A Claude Code skill that transforms any content into compelling narratives — as presentations or prose — using proven storytelling frameworks.
Most presentations fail before they begin. Not because the content is wrong, but because the structure is. Narrative Engine matches your material to the right storytelling framework, auto-derives a distinct voice and emotional arc for your specific audience, then builds the output with a 6-agent review panel that catches what you'd miss.
Paste an article, outline, research notes, or existing deck. Choose presentation or prose. Answer discovery questions. Get back:
- Full-sweep framework scoring across all 10 arcs + 7 communication frameworks, with a Dark Horse option
- A Build Brief translating your audience, voice, emotional arc, and strategies into concrete writing instructions
- A complete output (slides or prose) with auto-derived voice, emotional pacing, and opening/closing strategies
- A 6-agent review including an Originality Agent that catches generic AI patterns
- Sourcing transparency showing what came from your content vs. what was generated
Output format? → Presentation / Prose / Both
Focal point? → Choose from 2-3 proposed angles
Who is your audience? → Executive / Technical / Investors / Skeptics / Mixed...
What are you trying to do? → Persuade / Inform / Inspire / Align / Report...
What type of content? → Research / Strategy / Case study / Pitch / Vision...
What tone? → Authoritative / Provocative / Warm / Urgent / Balanced...
Density mode? → High-Impact / Narrative / Evidence / ELI5
The skill draws from 17 proven frameworks across two categories:
10 Narrative Arcs (engagement-optimized)
| Arc | Structure | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| The Prestige | Pledge → Turn → Prestige | Counterintuitive findings |
| Mystery Box | Clues → Red herrings → Click | Research with unexpected conclusions |
| The Heist | Goal → Obstacles → Crew → Execution | Strategy & transformation |
| Time Machine | Future-back → Present fork → Path | Vision & scenario planning |
| Trojan Horse | Relatable → Escalate → Reframe | Paradigm shifts, skeptical audiences |
| Hero's Journey | Call → Trials → Ordeal → Return | Origin stories, change management |
| Columbo | Outcome first → Reconstruction | Post-mortems, root cause analysis |
| Game of the Scene | Pattern → Name it → Heighten 3x | Hidden dynamics, cross-domain insight |
| Rashomon | Multi-view → Missing axis → Synthesis | Controversial topics, stakeholder alignment |
| Freytag's Five-Act | Exposition → Climax → Resolution | Complex emotional narratives |
7 Communication Frameworks (efficiency-optimized)
| Framework | Structure | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Minto Pyramid | Answer → MECE supports → Evidence | Executive updates, board decks |
| SCQA | Situation → Complication → Question → Answer | Opening hooks |
| AIDA | Attention → Interest → Desire → Action | Sales, fundraising |
| PAS | Problem → Agitation → Solution | Change management |
| Raskin Sales Deck | Change → Stakes → Vision → Features → Proof | B2B sales |
| Duarte Resonate | What is ↔ What could be | Keynotes, vision |
| SUCCESs | Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories | Quality checklist |
A Build Brief translates all discovery answers into concrete writing instructions:
- Voice auto-derived from audience + tone (7 distinct profiles)
- Audience profile with headline style, evidence preferences, CTA approach
- Emotional arc calibrated to audience tolerance
- Opening/closing strategies from the rhetorical strategy library
- Killer line targets for memorability
The build then generates presentation slides or prose sections, each with source tags ([DIRECT] / [PARAPHRASE] / [ELABORATED] / [GENERATED]).
The build runs as a subagent via the Task tool — offloading the heaviest generation work from the main conversation and reducing context pressure.
Six specialist agents review your output in parallel:
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DIRECTOR │
│ Synthesizes, resolves conflicts, │
│ presents unified recommendations │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
▲
┌────────┬─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬─────────┬────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
AUDIENCE COMMS/PR VISUAL CRITIC CONTENT ORIGINALITY
ADVOCATE SPECIALIST DESIGNER EXPERT AGENT
| Agent | Key Question |
|---|---|
| Audience Advocate | "As [audience], does this land?" |
| Comms Specialist | "Is this tight and bulletproof?" |
| Visual Designer | "What visual makes this unforgettable?" |
| Critic | "What's the weakest link?" |
| Content Expert | "Can every claim be defended?" |
| Originality Agent | "Would this feel different from a generic AI output?" |
The Director synthesizes feedback, resolves conflicts, and surfaces decisions you need to make.
All six agents run as parallel subagents via the Task tool, returning findings simultaneously for the Director to synthesize in the main conversation.
