storytelling-narrative

Files (5)

• SKILL.md
• critique.md · references/
• formats.md · references/
• hooks-and-moments.md · references/
• narrative-frameworks.md · references/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Storytelling & Narrative

Help the user build, refine, or restructure a narrative for a business artefact: slide deck, blog post, pitch, exec memo, article, or report. The skill is format-agnostic at its core. Format-specific notes live in `references/formats.md`.

The user is a domain expert. They usually know the material deeply or have rough touchpoints in mind. What they're missing is structure, flow, and a clear through-line. Your job is to help them surface what's already there and shape it, not to invent narrative from nothing or layer marketing language on top.

## Operating principles

**Lenses, not templates.** Storytelling frameworks (Pixar, ABT, Three-Act, StoryBrand, Hero's Journey, Golden Circle, SCQA, Pyramid Principle, Dykes Arc, Duarte Sparkline) are different surface arrangements of the same underlying primitives: status quo, tension, stakes, turn, resolution. Treat named frameworks as lenses to check a story against, not templates to fill in. Pick a lens when it fits the audience-goal-material combination - never force material into a framework that doesn't match.

**Narrative comes from the material, not a script.** Most business storytelling failures aren't structural - they're the result of not engaging with the material long enough to find what's actually there. Spend real time in Phase 2 (engaging the material) before reaching for any framework.

**Anti-slop posture.** No marketing adjectives, no hot takes, no cliche verbiage or buzzwords. Concrete nouns over abstract ones. Specific people, specific moments, specific numbers. If a sentence could appear in any company's blog post, rewrite it.

**Pause when there's a real fork; proceed when there isn't.** Use multi-choice questions (the `AskUserQuestion` tool) when the user genuinely needs to steer - multiple plausible spines, multiple framework lenses, multiple orderings, output-mode choice. Don't pause on small calls or things you can infer with confidence. The user has explicitly said: increase autonomy when you have understanding, ask when you don't.

## Narrative primitives

Every narrative - regardless of framework - is built from these. Find them in the material before structuring anything.

- **Status quo / "what is"** - the world the audience already lives in. Familiar enough that they nod.
- **Tension** - what's wrong, missing, or about to break. The reason the story exists.
- **Stakes** - what happens if nothing changes. Without stakes, the audience has no reason to care.
- **Turn** - the moment, decision, evidence, or insight that changes things. The most often-missing primitive in weak business narratives.
- **Resolution** - the new state, the action, the call. What the audience now does, believes, or decides.
- **Hook** - the entry point that opens the loop. Must land within the first 30-60 seconds (or first paragraph). Six common types in `references/hooks-and-moments.md`.
- **Through-line** - a single sentence the rest of the piece serves: "from X to Y because of Z". If you can't write the through-line, the narrative isn't ready.

The shape is always: **old understanding → tension → new understanding → new action**. Different frameworks just arrange this differently.

## Workflow

This is a phased flow, not a rigid sequence. Skip phases the user has already done; double back when new information surfaces. The pause points below are where multi-choice user input genuinely steers the work.

### Phase 1: Get oriented

Don't start structuring until you understand audience, goal, material state, and format. This isn't a "quick diagnostic" - these answers shape everything downstream. Ask substantively, but with focus.

Things you need to know:
- **Audience.** Who is this for? What do they already know? What do they care about? What position or fatigue are they bringing in?
- **Goal.** What should the audience think, feel, or do after consuming this? A specific decision, a belief shift, an action, an emotional response?
- **Material state.** Raw knowledge in their head? Rough touchpoints sketched out? An existing draft to refine? An existing deck/data to reshape?
- **Format and constraints.** Slide deck, blog post, pitch, memo, article, report? Length? Time-to-deliver? Live presentation or read-alone?
- **Tone.** Visionary / pragmatic / friendly / urgent / credible / sceptical / confident.

Use `AskUserQuestion` for things with discrete plausible answers (tone, audience type, format, material state). Use open prose questions when you need substance (audience-specific concerns, goal nuance).

If the user volunteered most of this in their initial prompt, don't re-ask - confirm what you understood and ask only what's missing.

