Key Moments

Key Moments by Elemental Genre

Wonder

Mystery

Adventure

Horror

Thriller

Relationship

Drama

Issue

Ensemble

Implementation Process

Phase 1: Key Moment Identification and Sequencing

Step 1: Determine Primary and Secondary Genres

• Identify the core emotional experiences you want readers to have
• Select corresponding primary and secondary elemental genres

Step 2: Select Critical Key Moments

• Choose 3-5 essential moments from the primary genre
• Add 2-3 supporting moments from the secondary genre
• Ensure moments create emotional variety and progression

Step 3: Sequence Moments Optimally

• Arrange chronologically as a starting point
• Consider emotional pacing and tension curves
• Allow for non-linear presentation if appropriate

Step 4: Visualize Each Moment

• Create concrete scene concepts for each key moment
• Focus on sensory details and emotional impact
• Define how each moment changes character or world understanding

Phase 2: World Integration

Step 1: Determine Required World Elements

• What must exist in the world for each key moment to occur?
• What causal relationships connect world systems to key moments?
• What consequences do key moments create in the world?

Step 2: Design Supporting Systems

• Power structures that enable or oppose key moments
• Organizations with stakes in key moment outcomes
• Economic and belief systems creating appropriate pressures

Phase 3: Character Function

Step 1: Identify Required Character Functions

• What roles must be filled for each key moment?
• Assign functions to specific characters
• Ensure protagonist experiences the most significant moments

Step 2: Create Character Arcs

• Design development paths intersecting with key moments
• Ensure character growth enables progression through moments
• Create change arcs that pay off in specific key moments

Phase 4: Connective Tissue

Step 1: Identify Bridging Requirements

• What must happen between key moments?
• What character and world state changes are needed?
• What time, distance, and knowledge gaps need filling?

Step 2: Design Multifunctional Bridge Scenes

• Create connective scenes serving multiple purposes
• Advance character development while moving toward key moments
• Reveal world information relevant to upcoming moments

Step 3: Install Setup-Payoff Mechanics

• Plant necessary elements for later key moments
• Create foreshadowing enhancing later emotional impact
• Establish rules or limitations significant later

Phase 5: Testing and Refinement

Evaluate Emotional Progression:

• Do key moments create intended emotional journey?
• Are there gaps or redundancies in emotional experience?
• Should moment intensity or sequence be adjusted?

Verify Causal Logic:

• Does each key moment follow logically from preceding elements?
• Do character decisions leading to moments make sense?
• Do world systems create appropriate conditions for moments?

Test for Genre Satisfaction:

• Are primary genre emotional experiences most prominent?
• Does secondary genre support rather than overshadow primary?
• Are genre-specific satisfaction conditions met?

Worked Example: Wonder + Mystery

Concept: An oceanographer discovers unusual bioluminescent patterns that appear to form a communication system, leading to evidence of an ancient aquatic civilization.

Wonder Key Moments (Primary):

1. Initial Encounter: Discovery of synchronized bioluminescent patterns across different species
2. Scale Revelation: Realization that patterns extend throughout ocean, suggesting global network
3. Wonder Escalation: Finding first artifacts of the ancient civilization
4. Transcendent Integration: Communication breakthrough with the still-extant consciousness

Mystery Key Moments (Secondary):

1. Question Inception: Why did this civilization disappear from human awareness?
2. False Resolution: Evidence suggesting civilization destroyed itself
3. Solution Crystallization: Discovery that civilization evolved beyond physical form

Character Functions:

• Wonder Experiencer: Oceanographer protagonist with personal connection to the ocean
• Mystery Solver: Research partner with cryptographic expertise
• Opposition Force: Government/corporate agent wanting to weaponize discovery
• Wonder Skeptic: Scientific community representative demanding proof
• Knowledge Keeper: Elderly mentor with folklore knowledge hinting at ancient truth

Connective Tissue:

• Research funding challenges forcing creative approaches
• Relationship development between protagonist and research partner
• Escalating interest from outside forces as discoveries become harder to hide
• Progressive decoding providing partial clues

Advantages

1. Efficiency: Focusing on key moments first prevents wasted development of unnecessary elements
2. Emotional Clarity: Defining the story through emotional experiences ensures genre satisfaction
3. Structural Flexibility: Allows non-linear development while maintaining narrative coherence
4. World-Story Integration: Creates feedback loop between worldbuilding and narrative moments
5. Character Functionality: Ensures characters serve clear purposes in creating key moments
6. Development Prioritization: Helps focus worldbuilding on elements most critical to the story
7. Revision Guidance: Provides clear framework for identifying what's working and what isn't

Output Persistence

Output Discovery

1. Check for context/output-config.md in the project
2. If found, look for this skill's entry
3. If not found, ask user: "Where should I save key moment designs?"
4. Suggest: stories/structure/ or explorations/stories/

Primary Output

• Genre selection - Primary and secondary elemental genres
• Key moments list - 5-8 essential emotional beats
• Character functions - Roles needed for each moment
• Connective tissue - Bridge scenes between moments

File Naming

Pattern: {story-name}-moments-{date}.md

Verification (Oracle)

What This Skill Can Verify

• Genre alignment - Do moments match primary genre? (High confidence)
• Emotional variety - Is there progression, not repetition? (High confidence)
• Causal logic - Do moments follow from character/world? (Medium confidence)

What Requires Human Judgment

• Emotional impact - Will these moments land?
• Bridge efficiency - Are connective scenes serving multiple purposes?
• Genre satisfaction - Does overall sequence fulfill genre promise?

