feat(commands): add /essay-outline command

Transforms a brain dump into a story-structured essay outline.
Pressure tests for a real thesis, applies the Saunders framework
via story-lens skill to validate hook, escalation, and conclusion,
then writes a tight outline to file.

Also fixes stale skill count in README (22 → 24).

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

plugins/compound-engineering/skills/story-lens/SKILL.md

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+---
+name: story-lens
+description: This skill should be used when evaluating whether a piece of prose constitutes a high-quality story. It applies George Saunders's craft framework — causality, escalation, efficiency, expectation, and character accumulation — as a structured diagnostic lens. Triggers on requests like "is this a good story?", "review this prose", "does this feel like a story or just an anecdote?", "critique this narrative", or any request to assess the craft quality of fiction or narrative nonfiction.
+---
+
+# Story Lens
+
+A diagnostic skill for evaluating prose quality using George Saunders's storytelling framework. The framework operates on a single core insight: the difference between a story and an anecdote is causality plus irreversible change.
+
+Load [saunders-framework.md](./references/saunders-framework.md) for the full framework, including all diagnostic questions and definitions.
+
+## How to Apply the Skill
+
+### 1. Read the Prose
+
+Read the full piece before forming any judgments. Resist diagnosing on first pass.
+
+### 2. Apply the Six Diagnostic Questions in Order
+
+Each question builds on the previous.
+
+**Beat Causality**
+Map the beats. Does each beat cause the next? Or are they sequential — "and then... and then..."? Sequential beats = anecdote. Causal beats = story.
+
+**Escalation**
+Is the story moving up a staircase or running on a treadmill? Each step must be irrevocable. Once a character's condition has fundamentally changed, the story cannot re-enact that change or linger in elaboration. Look for sections that feel like they're holding still.
+
+**The Story-Yet Test**
+Stop at the end of each major section and ask: *if it ended here, would it be complete?* Something must have changed irreversibly. If nothing has changed, everything so far is setup — not story.
+
+**Character Accumulation**
+Track what the reader learns about the character, beat by beat. Is that knowledge growing? Does each beat confirm, complicate, or overturn prior understanding? Flat accumulation = underdeveloped character. Specificity accrues into care.
+
+**The Three E's**
+Check against the triad: Escalation (moving forward), Efficiency (nothing extraneous), Expectation (next beat is surprising but not absurd). Failure in any one of these is diagnosable.
+
+**Moral/Technical Unity**
+If something feels off emotionally or ethically — a character's choice that doesn't ring true, a resolution that feels unearned — look for the technical failure underneath. Saunders's claim: it is always there. Find the craft problem, and the moral problem dissolves.
+
+### 3. Render a Verdict
+
+After applying all six diagnostics, deliver a clear assessment:
+
+- Is this a story, or still an anecdote?
+- Which diagnostic reveals the primary weakness?
+- What is the single most important structural fix?
+
+Be direct. The framework produces precise, actionable diagnoses — not impressionistic feedback. Imprecise praise or vague encouragement is not useful here. The goal is to help the writer see exactly where the story is working and where it isn't.

plugins/compound-engineering/skills/story-lens/references/saunders-framework.md

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+# The Saunders Storytelling Framework
+
+A distillation of George Saunders's craft principles for evaluating whether prose constitutes a high-quality story.
+
+---
+
+## The Fundamental Unit: The Beat
+
+Every moment in a story is a beat. Each beat must *cause* the next beat. Saunders calls causality "what melody is to a songwriter" — it's the invisible connective tissue the audience feels as the story's logic.
+
+The test: are beats **causal** or merely **sequential**?
+
+- Sequential (anecdote): "this happened, then this happened"
+- Causal (story): "this happened, *therefore* this happened"
+
+If beats are merely sequential, the work reads as anecdote, not story.
+
+---
+
+## What Transforms Anecdote into Story: Escalation
+
+> "Always be escalating. That's all a story is, really: a continual system of escalation. A swath of prose earns its place in the story to the extent that it contributes to our sense that the story is still escalating."
+
+Escalation isn't just raising stakes — it's **irrevocable change**. Once a story has moved forward through some fundamental change in a character's condition, you don't get to enact that change again, and you don't get to stay there elaborating on that state.
+
+**The story is a staircase, not a treadmill.**
+
+---
+
+## The "Is This a Story Yet?" Diagnostic
+
+Stop at any point and ask: *if it ended here, would it be complete?*
+
+Early on, the answer is almost always no — because nothing has changed yet. The story only becomes a story at the moment something changes irreversibly.
+
+**Precise test: change = story. No change = still just setup.**
+
+---
+
+## The "What Do We Know About This Character So Far?" Tool
+
+Take inventory constantly. A reader's understanding of a character is always a running accumulation — and every beat should either **confirm**, **complicate**, or **overturn** that understanding.
+
+The more we know about a person — their hopes, dreams, fears, and failures — the more compassionate we become toward them. This is how the empathy machine operates mechanically: **specificity accrues, and accrued specificity generates care.**
+
+---
+
+## The Three E's
+
+Three words that capture the full framework:
+
+1. **Escalation** — the story must continuously move forward through irrevocable change
+2. **Efficiency** — ruthlessly exclude anything extraneous to the story's purposes
+3. **Expectation** — what comes next must hit a Goldilocks level: not too obvious, not too absurd
+
+---
+
+## The Moral/Technical Unity
+
+Any story that suffers from what seems like a **moral failing** will, with sufficient analytical attention, be found to be suffering from a **technical failing** — and if that failing is addressed, it will always become a better story.
+
+This means: when a story feels wrong emotionally or ethically, look for the craft problem first. The fix is almost always structural.
+
+---
+
+## Summary: The Diagnostic Questions
+
+Apply these in order to any piece of prose:
+
+1. **Beat causality** — Does each beat cause the next, or are they merely sequential?
+2. **Escalation** — Is the story continuously moving up the staircase, or running on a treadmill?
+3. **Story-yet test** — If it ended here, would something have irreversibly changed?
+4. **Character accumulation** — Is our understanding of the character growing richer with each beat?
+5. **Three E's check** — Is it escalating, efficient, and pitched at the right level of expectation?
+6. **Moral/technical unity** — If something feels off morally or emotionally, where is the technical failure?