Theme, controlling idea, premise, moral argument

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). Character files (character-management) and a plot structure (plot-structure) should exist or be in progress.

Workflow

1. Draft the working premise. Read story.md for genre and themes. Consult references/controlling-idea.md and write a one-sentence premise (value + cause) and counter-premise. Store them in story.md frontmatter:

   premise: "{Value} triumphs because {cause}."
   counter-premise: "{Opposing value} triumphs because {opposing cause}."
   

   If the user prefers discovering theme in the draft, record premise: tbd-discovery and skip to step 3.

2. Build the lie/truth machinery. For the protagonist and antagonist (and any significant supporting character whose arc touches the theme), consult references/lie-truth.md and add to their character files:

   arc-type is one of change-positive, change-negative, or flat. Do not put that list in an inline comment. The frontmatter parser keeps the comment as part of the value.

   arc-type: change-positive
   lie: "{The false belief}"
   truth: "{The belief that resolves it}"
   ghost-wound: "{The specific backstory event that planted the lie}"
   

   Check the character's turning points against the arc-type guidance: flat arcs need escalating tests of steadfastness, not growth beats; negative arcs need the truth visibly refused.

3. Design the antagonist as the counter-argument. Consult references/antagonist-design.md: give the antagonist an edge, a defensible belief in the counter-premise, a want/wound/plan, and scenes they win. When the opposition is institutional, personify it.

4. Plant motifs. Consult references/motif-symbolism.md; choose two or three concrete motifs, plant them literally, and track plantings, variations, and ending resonance in the motif ledger.

5. Use the premise while drafting. When a scene decision is unclear, ask which choice engages the value continuum and costs the protagonist something. Feed the lie into scene sequels (see the scene-craft skill): the sequel is where the lie gets examined.

6. Run the theme audit in revision. After a complete draft, consult references/theme-audit.md: trace the value through the draft, check the ending against the opening's value-question, verify theme is dramatized through consequence not commentary, and confirm motifs are paid off. Record findings in continuity/theme-audit.md with a theme-holds / theme-broken verdict. Hand structural findings to the revision-continuity skill as a developmental revision plan.

Conventions

• premise: / counter-premise: live in story.md frontmatter and are the single source of truth for the story's theme; plot/_index.md theme tracking maps themes to arcs and chapters as before.
• Character arc-type values are kebab-case from the fixed set (change-positive, change-negative, flat); lie, truth, and ghost-wound are one-line strings.
• Motif ids are kebab-case and tracked in the motif ledger with planned / planted / paid-off status.
• Theme is dramatized through choices and consequences. Never add a character speech, narration summary, or mentor lecture explaining the theme to satisfy an audit finding — rework the choices instead.

CLI Maintenance

Use the Story CLI when it is available. If story is not installed, use bun run story -- from the Story Skills repository checkout or the bundled fallback node ../story-maintenance/scripts/story.js with the same arguments, resolving the path relative to this skill folder. If no CLI is available, perform the registry, backlink, and word-count checks manually.

After adding or changing premise fields, character arc fields, or the theme audit:

story reindex .
story links .
story validate .

The motif ledger (continuity/motifs.md or the motif table in an arc file) and continuity/theme-audit.md are prose revision notes: the CLI does not scan, validate, link-check, or reindex them. Audit motif payoff and the theme verdict manually per references/theme-audit.md.

Reference Files

• references/controlling-idea.md - The controlling idea as value + cause (McKee), counter-premise, working-premise workflow
• references/lie-truth.md - Lie, truth, ghost wound, and the three arc types (change-positive, change-negative, flat)
• references/antagonist-design.md - Worthy opponent, antagonist as counter-argument, plan-the-antagonist-as-protagonist, personified institutions
• references/motif-symbolism.md - Plant-and-vary, object-symbol resonance with the ending, motif ledger
• references/theme-audit.md - Revision audit: ending vs. opening value-question, consequence vs. commentary, motif payoff