Oracle Limitations

• Cannot assess whether moments will emotionally resonate
• Cannot predict reader engagement with specific beats

Feedback Loop

Session Persistence

• Output location: See context/output-config.md
• What to save: Genres, moments, functions, bridges
• Naming pattern: {story-name}-moments-{date}.md

Cross-Session Learning

• Check for prior key moment work on this story
• Ensure moments maintain consistency with changes
• Failed emotional beats inform anti-patterns

Design Constraints

This Skill Assumes

• Story has genre (emotional experience goal)
• Moments can be identified (not pure slice-of-life)
• Writer wants emotional structure, not just plot

This Skill Does Not Handle

• Genre identification - Route to: genre-conventions
• Scene-level pacing - Route to: scene-sequencing
• Character arc details - Route to: character-arc

Degradation Signals

• Plot-first injection (emotion retrofit)
• Genre mismatch (wrong emotional beats)
• Moment inflation (everything climactic)

Reasoning Requirements

Standard Reasoning

• Single genre moment selection
• Basic character function assignment
• Simple bridge identification

Extended Reasoning (ultrathink)

• Full moment sequence - [Why: all moments must create emotional journey]
• Multi-genre integration - [Why: primary/secondary must balance]
• World-moment coordination - [Why: world must enable moments naturally]

Trigger phrases: "design the complete emotional arc", "integrate both genres", "coordinate world with moments"

Execution Strategy

Sequential (Default)

• Genre selection before moment identification
• Moments before character functions
• Functions before connective tissue

Parallelizable

• Designing moments for different genres
• Research into different emotional progressions

Subagent Candidates

Context Management

Approximate Token Footprint

• Skill base: ~4k tokens (genres + implementation)
• With worked example: ~5k tokens
• With all genres: ~6k tokens

Context Optimization

• Focus on primary genre moments only
• Full genre tables are reference
• Worked example optional

When Context Gets Tight

• Prioritize: Primary genre moments, current phase
• Defer: Secondary genre details, all genre tables
• Drop: Worked example, advantages list

Anti-Patterns

1. Plot-First Injection

Pattern: Building the plot outline first, then trying to locate where to insert emotional beats. Why it fails: Emotion retrofitted to plot feels mechanical. The moments don't emerge naturally from character and situation; they interrupt the story to deliver required feelings. Fix: Start with the emotional experiences you want readers to have. Build backward: what situations create those emotions? What characters would be in those situations? What world enables those situations?

2. Genre Mismatch

Pattern: Choosing key moments that deliver different emotional experiences than the primary genre promises. Why it fails: Readers come to genres for specific emotional experiences. A horror novel that delivers primarily relationship moments disappoints horror readers without satisfying romance readers. Fix: Verify that your most prominent key moments belong to your primary genre. Secondary genre moments support; they don't dominate. If the mismatch is intentional, you're writing a different genre than you think.

3. Logistics-Only Bridges

Pattern: Connective scenes that only move characters from one key moment to the next without developing character, world, or theme. Why it fails: Readers feel the pacing sag in bridge sections. They're just waiting for the next interesting thing. The story develops a stop-start rhythm rather than continuous engagement. Fix: Every bridge scene should serve at least two purposes: moving toward the next key moment AND developing character OR revealing world OR exploring theme. If a scene only serves logistics, compress or cut it.

4. Moment Inflation

Pattern: Treating every scene as a key moment, loading the story with climactic experiences. Why it fails: Without contrast, high-intensity moments lose impact. Emotional fatigue sets in. Readers become numb when everything is equally important. Fix: Limit key moments to 5-8 per story. Let some scenes be quieter. The valleys make the peaks feel taller. Save your strongest moments for where they'll have maximum impact.

5. Forced Causation

Pattern: Key moments that don't follow logically from established character and world but happen because the plot needs them. Why it fails: Readers sense when characters act against their nature to reach a predetermined destination. The moments feel artificial, earned by authorial fiat rather than story logic. Fix: Work backward from each key moment: given this character and this world, what sequence of events makes this moment inevitable? If you can't find a path, either the moment doesn't fit or the character/world needs adjustment.

Integration

Inbound (feeds into this skill)

Outbound (this skill enables)

Complementary