StoryForge - AI Book Writing
StoryForge, a Claude Code plugin for AI-assisted book writing: 61 skills, fiction and memoir, author profiles with anti-AI prose checks, 16 genres, three writing modes, series, EPUB/PDF/MOBI export.
StoryForge - AI Book Writing
GitHub: markus-michalski/storyforge · License: PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0
This documentation describes the current state of the plugin. Changes per version are listed in the project's CHANGELOG.
Overview
StoryForge is a Claude Code plugin for AI-assisted book writing. It is not a general writing assistant but a structured workflow with author profiles, quality checks and a prose check that keeps finished text from sounding like AI.
Who it is for:
- Authors who want to use AI as a tool without giving up their style
- People with a story or a draft who need structure
- Memoir writers who want to publish real experiences without defamation risk
What StoryForge is not:
- not an auto-writer that delivers books at the push of a button
- not a replacement for human beta readers or editors
- not a tool for non-fiction, how-to guides or journalism. The plugin is built for narrative writing (fiction and memoir).
What StoryForge does differently
| Area | Without the plugin | With StoryForge |
|---|---|---|
| Author voice | lost after the first prompt | author profile is loaded for every chapter, a hook checks every change to the draft |
| Plot consistency | relies on the model's memory | timeline, travel matrix, canon facts and promises register |
| Plot holes | not detected | analyze_plot_logic plus checkpoints in the reviewer |
| Genres | generic | 16 genre definitions with conventions, tropes and expected beats |
| Memoir | not provided for | its own book category with consent tracking and defamation checks |
| Checking | none | chapter review with 33 points, manuscript checker, continuity checker, humanizer |
| Writing mode | none | outliner, plantser, discovery |
| Author learning | none | discoveries move from book to author and are enforced in the next book; your corrections during review rounds also flow into the profile as style principles |
Rules instead of wishes
Validation lives not only in the skill prompt but in the hook. The hook runs after every write to a chapter draft.md. When it finds a blocker, it exits with code 2 and feeds the findings back to the model, which has to fix them before it continues. On top of that come structured data briefs: instead of long read lists, an MCP tool returns one JSON with all the data the model needs for a chapter.
Simile discipline
Similes and metaphors are counted and checked for repetition across chapters. The chapter writing brief carries the simile count per chapter.
Main features
Author profiles with a voice system
Each author has a directory ~/.storyforge/authors/{slug}/ with profile.md (tone, perspective, tense, style), vocabulary.md, studied-works/ and examples/. Banned phrases (don'ts), recurring tics and style principles ("writing discoveries") live in the database. The prose hook enforces the don'ts and the recurring tics. chapter-writer reads the style principles, and chapter-reviewer and author-check check them. The hook does not scan them.
With /storyforge:study-author you analyse your own or other works (PDF, EPUB, DOCX, TXT) and transfer the style into the profile. With /storyforge:harvest-author-rules you move findings of a finished book into the profile. With /storyforge:chapter-voice-harvest StoryForge learns from your corrections during the review rounds and moves confirmed patterns into the profile as style principles. More: Author profiles.
16 genres with mixing
| Type | Genres |
|---|---|
| Base (13) | Horror, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Mystery, Romance, Drama, Literary Fiction, Historical, Contemporary, Supernatural, Kinderbuch, Märchen |
| Cross-cutting (1) | LGBTQ, combined with any other genre |
| Mixes (2) | Dark Fantasy, Paranormal Romance |
A book combines one to three genres. You create your own genres and mixes with /storyforge:genre-creator. More: Genre system.
Three writing modes
| Mode | For whom | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Outliner | planners | complete plot before the first chapter |
| Plantser | hybrid | slim outline, then scene-by-scene planning with rolling-planner |
| Discovery | discovery writers | scene by scene without an outline, continuity is checked afterwards |
All modes use the same checks. More: Writing Modes.
Plot structures
plot-architect offers nine structures: 3-Act, Hero's Journey, Save the Cat, 5-Act (Freytag), Fichtean Curve, Story Circle, Seven-Point, Kishōtenketsu and Snowflake.
Memoir
book_category: memoir is a second book category next to fiction. It brings four structure types (chronological, thematic, braided, vignette), real people under people/ with consent status, its own skill variants (-memoir) and an ethics check before export. More: Memoir support.
Series
Series live under series/{series}/{book}/. With harvest-character-evolution you record the end state of recurring characters, new-book --copy-recurring-from= copies them into the next book, and bootstrap-book-from-series prepares them. The data flows into the next volume's chapter writing brief. Example: Series workflow.
