◆ Fantasy Audiobook Studio
0story-seed1–5fantasy-novella2story-structure1, 4, 5fiction-workshop1, 4character-archetypes4prose-mechanics3, 4avoid-ai-writing6speech-flow7narration-prep8kokoro-narrate9listen-check10audiobook-assemble

Stage 1–5 · Writing · ours

fantasy-novella

The project manager and the main writer. It knows the order of the work, keeps each book's files tidy, and writes the chapters.

  1. 0Seed
  2. 1Story bible
  3. 2Structure
  4. 3Draft
  5. 4Edit
  6. 5Reader test
  7. 6Speech flow
  8. 7Narration prep
  9. 8Narrate
  10. 9Listen check
  11. 10Assemble & publish

When it runs

At the start of every session, and whenever a chapter is being planned or written.

What goes in

An idea, then the story bible and outline

What comes out

Chapter files (ch01.md …) plus notes on facts, names and progress

Who does the work

  • Claude plans, writes each chapter, keeps the notes up to date
  • Author decides the story, approves each stage

Step by step

  1. Check where the book is and say what comes next.
  2. Read the outline, the story bible and the notes for this chapter.
  3. Write one chapter in a voice that works when heard aloud.
  4. Log new facts and names so later chapters stay consistent.
  5. Stop and hand back to the author.

Example

Before

Chapter 8 is drafted, but did the cushion stay warm?

→
After

continuity.md: ch08 | That night the cushion is COLD for the first time in three years

Every chapter adds facts like this one, so later chapters and the final read-through can check them.

In this project

Every session starts here. It lists books/, reads the active book's status.md and reports the stage and the next step. It sizes the book (default 15k words), keeps the world small (one magic system, 2–4 places, 3–5 characters who matter) and drafts one chapter per turn: read outline, bible, continuity and glossary → write chNN.md within ±15 % of target → log new facts to continuity.md and names to glossary.md → run avoid-ai-writing in detect mode → update status.md → stop.

Its reference writing-for-the-ear.md is the checklist that makes these books work as audio: attribute dialogue often, keep sentences under ~30 words, never let italics carry meaning, re-orient the listener at every chapter start.

From the books

  • Flat layout, decided by the author. The first layout had bible/, manuscript/ and audio/script/ subfolders. The author said "there are too many book subfolders", so the rule became one folder per book, one audio/ folder inside it, nothing else.
  • Sizing. The One in the Chair came out at 13 short chapters of ~1,000–1,500 words (~7 min of audio each) instead of the default 6–8 long ones, because short chapters suit listening in short sessions.
  • Continuity log. Each chapter appended facts such as ch08 | That night the cushion is COLD for the first time in three years, so later chapters (and the reader test) could check them.
For the curious: the instructions Claude reads (SKILL.md)

Claude uses this skill when: Plan and draft a short fantasy novel / novella (10–20k words) destined for audiobook, from idea to finished manuscript. Use when the user wants to start a new book, write a fantasy story, build a fantasy world or magic system, outline or draft chapters, check progress, or asks 'what's next' on a book in books/. Orchestrates the vendored author-toolkit skills (fiction-workshop, story-structure, character-archetypes, prose-mechanics, avoid-ai-writing) and hands off to the audio pipeline.

Fantasy Novella

This is the hub skill for the whole pipeline. It owns the project layout, sizing, fantasy-specific worldbuilding and drafting. For editing it delegates to the vendored skills instead of repeating them.

Pipeline

# Stage Skill Output (books/<slug>/…)
0 Seed (idea → material) story-seed seed.md
1 Story bible this skill + fiction-workshop Stage 1 story-bible.md, glossary.md
2 Structure story-structure (Map mode) outline.md
3 Draft this skill chNN.md
4 Edit fiction-workshop personas → prose-mechanics → avoid-ai-writing revised chNN.md
5 Reader test fiction-workshop Stage 3 (fresh subagent) summary in status.md
6 Speech flow speech-flow (punctuation & phrasing for the ear) revised chNN.md
7 Audio prep narration-prep audio/chNN.txt
8 Narrate kokoro-narrate audio/chNN.wav
9 Listen check listen-check (automatic listener: Whisper vs script, pace, stress) audio/chNN.listen.json
10 Package audiobook-assemble audio/chNN.mp3, audio/<Title>.m4b

At session start: 1. List books/. 2. Read the active book's status.md and story-bible.md. 3. Report which stage the book is in and the next step.

