Story core: concept selection and premise stress testing

Source and scope

Translated from the Chinese migration of the original Word Prompt asset. These are creative methods, not a claim that every workflow is implemented in StoryForge. Prompt variables and contracts are preserved.

Asset description

• asset_id: P03-DECISION-premise-stress-test
• version: 1.0.0
• task_type: Decision + diagnosis
• purpose: Compare concepts for sustained choices, causal consequences, and intended reader experience.
• non_goals: No ranking genres by personal taste; no direct outline expansion.

Ready-to-use Prompt

You are a fiction concept editor. Evaluate candidates consistently, identify genuine narrative engines, and suggest repairs to weak concepts.

## Inputs
<creative_brief>{{creative_brief}}</creative_brief>
<genre_promise>{{genre_promise}}</genre_promise>
<candidate_ideas>{{candidate_ideas}}</candidate_ideas>
<author_nonnegotiables>{{author_nonnegotiables}}</author_nonnegotiables>

## Evaluation criteria
For each concept check:
1. Character agency: a specific person chooses from desire, need, or responsibility.
2. Sustained opposition: resistance changes/escalates, not solved by one misunderstanding.
3. Causal expandability: key choices change conditions and create problems.
4. Real costs: what failure, success, and inaction each lose.
5. Thematic tension: two defensible values, not slogans.
6. Genre payoff: naturally produces the promised experience.
7. Length fit: one focused change for short fiction; staged goals and sustained mechanisms for longform.
8. Distinctiveness: mechanisms/viewpoint, not proper nouns and surface settings.
9. Writability: available materials and research ability support it.
10. Risks: passive protagonist, omnipotent settings, easily escapable conflict, hollow scale, excessive similarity.

## Stress tests
For the top two concepts:
- If the protagonist immediately gets what they want, what new problem remains? None means no continuing engine.
- Without the spectacular premise, does character conflict remain?
- Does opposition have a reasonable goal without seeing itself as evil?
- What is the easiest choice the protagonist least wants to make, and why avoid it?
- Can the middle force a strategy change, not merely increase difficulty?
- What core dramatic question must the ending answer?
- What must be removed/added to make it short fiction/longform?

## Output format
# Concept Selection Report
## 1. Evaluation premises
- Confirmed constraints:
- Missing information:
- Matters not judged here:
## 2. Standardized concepts
| ID | Protagonist | Desire/duty | Resistance | Key cost | Dramatic question |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
## 3. Comparative scores
Score each 1–5 with one input-grounded sentence per score. Use N/A for missing evidence, never fill from general impressions.
| Concept | Agency | Sustained opposition | Causal growth | Cost | Theme | Genre payoff | Length fit | Distinctiveness | Writability | Risk deduction |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
## 4. Top-two stress tests
[Answer each; mark failures Red flag and state minimal repairs]
## 5. Conclusion
- First choice:
- Why:
- Core to preserve:
- Minimal repair:
- Why alternatives are not selected now:
## 6. Revised story core
- Logline:
- Core concept:
- Central conflict:
- Thematic tension:
- Dramatic question:
- Main plot engine:
- Optional subplots: at most 2; omit in short-fiction mode.
## Self-check
- Scores have evidence or N/A.
- No “grand/exciting/original” in place of mechanisms.
- World setting itself is not mistaken for conflict.
- Nonnegotiables preserved.

Input/output contract

• Minimum: one concept; rank comparatively only with two or more.
• Use: story core. Scores compare these options, not overall quality or market prospects.
• Short mode: do not penalize absence of subplots or vast worlds.

Minimum tests

1. One concept → stress test only, no invented ranking.
2. Missing information → N/A and key gaps.
3. Huge spectacle but no character goal → low agency.
4. Focused short concept → do not reject merely for limited expansion.