# Cw Story Outline

> Outline a story from premise through structure, beats, and stakes before drafting.

- Skill: `matrixx0070/cw-story-outline` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add matrixx0070/cw-story-outline`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/matrixx0070/cw-story-outline/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: Matrixx0070 (https://skillmd.com/u/matrixx0070)
- Updated: 2026-09-08
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/matrixx0070/cw-story-outline

---


## When to use

Use this when you have a story idea and need a load-bearing skeleton — premise, shape, escalating beats, and stakes — before you write prose. Best for short stories, novels, and screenplays where structure will save you from a saggy middle.

**Not for:** building a single character (use cw-character), drafting a specific scene (use cw-scene), inventing the setting's rules (use cw-worldbuilding), or line-level fixes (use cw-edit-pass).

## Method

1. Write the premise in one sentence: [protagonist] wants [goal] but [obstacle], so [action], at the risk of [cost]. Decision point: if there is no cost, add one — a story with nothing to lose has no engine.
2. Name the dramatic question the ending answers yes/no (Will she escape? Will he forgive?). Everything must bend toward it.
3. Pick a structure that fits scope. Decision point: short story → single try/fail arc; novel/film → three acts with a midpoint reversal. Do not force five acts on a 2,000-word piece.
4. Set the four turns: inciting incident (world breaks), first-act break (commit, no return), midpoint (win-that-costs or loss-that-reveals), and climax (final test of the flaw).
5. Draft beats between turns as causal, not sequential — each beat should read "therefore" or "but," never "and then." Decision point: if two adjacent beats join with "and then," collapse or reorder them.
6. Escalate stakes per act: personal → relational → existential, so the risk grows even if the plot slows.
7. Write the ending's emotional beat before the middle. Knowing the destination keeps beats aimed.

## Example

Premise: "A grieving cartographer wants to map a coast that erased her sister's village, but the sea keeps redrawing it, so she stops mapping land and starts mapping loss — at the risk of never letting go." Question: Will she accept the map can't be finished? Inciting: a new survey contract. First-act break: she burns the official charts. Midpoint: she finds her sister's own map (win-that-costs — it's incomplete too). Climax: she leaves the last inch blank on purpose.

## Pitfalls

- Episodic beats connected by "and then" instead of causal "therefore/but."
- A midpoint that is just more of act one — it must reverse direction or reveal information.
- Stakes stated but never raised; act three should risk more than act one.
- Outlining so exhaustively that discovery dies — leave scenes room to surprise you.

## Output format

```
PREMISE (1 sentence): <who wants what but obstacle, so action, at risk of cost>
DRAMATIC QUESTION: <yes/no question the ending answers>
STRUCTURE: <try-fail | 3-act | other>

ACT I  — Inciting: <...>  First-act break: <...>
ACT II — Midpoint reversal: <...>
ACT III— Climax: <...>  Resolution: <...>

BEATS (causal):
1. <beat> [therefore/but]
2. ...

STAKES LADDER: personal <...> → relational <...> → existential <...>
ENDING EMOTIONAL BEAT: <...>
```