At session end: update status.md with the stage, what was done and any open questions. That file replaces fiction-workshop's sessions/ notes for this project.

Respect the vendored skills' stopping points. Hand back to the author between stages; don't run straight from bible to finished draft unless asked.

Project layout

Decisions recorded in the bible (spelling variant, tone, rejected ideas) override this skill's generic advice. books/collection.md holds notes shared across the series (premises, house style); per-book facts go in that book's bible.

Keep it flat: one folder per book, one audio/ folder inside it, nothing else. Don't create extra subfolders.

books/collection.md    series premises + house style (British spelling, tone)
books/<slug>/
  status.md            stage, word count per chapter, open questions
  seed.md              Stage 0 ideation from story-seed: chosen premise, options, rejected, parked
  book.yaml            title/author/chapter titles + `narration:` voice settings
  story-bible.md       from fiction-workshop/assets/story-bible-template.md; magic system goes in a
                       "Magic" section (see references/fantasy-worldbuilding.md), not a separate file
  glossary.md          every invented word: | Term | Sounds like | Phonemes | Notes |
  continuity.md        append-only facts established in the draft (chNN | fact)
  outline.md
  ch01.md, ch02.md …   the manuscript, one file per chapter
  audio/               chNN.txt scripts, chNN.wav/.mp3, <Title>.m4b, auditions, hidden .cache/

Stage 1: Story bible (fantasy additions)

If the book has no seed.md and the author only has a one-line idea, run story-seed first. If seed.md exists, build the bible from its chosen material (Author said and the kept sections) and don't re-ask what it already answers. Never copy Suggestions not yet chosen or Parked into the bible.

Follow fiction-workshop's Stage 1 questions and template. In addition: - Load references/fantasy-worldbuilding.md and fill the bible's Magic section. - Start glossary.md as soon as the first name is invented. Ask the author how each name is pronounced ("sounds like" column) while the decision is fresh; narration-prep needs it later. - Keep the world small. A novella has room for one magic system, 2–4 named locations and 3–5 characters who matter. Push back on epic-scale worldbuilding the story won't use.

Stage 2: Sizing the outline

Target length: ask the author, default 15k words. Chapters of about 2,000–2,500 words (13–17 min of audio each) → 6–8 chapters. Then: - Run story-structure Map mode. Its beat percentages apply directly: in a 15k book the Inciting Event lands around 1,800 words (≈ ch1) and the Midpoint around 7,500 (≈ ch4). - Novella compression: one POV (two at most), one main subplot, and the Inciting Event in the first chapter. - outline.md gets one section per chapter with: target words, POV, goal / conflict / turn, the beat it carries, and the closing hook.

Stage 3: Drafting a chapter

For each chapter, in order. One chapter per turn unless the author asks for more. 1. Read outline.md (this chapter's section plus the next one), story-bible.md (style/voice notes), continuity.md and glossary.md. 2. Load references/writing-for-the-ear.md. These books are heard, not read. 3. Optional: use fiction-workshop's brainstorm → curate step for the chapter's key moments if the author wants to be involved. 4. Write chNN.md: an # Chapter N: Title heading, then prose. Stay within ±15% of the target word count (check with wc -w). 5. Append new facts to continuity.md (names, injuries, objects, who knows what, time of day or season) and new terms to glossary.md. Mark any missing pronunciations ? and ask the author. 6. Run avoid-ai-writing in detect mode on the chapter and fix the clear hits yourself. Also run python3 .claude/skills/speech-flow/scripts/scan.py on it: if it reports clipped-dialogue share or clipped exchange, rewrite the weakest clipped lines now (see writing-for-the-ear, Dialogue). Generated fiction drifts into AI-isms (tapestries, "a testament to", tidy triplets, every scene ending on a reflective one-liner). 7. Update status.md and stop. Report the word count, one line on what happened, and any questions.

Stage 4–5: Editing

Order matters (it comes from fiction-workshop): 1. developmental pass on the whole book 2. character consult and continuity audit 3. line edit 4. prose-mechanics audits 5. final avoid-ai-writing pass 6. a read-aloud pass using references/writing-for-the-ear.md as the checklist 7. reader test

Only then move to audio.

Other files in the skill

View the skill on GitHub →