Quality checks
A hook on every write, chapter reviewer (33 points, chapter 1 with an additional 13 opening points), chapter voice harvest, humanizer, proofreader, voice checker, manuscript checker, continuity checker and plot logic. Details: Quality System.
Knowledge base
The plugin ships craft references: 33 general craft documents under reference/craft/ (structure, plot, characters, pacing, dialogue, POV, tension, anti-AI patterns and more), 9 genre-specific guides under reference/genre/, 6 memoir documents and five vocabulary lists for the POV check.
Quick start
claude plugin add storyforge
/storyforge:setup
/storyforge:create-author My Name
/storyforge:new-book
/storyforge:help
Requirements and details: Installation.
Fiction
1. /storyforge:create-author My Name
2. /storyforge:new-book
3. /storyforge:book-conceptualizer my-book
4. /storyforge:plot-architect my-book
5. /storyforge:character-creator my-book
6. /storyforge:world-builder my-book
7. /storyforge:chapter-writer my-book 1
8. /storyforge:chapter-reviewer my-book 01-chapter
9. /storyforge:chapter-humanizer my-book 01-chapter
10. /storyforge:chapter-proofreader my-book 01-chapter
11. /storyforge:manuscript-checker my-book
12. /storyforge:export-engineer my-book epub
Optionally call /storyforge:chapter-voice-harvest my-book 01-chapter after the review, before the humanizer; if nothing is logged, it finishes with a single line.
Memoir
1. /storyforge:create-author My Name
2. /storyforge:new-book (choose category memoir)
3. /storyforge:book-conceptualizer my-memoir
4. /storyforge:plot-architect-memoir my-memoir
5. /storyforge:character-creator-memoir my-memoir
6. /storyforge:chapter-writer-memoir my-memoir 1
7. /storyforge:emotional-truth-prompt my-memoir 01-chapter
8. /storyforge:chapter-reviewer-memoir my-memoir 01-chapter
9. /storyforge:manuscript-checker-memoir my-memoir
10. /storyforge:memoir-ethics-checker my-memoir
11. /storyforge:export-engineer my-memoir epub
Optionally call /storyforge:chapter-voice-harvest my-memoir 01-chapter after the review, before the humanizer; if nothing is logged, it finishes with a single line.
For plantsers and discovery writers, rolling-planner comes before each chapter. /storyforge:next-step tells you what is due next at any time.
Documentation
| Page | Content |
|---|---|
| Installation | Requirements, setup, Windows notes |
| Configuration | config.yaml, linter_mode, storage locations |
| Skills reference | All 61 skills with arguments |
| MCP tools | All 95 tools of the MCP server |
| Technical details | Hooks, book rules, briefs, status model, migration |
| Privacy | Local data, external connections, real people |
| Troubleshooting | Common problems and solutions |
| Writing Modes | Outliner, plantser, discovery |
| Author profiles | Voice system and writing discoveries |
| Genre system | Genres, mixing, custom genres |
| Quality System | All checks in detail |
| Memoir support | Memoir as a book category |
| Workflow example | One book from idea to EPUB |
| Series workflow example | Trilogy and book close-out |
| Character anatomy | Structure of a character file |
| Banlist architecture | How banned phrases are enforced |
FAQ
Does StoryForge write the book for me?
It writes prose in the voice of your author profile, but the creative decisions are yours. Every chapter goes through your inline review, and the plugin waits for your approval before it continues.
Do I need works of my own as a template?
No, but it helps. You can fill in a profile by hand. study-author speeds up capturing the style.
Which languages are supported?
The language is set per book, the default is English. The craft references are in English but apply to other languages too. chapter-proofreader checks in the book's language.
Can I manage a series?
Yes, with series-planner and the series lifecycle, see above.
What about writer's block?
/storyforge:unblock diagnoses the kind of block from your book and suggests targeted steps.
Can I write screenplays or games?
Not directly. chapter-writer is built for prose. For video scripts there is VidCraft.
How are sensitive topics handled?
/storyforge:sensitivity-reader checks for problematic representations, stereotypes and harmful tropes. For sensitive topics it does not replace a human sensitivity reader.
The hook reports blockers on my draft. What now?
The message names file, line and source. See Troubleshooting.
License
StoryForge is licensed under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0. Personal, non-commercial use is permitted. Commercial use needs the maintainer's explicit permission. Contributions are covered by a contributor agreement (CLA).