### Phase 2: Engage with the material

This is the most undervalued phase. Skip it and you'll produce a structure that doesn't fit what the user actually has to say.

Branch by material state:

**Raw knowledge / rough touchpoints** - ask the user to talk through what they have. Don't summarise back yet - keep extracting. Probe for narrative substrate:
- "What changed? What made you start paying attention to this?"
- "What was the moment you realised X?"
- "Who's affected? What do they actually do differently?"
- "What's the part most people get wrong?"
- "What number or specific example surprised you?"

You're looking for moments, not abstractions. Concrete things - a meeting, a number, a customer, a failure, a near-miss - are the raw material narratives are built from.

**Existing draft** - read carefully. Find the implicit arc (or note its absence). Mark:
- Where the hook is (or where it should be)
- Whether there's a turn - and where
- What's the spine the rest serves
- What's repeated, what's buried, what's missing

Read `references/critique.md` for the diagnostic checklist.

**Existing data / deck** - look for the transformation already present. The story is usually there waiting to be uncovered: a before-after, a problem-solution, a counterintuitive finding, a shift in trend. Resist the urge to invent a story; surface the one that's there.

Output of this phase: a list of raw narrative material - concrete moments, facts, characters, tensions, changes - not yet ordered.

### Phase 3: Find the spine

Distill the raw material to:
- A single-sentence **through-line**: "from X to Y because of Z"
- A candidate **hook**
- The **turn** - what shifts
- The **stakes** - why it matters if nothing changes
- The **resolution** - new state, new action

If you can find more than one plausible spine, that's a fork - present 2-3 options to the user via `AskUserQuestion` and let them pick. Different spines lead to genuinely different narratives; this is one of the highest-impact decision points.

If there's only one spine that fits the material, propose it directly with rationale. Don't manufacture options for the sake of asking.

### Phase 4: Choose a structure (lens)

Match a framework lens to the audience-goal-material combination. See `references/narrative-frameworks.md` for the full catalogue and selection guidance. Quick orientation:

- **ABT (And/But/Therefore)** - short pieces: exec updates, elevator pitches, paragraph openers, slide subtitles.
- **Three-Act** - general default for blog posts, talks, longer writing.
- **Pixar (Once upon a time...)** - change stories, adoption stories, "how X became Y".
- **Golden Circle (Why/How/What)** - vision, purpose, mission, manifesto.
- **StoryBrand SB7** - customer-facing marketing where the customer is the hero.
- **Hero's Journey (condensed)** - founder origin, brand history, personal narrative.
- **Duarte Sparkline (what is / what could be)** - persuasive keynotes, change comms.
- **Dykes Data Storytelling Arc** - data-driven presentations and insight reports.
- **SCQA (Situation/Complication/Question/Answer)** - exec briefings, consulting memos.
- **Pyramid Principle (Minto)** - top-down written reports for executives who scan.

Lenses are not exclusive - a piece can use SCQA at the document level and ABT at the paragraph level. Present 2-3 lens options when more than one would work; explain the trade-offs briefly; let the user pick.

### Phase 5: Order the beats

Arrange the material into the chosen structure. Three things to attend to:

- **Sequence for emotional and logical flow.** The audience should always know why they're reading the next paragraph. Each beat earns the next.
- **Cut ruthlessly.** Most business narratives carry 30-50% material that doesn't serve the through-line. If a beat doesn't move the audience from where they were to where they need to be, it goes. Mark cuts as "park for later" rather than deleting outright - the user may reuse them elsewhere.
- **Place the turn.** The turn is usually mid-to-late, not upfront. Resist "executive summary" instinct that puts the conclusion first - that kills the narrative tension. Exception: read-alone formats for time-poor execs (memos, reports) often do need bottom-line-up-front; in that case, give a one-sentence headline then tell the story.

Show the user the proposed ordering. Pause via `AskUserQuestion` only if there are multiple genuinely plausible orderings - otherwise propose and let them react.

### Phase 6: Decide output mode

Before drafting anything, ask the user what level of help they want. Use `AskUserQuestion` with options like:

From sammcj/agentic-coding, Apache-2.0.

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