---
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.