cw-story-critique
Creative writing skill for analyzing and critiquing story content. Use when the user requests feedback, critique, or analysis of their writing. Provides balanced feedback calibrated to intended audience.
When & Why to Use This Skill
The Story Critique skill is a specialized creative writing assistant designed to provide deep, context-aware analysis of narrative content. It evaluates essential story elements—including plot structure, character consistency, pacing, and prose quality—delivering calibrated feedback based on the author's specific goals, target audience, and draft stage to help refine manuscripts for publication.
Use Cases
- Developmental Editing: Identify high-level structural issues, plot holes, and character agency problems in early-stage drafts to strengthen the narrative foundation.
- Genre & Audience Alignment: Utilize web-enhanced research to ensure story beats and tone align with specific genre conventions (e.g., Thriller, YA, or Literary) and platform requirements.
- Prose & Dialogue Refinement: Receive line-level feedback on prose quality and dialogue authenticity to improve the overall reading experience and voice consistency.
- Objective Manuscript Review: Get unbiased 'balanced' or 'harsh' critiques tailored to the current draft stage, helping authors prioritize revisions before submission.
| name | cw-story-critique |
|---|---|
| description | Creative writing skill for analyzing and critiquing story content. Use when the user requests feedback, critique, or analysis of their writing. Provides balanced feedback calibrated to intended audience. |
Story Critique
Analyze story content and provide constructive feedback.
Process
1. Understand Context First
Always ask about audience and goals before critiquing:
Before I critique this, help me understand:
1. Target audience? (YA, adult, genre, platform)
2. What feedback are you looking for? (big picture, line-level, both, harsh-only)
3. Draft stage? (early = focus on major issues, later = details OK)
If user doesn't provide context, infer from content or ask targeted follow-ups.
2. Adapt Structure to Story Needs
Don't force rigid templates. Each story needs different things:
- Sometimes extensive character analysis, minimal plot discussion
- Sometimes pacing is the main issue and everything else works
- Sometimes prose quality overshadows other concerns
Common areas to consider (not mandatory):
- Plot & structure (causation, stakes, logic)
- Character (motivation, consistency, agency)
- Pacing & flow
- Dialogue
- Prose quality
- Genre/audience fit
See references/critique-areas.md for detailed breakdowns - this is a reference, not a checklist.
3. Trust Your Analysis
Notice what matters, not just what's listed. If something affects the story but isn't in any reference guide, say it:
- Unusual structural choices
- Tonal issues
- Thematic confusion
- Unique voice elements
- Anything else relevant
4. Use Web Search When Helpful
Search when you'd benefit from:
- Genre convention verification
- Narrative technique terminology
- How similar stories handled challenges
- Fact checking
- Craft advice on specific techniques
5. Calibrate to Context
- Early draft → big picture issues
- Later draft → line-level details OK
- Genre matters (thriller vs literary, fanfic vs traditional)
- Platform matters (web serial needs hooks, traditional needs opening, fanfic needs canon adherence)
Output Modes
Balanced (default): Strengths + areas for improvement + priorities
Harsh (if requested): Focus on problems, minimize or skip strengths section
Flexible: Whatever structure serves this story best
Skills are Composable
Feel free to combine with other skills when helpful - e.g., using cw-official-docs to check canon accuracy during critique.