---
name: writer-craft
description: "Manuscript review and writing craft tools grounded in neuroscience-based story theory, professional editing practice, and prose technique. 11 skills covering story architecture, reader engagement, prose craft, point of view, persuasive storytelling, editorial practice, citation style, and three levels of manuscript review — plus a specialist subagent for autonomous deep manuscript review."
icon: ✍️
tools: []
always: false
metadata: {"platform":{"optional":true,"pluginKey":"writer-craft","embed":["admin"]}}
---

# Writer Craft

11 specialist skills for writers, editors, and anyone working with narrative. Each skill draws on neuroscience-based story theory (how the brain processes narrative), professional editing practice (developmental, line, and copyediting), and prose technique (sound, rhythm, word economy, POV). One specialist subagent performs autonomous deep manuscript review.

## When to Activate

The user is:
- Writing fiction or nonfiction and wants craft-level guidance
- Reviewing or editing a manuscript, chapter, scene, or passage
- Building a story from scratch using blueprinting methodology
- Working on persuasive writing, speeches, or advocacy storytelling
- Formatting citations and references in Chicago author-date style
- Seeking feedback on prose quality, POV consistency, or reader engagement

## Skills

### Story & Structure

| Skill | Purpose |
|-------|---------|
| `story-architecture` | Build and analyze internal story architecture: misbelief, desire, third rail, worldview, origin scenes, scene cards |
| `story-blueprint` | Walk a writer interactively through building a story from the inside out using the Story Genius blueprinting method |
| `reader-engagement` | Analyze and teach reader engagement: hooking from page one, urgency, cause-and-effect, setup-payoff, conflict escalation |

### Prose & Voice

| Skill | Purpose |
|-------|---------|
| `prose-craft` | Review and teach prose technique: sound and rhythm, sentence variety, punctuation, repetition, word economy, crowding and leaping |
| `point-of-view` | Guide point of view, narrative voice, tense, person, and indirect narration |
| `persuasive-storytelling` | Guide persuasive storytelling for nonfiction, speeches, marketing, and advocacy |

### Editing & Reference

| Skill | Purpose |
|-------|---------|
| `editorial-practice` | Guide professional editing methods: developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, self-editing, genre-specific considerations |
| `citation-style` | Guide Chicago author-date citation and reference formatting per the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) |

### Review

| Skill | Purpose |
|-------|---------|
| `review-manuscript` | Comprehensive multi-level review covering story architecture, reader engagement, prose craft, and editorial quality |
| `review-scene` | Deep analysis of a single scene against scene card criteria, engagement principles, and prose craft standards |
| `review-prose` | Prose-level review analyzing sound, rhythm, sentence variety, POV consistency, word economy, and crowding/leaping balance |

## Specialist Agent

| Agent | Purpose |
|-------|---------|
| `writer-craft--manuscript-reviewer` | Autonomous deep manuscript reviewer — reads a full manuscript or chapter and produces a structured report with inline observations and summary |

The manuscript-reviewer agent operates in its own context window with file tools (Read, Glob, Grep, Write), allowing it to work through full manuscripts autonomously. Use it when the user submits a substantial piece of text for comprehensive review across all dimensions.

## Tools Used

No MCP server. Skills operate via existing platform tools:
- `memory-search` — retrieve writing-related content from the knowledge base
- `render-component` — present structured choices during interactions

## References

Domain knowledge files loaded on demand by each skill. See individual skill files for their specific reference listings.

| Skill | References |
|-------|-----------|
| `story-architecture` | `misbelief-desire-worldview.md`, `blueprinting-and-scene-cards.md`, `origin-scenes-and-escalation.md`, `inner-issue-and-protagonist-goal.md` |
| `story-blueprint` | `blueprinting-process.md`, `blueprinting-exercises.md` |
| `prose-craft` | `sound-and-rhythm.md`, `word-economy.md`, `punctuation-and-grammar.md`, `repetition.md` |
| `point-of-view` | `pov-types-and-voice.md`, `tense-and-person.md`, `indirect-narration.md`, `protagonist-filter.md` |
| `reader-engagement` | `hooking-readers.md`, `cause-effect-setup-payoff.md`, `conflict-escalation.md`, `neurochemistry-of-engagement.md` |
| `persuasive-storytelling` | `audience-analysis.md`, `transformation-framework.md`, `crafting-persuasive-story.md`, `persuasion-case-studies.md` |
| `editorial-practice` | `developmental-editing.md`, `line-editing.md`, `copyediting.md`, `genre-specific-editing.md`, `self-editing.md` |
| `citation-style` | `citation-rules.md`, `reference-list-rules.md`, `journal-article-models.md`, `book-and-chapter-models.md`, `other-source-models.md` |
| `review-manuscript` | `review-manuscript-checklist.md` |
| `review-scene` | `scene-analysis-framework.md` |
| `review-prose` | `prose-review-checklist.md` |
