Specificity through Constraint

Instructions for AI

1. Pick a non-default value for every high-level story variable (setting, antagonist, ally, macguffin, tone) unless the default is thematically indispensable. – “Default” = maximum-likelihood choice given the genre + language + IP. – “Indispensable” = removing it breaks the dramatic question you are trying to answer. 2. To pick the non-default value, use one of these four generative lenses (roll a die if you have no preference): a. Historical accident: a real but little-known fact that is still period-plausible. b. Sensory flip: choose the element whose dominant sense is the opposite of the cliché (smell, touch, temperature, texture, dialect). c. Thematic rhyme: let the setting or antagonist mirror the hero’s internal conflict instead of contrasting with it. d. Oblique geography: move one step along a real network (rail, river, radio range, trading route, diaspora) from the default city. 3. After the first non-default choice is locked, re-justify it in one sentence that connects it to the emotional arc of the protagonist. If you cannot write that sentence, discard the choice and try the next lens; do not fall back to the default until all four lenses fail. 4. Keep the prose task separate: once the variables are fixed, write the scene with the same stylistic attention you would give the Paris version. Flattening the distribution is a plotting step, not a stylistic step; the sentences should still sing.