# Regional Governance: The Invisible Infrastructure
**Framework:** Time Machine
**Slides:** 14
**Metaphor family:** Nervous system / pulse / sensing
---
## Slide 1 — Opening Hook
**Headline:** It is March 2028, and the Mayor knows the water crisis will hit before anyone else does.
**Spotlight:** Three weeks before demand spikes, the morning brief flags the pattern.
Desalination capacity, population movement, industrial permits—the signals converged overnight.
**Design note:** Split screen—calm office on left, converging trend lines on right,
date stamp "March 2028" prominent.
**Source:** [GENERATED]
---
## Sourcing Summary
**Originality Score:** 43% user-sourced / 57% generated
- Direct from source: 3 slides
- Paraphrased: 2 slides
- Elaborated: 3 slides
- Generated: 6 slides| Without Narrative Engine | With Narrative Engine |
|---|---|
| Generic bullet points | Single-point headlines with power verbs |
| Unclear structure | Framework matched to audience + purpose via full sweep |
| Same voice every time | 7 auto-derived voice profiles matched to audience + tone |
| No emotional design | Emotional arcs calibrated to audience tolerance |
| Self-review blind spots | 6-agent review including Originality Agent |
| Unknown AI additions | Source tags show exactly what was generated |
| One-size-fits-all | Build Brief ensures every choice propagates through output |
Copy the Narrative-Engine folder to your Claude Code skills directory:
~/.claude/skills/Narrative-Engine/
Or clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/nraford7/Narrative-Engine.git ~/.claude/skills/Narrative-EngineInvoke with /Narrative-Engine in Claude Code, then:
- Paste your content (article, notes, outline, or existing deck)
- Choose output format (Presentation / Prose / Both)
- Confirm focal point from 2-3 proposed angles
- Answer discovery questions (audience, purpose, content type, tone)
- Select density mode (High-Impact / Narrative / Evidence / ELI5)
- Choose from 2-3 recommended frameworks (scored via full sweep)
- Review the Build Brief, then receive complete output + 6-agent review
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
SKILL.md |
Main skill definition and workflow |
narrative-arcs.md |
Beat-by-beat structures for all 10 arcs |
communication-frameworks.md |
Detailed framework descriptions |
framework-selection.md |
Full sweep protocol and selection matrices |
audience-profiles.md |
Deep audience profiles with writing instructions |
voice-profiles.md |
7 voice profiles with auto-derive mapping |
emotional-arcs.md |
Framework emotional textures + audience calibration |
opening-closing-strategies.md |
Opening/closing strategy libraries + pairing matrix |
checklists.md |
All quality checklists (headlines, CTAs, originality, killer line) |
agent-reference-persuasion.md |
Comms agent frameworks (Cialdini, SUCCESs, Ogilvy) |
agent-reference-visual.md |
Visual agent frameworks (Tufte, Duarte, metaphors) |
agent-reference-verification.md |
Content agent frameworks (IFCN, SIFT, fallacies) |
prompts/ |
Subagent prompt templates (builder, reviewer, stress-tester) |
examples/ |
Full workflow examples (climate keynote, post-mortem, remote work) |
Phases 1–3.5 (discovery) run interactively in the main conversation. Phases 4+ dispatch subagents:
- Build (Phase 4): Single subagent reads the Build Brief from
/tmp/, generates output, self-reviews for originality - Review (Phase 5): 6 parallel subagents, each with a specialist lens and reference file
- Stress Test (Phase 5.5): 3 parallel subagents with auto-selected personas
| If your audience is... | And your goal is... | Consider... |
|---|---|---|
| Executive / Board | Any | Pyramid or Columbo (answer-first) |
| Skeptics | Persuade | Trojan Horse + PAS |
| Investors | Inspire | Hero's Journey + Cinderella |
| Mixed / Cross-functional | Align | Rashomon or Heist |
| General / Keynote | Entertain | Prestige or Time Machine |
| If your content has... | Consider... |
|---|---|
| A genuine surprise | Prestige or Mystery Box |
| Multiple stakeholder views | Rashomon |
| A transformation story | Hero's Journey |
| Future vision | Time Machine |
| Root cause analysis | Columbo |
MIT
Built on frameworks from:
- Barbara Minto (Pyramid Principle)
- Nancy Duarte (Resonate, Slide:ology)
- Chip & Dan Heath (Made to Stick)
- Robert Cialdini (Influence)
- Andy Raskin (Greatest Sales Deck)
- Edward Tufte (Data Visualization)
- Joseph Campbell (Hero's Journey)
- Christopher Nolan / J.J. Abrams (Narrative structures)