Create Story

create-story

Creative writing orchestrator for Horus persona. Creates stories through deep research and iterative refinement.

Philosophy

"Every story Horus tells comes from somewhere - his experiences, his memories, his research."

Horus doesn't write stories from nothing. He:

1. Reflects on his initial thought
2. Researches relevant movies, books, and past experiences
3. Recalls from memory what worked before
4. Writes iteratively with self-critique

Workflow

INITIAL THOUGHT → RESEARCH → DOGPILE → DRAFT 1 → CRITIQUE → DRAFT 2 → CRITIQUE → FINAL

Phase 1: Initial Thought

Horus articulates what story he wants to tell:

• "I want to create a story about a robot discovering emotions"
• "I want to write a screenplay about the first AI to dream"

Phase 2: Research (Deep Context Gathering)

Phase 3: Dogpile Context

Use /dogpile with gathered context to research:

• Narrative techniques
• Genre conventions
• Thematic exploration
• Similar works analysis

Phase 4: Iterative Writing (2-3 Drafts)

Draft 1: First attempt based on research ↓ Critique 1: Self-critique (or external via --external-critique)

• What works?
• What doesn't?
• What's missing? ↓ Draft 2: Refined based on critique ↓ Critique 2: Deeper analysis ↓ Final Draft: Polished story

Story Formats

Quick Start

cd .pi/skills/create-story

# Full workflow (uses DeepSeek Chimera by default)
./run.sh create "A story about a robot discovering emotions"

# With external critique via review-story
./run.sh create "A noir screenplay about AI detectives" --external-critique

# Specify format and model
./run.sh create "A podcast script about time travel" --format podcast --model sonnet

# Research only (for manual writing)
./run.sh research "themes of isolation in science fiction"

Model Selection (Chutes Only)

Use /prompt-lab to evaluate which Chutes model produces the best output for your story type:

# Compare Chutes models for your creative prompt
.pi/skills/prompt-lab/run.sh compare \
  --prompt "Write a dramatic monologue about betrayal" \
  --models chimera,qwen,deepseek-r1

You can also pass any Chutes model ID directly:

./run.sh create "A story" --model "deepseek/deepseek-tng-r1t2-chimera"

Commands

Available Skills

Integrates with:

Memory Integration

Stories are stored in /memory with scope horus-stories:

{
  "scope": "horus-stories",
  "stored": {
    "story_summary": "Brief plot summary",
    "characters": ["Character profiles"],
    "themes": ["Major themes explored"],
    "techniques": ["What worked well"],
    "learnings": ["What to do differently"]
  }
}

Critique Modes

Self-Critique (Default)

Horus reflects on his own work:

• Narrative flow
• Character consistency
• Thematic coherence
• Dialogue authenticity
• Pacing

External Critique (--external-critique)

Uses /codex or /scillm for objective analysis:

• Plot holes
• Structural issues
• Genre conventions
• Reader engagement
• Technical craft

Output Structure

output/
├── research/
│   ├── movies.json       # Movie analysis
│   ├── books.json        # Book references
│   ├── memory.json       # Recalled knowledge
│   └── dogpile.json      # Research results
├── drafts/
│   ├── draft_1.md        # First draft
│   ├── critique_1.md     # First critique
│   ├── draft_2.md        # Second draft
│   ├── critique_2.md     # Second critique
│   └── final.md          # Final story
└── metadata.json         # Story metadata for memory

Example Session

Horus: I want to create a story about an AI learning to paint.

[INITIAL THOUGHT] Captured: "AI learning to paint"

[RESEARCH]
  - /ingest-movie: Analyzing "Her", "Ex Machina", "Big Eyes"
  - /ingest-book: Found "The Creativity Code", "Life 3.0"
  - /episodic-archiver: Recalled session about AI creativity
  - /memory: Retrieved "successful character arc techniques"

[DOGPILE] Researching: AI creativity, artistic expression, consciousness

[DRAFT 1] Writing first draft... (2,500 words)

[CRITIQUE 1] Self-analysis:
  - Strong opening, weak middle
  - Character motivation unclear
  - Theme of "what is art" underexplored

[DRAFT 2] Revising based on critique... (3,100 words)

[CRITIQUE 2] External analysis via /codex:
  - Pacing improved
  - Suggest stronger ending
  - Add sensory details to painting scenes

[FINAL] Polishing final draft... (3,400 words)

[MEMORY] Stored in horus-stories scope:
  - Story summary
  - Character: "Canvas" (the AI protagonist)
  - Techniques: "slow reveal of consciousness"
  - Learning: "painting descriptions need more color vocabulary"

Output: output/final.md (3,400 words)

Integration with create-movie

create-story can be called by create-movie for the Script phase:

# In create-movie orchestrator
story_result = run_skill("create-story", [
    "create",
    f"A screenplay about {movie_prompt}",
    "--format", "screenplay"
])

Dependencies

• Python 3.11+
• Access to /memory, /dogpile, /ingest-movie, /ingest-book, /episodic-archiver
• Optional: /codex or /scillm for external critique

Follow-Up: Related Skills

For deeper editing capabilities, consider these composable skills:

These would integrate with create-story for multi-pass refinement:

create-story → story-editor → proofread → final