Individual skill
theme-craft
This skill should be used when the user asks about "theme", "controlling idea", "thematic argument", "moral argument", "thematic arc", "flat arc", "negative arc", "the lie", "antagonist design", "motif", "symbolism", "theme audit", or wants to plan, track, or revise the thematic layer of a story, including the lie, truth, ghost-wound, and arc-type fields of a character file. NOT for finding or testing a story premise (use premise-workshop), or a character's profile, relationships, or "character arc" record (use character-management).
plugins/danjdewhurst/story-skills/skills/theme-craft/SKILL.md
Source commit d780783eba4ecc7c8b9429f95c9362df95f07c61
What was checked
- Matches the observed repository HEAD
- Yes
- Scanner rules are current
- Yes
- Repository scan complete
- No
- Skill scan complete
- No
- Observed behavior
- Network or broad shell
- Last checked
- Nov 4, 2026
These are observations at the recorded commit, not a guarantee of safety. Review the source before running it.
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Repository context
- Repository stars (not skill ratings)
- 1,532
- Repository last updated
- Nov 6, 2026
- License
- Apache-2.0
Observed agent integration: No specific integration evidence. Standard SKILL.md installation does not imply verified compatibility.
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SKILL.mdcore · 7,495 bytesSKILL.mdcore · 7,495 bytesreferences/antagonist-design.mddoc · 3,266 bytesreferences/controlling-idea.mddoc · 3,379 bytesreferences/lie-truth.mddoc · 3,859 bytesreferences/motif-symbolism.mddoc · 2,809 bytesreferences/theme-audit.mddoc · 3,524 bytes
Read excerpt
# Theme Craft
## Overview
Plan and audit theme as a working mechanism, not decoration. Covers the
controlling idea (value + cause, in McKee's sense), the lie/truth machinery
and the three canonical arc types, antagonist design as the embodied
counter-argument, motif tracking, and a revision-time theme audit. Use at
story start (working premise), during character design (lie/truth/arc-type),
and after a complete draft (theme audit).
## Prerequisites
A story project must already exist (created via the story-init skill).