and_gladstone %}{% author_link "Amal El-Mohtar" %} and {% author_link "Max Gladstone" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture el_mohtar_and_gladstones %}{% author_link "Amal El-Mohtar" %} and {% author_link "Max Gladstone" possessive %}{% endcapture %}

For siblings or similar (like the Strugatsky brothers), you might use first names:

{% capture arkady_and_boris %}{% author_link "Arkady Strugatsky" link_text="Arkady" %} and {% author_link "Boris Strugatsky" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture arkady_and_boriss %}{% author_link "Arkady Strugatsky" link_text="Arkady" %} and {% author_link "Boris Strugatsky" possessive %}{% endcapture %}

For 3+ authors (anthologies), use author_ prefix and create captures as needed:

{% capture author_evans %}{% author_link "Linda Evans" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture author_evans_lastname %}{% author_link "Linda Evans" link_text="Evans" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture author_hollingsworth %}{% author_link "Robert R. Hollingsworth" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture author_weber %}{% author_link "David Weber" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture author_weber_lastname %}{% author_link "David Weber" link_text="Weber" %}{% endcapture %}

Books

{% capture surface_detail %}{% book_link "Surface Detail" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture the_player_of_games %}{% book_link "The Player of Games" %}{% endcapture %}

Variable naming: snake_case of the title, including "the" if in title.

Series

{% capture culture %}{% series_link "Culture" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture hyperion_cantos %}{% series_link "Hyperion Cantos" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture botns %}{% series_link "The Book of the New Sun" %}{% endcapture %}

Common abbreviations are fine in the variable name: botns, cantos.

Movies, Games, Other Media

These don't have link tags, so use raw HTML:

{% capture terminator %}{% movie_title "Terminator" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture fallout %}{% game_title "Fallout" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture ds9 %}{% tv_show_title "Deep Space Nine" %}{% endcapture %}

Exception: Disco Elysium is treated as a book and uses {% book_link "Disco Elysium" %}.

Checking Spelling

Check existing files for correct spellings:

• _books/ for book titles
• books/authors/ for author names
• books/series/ for series names

Always generate captures even if we don't have a review yet. The plugins handle missing content gracefully and will create proper links when the content exists.

Standard Captures (always included)

Every review starts with captures for the book being reviewed, the author, and series (from _books/_template/book_template.md):

Don't duplicate these. Only generate captures for other books/authors mentioned in the notes.

Example

Input notes:

- like Time War there's a planet called garden
- The core representative references the three laws of robotics
- very much surface detail
- reminds me of Stross's a colder war

Output:

{% capture el_mohtar %}{% author_link "Amal El-Mohtar" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture el_mohtars %}{% author_link "Amal El-Mohtar" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture el_mohtar_lastname %}{% author_link "Amal El-Mohtar" link_text="El-Mohtar" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture el_mohtars_lastname %}{% author_link "Amal El-Mohtar" link_text="El-Mohtar" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture gladstone %}{% author_link "Max Gladstone" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture gladstones %}{% author_link "Max Gladstone" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture gladstone_lastname %}{% author_link "Max Gladstone" link_text="Gladstone" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture gladstones_lastname %}{% author_link "Max Gladstone" link_text="Gladstone" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture time_war %}{% book_link "This Is How You Lose the Time War" %}{% endcapture %}

{% capture asimov %}{% author_link "Isaac Asimov" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture asimovs %}{% author_link "Isaac Asimov" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture asimov_lastname %}{% author_link "Isaac Asimov" link_text="Asimov" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture asimovs_lastname %}{% author_link "Isaac Asimov" link_text="Asimov" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture i_robot %}{% book_link "I, Robot" %}{% endcapture %}

{% capture banks %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture bankss %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture banks_lastname %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" link_text="Banks" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture bankss_lastname %}{% author_link "Iain M. Banks" link_text="Banks" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture culture %}{% series_link "Culture" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture surface_detail %}{% book_link "Surface Detail" %}{% endcapture %}

{% capture stross %}{% author_link "Charles Stross" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture strosss %}{% author_link "Charles Stross" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture stross_lastname %}{% author_link "Charles Stross" link_text="Stross" %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture strosss_lastname %}{% author_link "Charles Stross" link_text="Stross" possessive %}{% endcapture %}
{% capture a_colder_war %}{% short_story_link "A Colder War" %}{% endcapture %}