The Story Folder

Zach Kazanski ·
technicalnarrative

The story folder contains the brains and the core elements of the narrative for the entire novel. Anytime we tell Claude to run the writing or editing loop, we have it first reference and build context from the story folder.

The folder structure looks like this:

story/
├── story_idea.md
├── sequence.md
├── motifs.md
└── chapter_outline.md

The Story Summary

First, and most importantly, a summary of the story. This is effectively the pitch sheet that you would use to gather interest around your story: the elevator pitch. Who are the characters? What’s the central conflict? What’s the setting? What do you want the audience to experience and feel? What emotions are you trying to express? What is the whole purpose and point of your story?

Excerpt from story_idea.md:

Elevator Pitch: In 1801, as the Haitian Revolution rages, a disillusioned Polish soldier’s encounter with a Vodou priestess transforms his allegiance from Napoleon’s army to a fight for human dignity.

Logline: Haunted by the murder of his wife at the hands of ruthless invaders, a battle-hardened Polish soldier joins Napoleon’s expedition in Saint-Domingue, believing his service may help liberate his homeland. But as he encounters a fearless Vodou priestess—recognizing in her struggle the same fight for freedom he desires for Poland, while falling under her intoxicating spell—his loyalties begin to unravel, forcing him to choose between empire and conscience in the world’s first successful slave revolution.

The Sequence File

Second, there’s a sequence file. This follows Paul Gulino’s theory of sequences inside of dramatic movies and plays and outlines the three major acts of the novel as well as the sequences within them. It then breaks down each individual sequence into who the characters are, what their motivations are, and how they change in that chapter, effectively creating a mini story within each sequence. The sequence file is used to inform the AI of more specific details within the particular section of the book that they’re writing in order to maintain a strong overarching narrative while also making the current sequence/chapter that they’re working on compelling as well.

Excerpt from sequence.md:

Protagonist: Andrzej Zajączek (Polish soldier) Dramatic Question: “Will Andrzej maintain his faith in Napoleon’s promise when confronted with the reality of his mission?”

Dangling Causes to Plant:

  1. Wife’s locket - Andrzej clutches it repeatedly, memory of her murder (payoff: Sequence E)
  2. “For your freedom and ours” motto - Polish Legion slogan (payoff: throughout, final in Sequence H)
  3. Yellow fever rumors on ship (payoff: Sequence B, E when Leclerc dies)
  4. Erzulie’s scarred cheek - glimpse during raid (payoff: Sequence C when he learns story)

The Motifs File

Third, there is a motifs file which maintains a list of the recurring motifs that show up within the book, whether physical, emotional, sayings, phrases, et cetera. A great example is the locket or the Polish Legion’s motto. This file lays out their significance and when they should be referenced and used, with rough rules. You can think of this file as containing a list of Chekhov’s guns that need to show up and eventually go off within the story.

Excerpt from motifs.md:

  1. Wife’s locket (Poland/past) - Planted: Ch. 1, Paid off: Ch. 26 (buried, released)
  2. “For your freedom and ours” (motto) - Planted: Ch. 1, Paid off: Ch. 30 (transformed meaning)
  3. Gris-gris (Haiti/future) - Planted: Ch. 12, Paid off: Ch. 19 (deflects bullet), Ch. 26 (chosen over locket)
  4. Yellow fever (nature as ally) - Planted: Ch. 2, Paid off: Leclerc’s death, French defeat
  5. Drums/codes (communication, culture) - Planted: Ch. 3, Paid off: Ch. 18-19 (rescue signal)

The Chapter Outline

Fourth is a chapter outline file. This is effectively a checklist of chapters that contains a short excerpt of what happens, the point of view that it’s from, as well as a checkbox for the AI to mark off as it loops. Our current method is to use a repeating prompt in a Ralph loop and have it mark off each chapter as it completes it. See more in the authoring loop blog post.

Excerpt from chapter_outline.md:

Total Chapters: 47 | Word Count: ~83,750 | POV Breakdown: Andrzej (30), Erzulie (11), Napoleon (6)

# Title POV Summary
1 For Your Freedom and Ours Andrzej Polish soldiers in Italy refuse orders to serve a puppet king
2 The Locket Andrzej Embarkation at Livorno; fleet sails; the silver locket established
3 The Healer’s Daughter Erzulie Plantation life; mother protects her from master’s advances
4 Malaga Andrzej Fleet stops in Spain; destination revealed as Saint-Domingue
5 The Armada Napoleon Napoleon sends largest fleet since Egypt; 20,000 troops

We will add to this post as we add more items to the story folder. We will also make an individual experiment post whenever we do add new things to the story folder.

- Zach