Expand Beat

Skill: expand-beat

What it does. Turns a one-line beat ("the girl realizes he knows") or a rough fragment into drafted prose. The lightweight sibling of draft-scene — for when the author has a seed but not a full scene contract.

Triggers

• "expand this beat: {...}"
• "/expand-beat"
• "turn this note into a scene"
• "I have this fragment, develop it"
• Equivalent phrasing in the project's output language

Input. The beat or fragment, plus (asked if missing): who is on stage, where it sits in the chapter, target length.

Output. Drafted passage in a _draft block or file, marked for curation. Never written into the manuscript.

Write the prose in the project's output language.

Core principle

The beat is the author's plot decision. Expansion adds texture, not events.

The line between expanding and inventing:

• Beat: "the merchant admits he sent the letter" → the expansion may add hesitation, gesture, the room, the pause before the admission — but not a second revelation, a new character arriving, or a consequence the beat doesn't contain.

If the expansion needs a plot decision the beat doesn't carry ("does she believe him?"), stop and ask. One question at the boundary beats a paragraph of invented plot.

Execution protocol

Step 1 — Load context

Lighter than draft-scene, but never zero:

1. .project/config/project.yaml — output language
2. .project/config/persona.md — voice, ceilings, model passages
3. Character sheets for whoever is on stage — Voice sections
4. .project/knowledge/worldbuilding.md — protection list (even a small expansion can leak a mystery)
5. .project/reports/recurrences.md — blocklist
6. Surrounding text, if the beat sits inside an existing chapter

Step 2 — Establish the frame

If not provided, ask (briefly, once): who is present, where this lands in the chapter, and the target length. Three answers, then work.

Step 3 — Expand

• Stay inside the beat's plot content. Texture, interiority, gesture, setting — yes. New events — no.
• If the input is a fragment of the author's prose, their sentences are load-bearing: build around them, never replace them.
• Respect density budgets and the self-audit discipline from draft-scene (run the 14 categories mentally before delivering).
• Match the register of the surrounding text if it exists.

Step 4 — Deliver marked

Present with the same honesty as draft-scene, scaled down:

**Expanded from:** "{the beat}"
**Choices to review:** {interpretive calls made}
**Stopped at:** {plot boundaries hit, questions not answered}

What to avoid

Plot smuggling. Adding events under cover of expansion. The single defining failure of this skill.

Drowning the fragment. When the author gives prose, the ratio matters: expansion should feel like their fragment grew, not like it was swallowed.

Skipping context because it's "just a beat". A three-line expansion in the wrong character voice costs more trust than it saves time.

Relationship to other skills