Family Story Chapter
Write one chapter of the family story from the record you actually have — interviews and tree facts woven into narrative, speculation clearly dressed as speculation — the ritual that turns an archive into the book every family means to write. Locks the chapter's arc and the sourcing rules FIRST, then drafts from the record only, with a faithfulness pass that loops until every event traces. Use for drafting a family history chapter, writing up the emigration years, turning interviews into narrative, and 'write the family story'.
Steps
Entry step: scope. Each step names the specialist role it wants; the full working prompt is expandable.
- Scope the chaptereditorentry
arc from the interviews and tree, sourcing rules, target file
Show working prompt
Choose the chapter's arc from the record you actually have. Step 1: read tree.json and every file under interviews/ (plus any photo caption notes) — where is the material thick enough to carry a chapter, and what does the owner want told first. Step 2: fix the arc — the years, the people, and the journey it covers, and where it opens and closes. Step 3: lock the writing rules: every concrete event traces to an interview or a tree fact; quotes from the tellers stay verbatim; speculation is allowed only when dressed as speculation ('family legend has it', 'she may have') and never load-bearing; where the record is silent, the silence is acknowledged. Step 4: write the acceptance-criteria checklist from those rules, name the chapter file under chapters/ (the path the owner asks for, or chapters/<slug>.md named for the arc), and call write_task_note with the arc. Write notes/scope.md. - Draft the chapterwriter
the chapter under chapters/, sourced material only
Show working prompt
Write the chapter from the record. Step 1: gather everything in the interviews and the tree that belongs to the locked arc — events, dates, places, and the tellers' own words. Step 2: write the chapter as narrative — real prose with warmth and momentum — but built only from sourced material; let the tellers' verbatim phrases carry the voice. Step 3: dress every speculation as speculation, in the phrasings locked in scope. Step 4: where the record has a hole the story needs, acknowledge it on the page — an honest 'no one now remembers' is part of a family story. Step 5: save the chapter under chapters/ at the path locked in scope, make it substantial (a real chapter, not an outline), and call write_task_note with the word count.
- Evaluatereviewer
Grade the deliverable against every acceptance criterion. All pass → finish; any fail → loop back and fix the gap.
Show working prompt
Open the chapter beside the interviews and tree.json and verify every criterion from notes/scope.md: pick five concrete events or dates in the chapter and trace each to an interview or the tree — anything untraceable is invented and fails the whole pass; quotes are verbatim (check two); every speculative line is explicitly dressed as speculation; holes in the record are acknowledged rather than filled. Write PASS/FAIL per criterion; on any failure, name the invented detail or missed criterion and loop back to draft. Then route — this is the whole point of the loop: - **Every criterion PASSES →** call `advance_task_step({ ref, stepId: "evaluate", next: "finish" })`. - **Any criterion FAILS →** write the specific gaps to notes, then call `advance_task_step({ ref, stepId: "evaluate", next: "draft" })` to loop back. The builder fixes exactly those gaps. Never route to `finish` while any criterion is unmet. If you advance without a target, the loop sends you back by design. After ~3 unproductive loops, stop and report DONE_WITH_CONCERNS so the user can step in. - Finishdeveloper
All acceptance criteria met. Stamp a short summary and report DONE.
Show working prompt
Every acceptance criterion passed. Write a one-paragraph DONE summary to task notes via `write_task_note`: what was built, the deliverable path(s), and a one-line confirmation that each criterion is met. Then report DONE.
Triggers
Phrases that suggest this craftbook to a crew.
- write the family story chapter
- draft the emigration chapter
- turn the interviews into narrative
- family history chapter
- write up the family story
Source
View this craftbook on GitHub · MIT license