story-init

Story Initialization

Overview

Initialize a new story project with a structured markdown folder layout. Creates the story bible, registries, scene tracking, continuity state, glossary, worldbuilding folders, plot structure, and chapter tracker - all as cross-referenced markdown files with YAML frontmatter.

When to Use

• Starting a new story, book, or fiction project
• Setting up the folder structure for an existing story idea
• NOT for adding to an existing story project (use the domain-specific skills instead)
• NOT for converting an existing manuscript or chapter drafts: run story import <source> --title "{Title}" instead, then build out the bible from the entity candidates it prints

Workflow

1. Ask for basic story information:
   • Title
   • Genre and sub-genre
   • Brief synopsis (2-3 sentences)
   • Setting era/time period
   • Key themes (2-4)
   • POV style (first-person, third-person-limited, third-person-omniscient)
   • Tense (past, present)

If the Story CLI is available, prefer using it to create the starter project, then inspect and refine the generated files as needed:

story init "{Title}" --genre "{genre}" --sub-genre "{sub-genre}" --setting-era "{era}" --pov "{pov-style}" --tense "{tense}" --synopsis "{synopsis}" --theme "{theme-1}" --theme "{theme-2}"

If story is not installed, use the bundled maintenance fallback when available, resolving the script path relative to the story-maintenance skill:

node ../story-maintenance/scripts/story.js init "{Title}"

If neither command is available, create the files manually using the steps below.

1. Create the folder structure at the current working directory:

{story-title-kebab}/
├── story.md
├── characters/
│   └── _index.md
├── worldbuilding/
│   ├── _index.md
│   ├── locations/
│   ├── systems/
│   ├── factions/
│   └── artifacts/
├── plot/
│   ├── _index.md
│   ├── arcs/
│   └── timeline.md
├── scenes/
│   └── _index.md
├── continuity/
│   ├── state.md
│   ├── questions/
│   │   └── _index.md
│   └── promises/
│       └── _index.md
├── glossary/
│   ├── _index.md
│   └── terms/
└── chapters/
    └── _index.md