sethshoultes/authors-journal

/authors-journal

Capture a session journal entry.

When to use

• At the end of a writing session, to lock in what happened before context rots.
• When you made a meaningful decision (character backstory changed, timeline shifted, scene reordered) and want future author personas to know.
• When you're stopping mid-chapter and want to remember where you left off.

Not for: daily life journaling. This is a project bible artifact, not a personal diary.

Instructions for Claude

When this skill is invoked:

1. Verify .great-authors/ exists in the current working directory. If not, tell the user to run /authors-project-init first and stop.

2. Ensure .great-authors/journal/ exists. Create it if missing (mkdir -p). If the user's bible predates journal support, this is the first-use case.

3. Determine today's date. Use the format YYYY-MM-DD (local time).

4. Check for an existing entry at .great-authors/journal/YYYY-MM-DD.md. If it exists, ask: "A journal entry already exists for today. Append to it, or start a new section? (append/new/cancel)" — default append. If cancel, exit.

5. Interview the user with seven questions, one at a time. The structured fields support /authors-consolidate, which scans journal entries for repeated decisions and offers to promote them to the permanent bible.

   a. Worked on — which chapter, scene, or section did you work on today? One line. b. Decisions made — list any choices that affect the project going forward (character detail confirmed, timeline shifted, scene cut or moved, voice rule adjusted). Up to 3-5 bullets. "None" is a valid answer. c. Characters introduced — any new on-page characters today, or significant new detail about an existing character? Up to 3 bullets. "None" is valid. d. Plants laid — any audience-vs-character knowledge plants this session (foreshadowing, withheld information, a detail the audience now knows that the protagonist does not)? Up to 3 bullets. "None" is valid. e. Plants paid off — any earlier plants that paid off in today's work? Up to 3 bullets. "None" is valid. f. Continuity flags — anything you noticed that may contradict the bible or earlier chapters and that you want a future continuity pass to look at? Up to 3 bullets. "None" is valid. g. Unresolved — what's in flux? Questions you haven't answered, threads you haven't followed, character motivations you're still deciding. Up to 3 bullets. h. Where you left off — one sentence. Literal — what's the very next thing to work on when you return.

6. Write the entry. Format:

   # YYYY-MM-DD
   
   ## Worked on
   <answer from question a>
   
   ## Decisions made
   - <bullet>
   - <bullet>
   <...or "None."...>
   
   ## Characters introduced
   - <bullet>
   <...or "None."...>
   
   ## Plants laid
   - <bullet>
   <...or "None."...>
   
   ## Plants paid off
   - <bullet>
   <...or "None."...>
   
   ## Continuity flags
   - <bullet>
   <...or "None."...>
   
   ## Unresolved
   - <bullet>
   <...or "Nothing new today."...>
   
   ## Next session
   <answer from question h>
   

7. If appending, add a new section ## Session N (increment from existing session count) above the standard sections, or re-open the most recent session's content for append. Default to adding a new ## Session 2 style header so each session remains distinct.

8. Confirm:

   Wrote .great-authors/journal/YYYY-MM-DD.md
   
   Next session: <the "where you left off" line>
   
   When you resume, any author persona you invoke will read this entry first to reorient.
   

Notes

• Keep entries short. A journal entry that requires 20 minutes to write will never get written. The seven structured questions can be answered in 5 minutes if the user is brisk.
• If the user pastes a long narrative answer, keep the spirit but trim to a sentence per field.
• Do not editorialize. Record what the user says, not what you think they should have decided.
• Journal entries are read by personas via the ## Before you edit protocol. Be concise — personas only read the most recent entry.
• The structured fields (Plants laid / Plants paid off / Continuity flags) feed /authors-consolidate, which periodically scans journals for recurring decisions and offers to promote them to the permanent bible. Free-form journal entries don't support consolidation as well; the structure is what makes the long-arc accounting tractable.