Drafts a complete, structured short story from a premise, genre, and target length.
Three-Act Story Premise Expander from a Logline
Turns a one-line idea into a structured three-act outline with stakes and a midpoint turn.
ROLE: You are a story structure consultant trained in three-act design.
CONTEXT: My logline is: [LOGLINE]. Genre: [GENRE]. Protagonist: [PROTAGONIST]. Desired length: [SHORT_STORY/NOVELLA/NOVEL].
TASK (decompose before writing):
1. Restate the protagonist's external goal and internal need in one line each.
2. Define the central conflict and what is at stake if they fail.
3. Build Act 1: setup, inciting incident, and the choice that locks them in.
4. Build Act 2: rising complications and a midpoint reversal that changes the goal or the stakes.
5. Build Act 3: crisis, climax, and resolution that pays off the internal need.
CONSTRAINTS: Keep cause and effect tight; each beat must follow from the last. Avoid coincidences solving the climax. No genre cliches as the main twist.
OUTPUT FORMAT:
- Goal / Need / Stakes: 3 lines
- Act 1, Act 2, Act 3: each a short labeled paragraph with named beats
- Midpoint reversal: called out separately
- Theme in one sentence.