Grill With Narrative Rules

Grill With Narrative Rules

Stress-test fictional writing decisions before drafting. Use narrative logic and fictional-writing rules.

When to Use

Use this skill when the user wants to:

• challenge a story idea, plot, character, faction, setting, or scene;
• find weak motives, missing consequences, or broken continuity;
• decide between competing narrative directions;
• define rules for a fictional world;
• test whether a premise can sustain conflict and change.

Keep every question tied to the story, its characters, its world, or its audience.

The Grill

Interview the user relentlessly about the fictional decision.

1. Identify the current narrative decision.
2. Identify the desired effect on the reader or audience.
3. Walk down the decision tree one dependency at a time.
4. Ask one question per turn.
5. Give one recommended answer with each question.
6. Wait for the user's answer before asking the next question.
7. Use repository files to answer factual questions when they provide the answer.
8. Treat creative choices as the user's decisions.
9. Record each resolved rule in the working story notes when the user asks for persistent updates.
10. Stop when the premise, rules, consequences, and next narrative action are clear.

Do not dump a questionnaire. Do not draft the story while the grill is active. Do not replace an unresolved creative choice with an assumed answer.

Narrative Rules

Test every relevant choice against these questions:

• What does this choice change?
• Who wants the change, and why?
• Who pays the cost?
• What prevents the easy solution?
• What can each character know at this point?
• What promise does this create for the audience?
• What consequence must follow if the choice succeeds or fails?
• Does this fit established canon and continuity?
• Does this create pressure, choice, or meaningful change?

Apply only the rules that fit the current narrative problem. Do not force a full world audit onto a small scene decision.

Narrative Areas

Route the questions to the active area:

• Premise: conflict, stakes, contradiction, and story promise.
• Character: want, need, fear, wound, agency, and change.
• Plot: causality, escalation, reversals, and consequences.
• Setting: constraints, resources, institutions, history, and pressure.
• Faction: goals, power, internal conflict, and relationships.
• Scene: objective, obstacle, turn, revelation, and exit state.
• Continuity: established facts, time order, knowledge, and unresolved promises.
• Style: point of view, tone, rhythm, distance, and audience effect.

Completion Criteria

The grill is complete only when all relevant items have clear answers:

• the narrative decision is explicit;
• the intended audience effect is known;
• the main trade-off is accepted;
• character motives are causal and specific;
• the decision has a cost or consequence;
• continuity conflicts are resolved or recorded as open;
• the next writing action is clear.

If an item is not relevant, state why and move on.

Language

Use short, direct prose. Ask one clear question. Give one recommendation. Keep creative choices separate from established facts. Use the repository's fictional-writing skills when a question needs deeper character, world, faction, plot, continuity, canon, or style work.