Craft

Translate a validated narrative into a structured content outline. This skill organizes the story into logical sections with key messages, supporting content, and flow — without locking in specific slide counts or layouts (those are decided during the present phase based on visual design research).

Prerequisites

Before using this skill, ensure one of:

• A narrative document exists (from /deckwright:narrative), OR
• User provides clear presentation goals, audience, and key message, OR
• A PptxGenJS generation script exists from a previous import or creation (edit mode)

If no narrative or generation script exists, suggest: "Would you like to use /deckwright:narrative first to develop your story?"

Process

Edit Mode Check

Before starting, determine mode using either signal:

1. Session context: If the narrative phase (or any earlier step this session) stated this is an "edit session", treat this as edit mode — do not re-check the filesystem.
2. Filesystem check: If no session context exists, check whether a deck folder in decks/ contains a PptxGenJS generation script (a .js file containing require("pptxgenjs")).

• If no generation script and no edit-mode context: Follow the standard process below.
• If edit mode (either signal): This is an edit. Read the generation script to understand the current deck, then:
  1. Group slides into logical sections based on topic flow and any divider/title slides
  2. Present the current content structure to the user:

     "Here's the current structure I see:

     • Section 1 (Slides 1-2): [summary]
     • Section 2 (Slides 3-5): [summary]
     • ...

     What would you like to restructure?"

  3. Only rewrite sections the user wants to change — preserve unchanged sections
  4. Produce or update a content outline document, including a slide mapping that notes which existing slides belong to each section
  5. Continue to step 5 (Document the Outline) to save the result

1. Review the Narrative

Read the narrative document or user-provided context. Identify:

• Total key points to cover
• Logical groupings
• Required evidence/visuals
• Time constraints

2. Estimate Duration and Section Count

Estimate total sections based on:

Presentation Length	Suggested Sections	Approach
5 minutes	3-4 sections	Tight, focused
10 minutes	4-6 sections	Room for evidence
20 minutes	6-10 sections	Can develop arguments
30+ minutes	8-12 sections	Consider part groupings

Present recommendation and get user agreement before detailing sections.

3. Create Content Outline

For each section, specify:

### Section N: [Title — states the takeaway]
**Key message**: [The one thing the audience should take from this section]
**Content**:
- [Supporting point or evidence]
- [Data, example, or proof point]
**Emphasis**: [high / medium / low — how much visual weight this deserves]
**Speaker notes**: [Key points to hit — concise reference notes, not a script]
**Transition**: [How this connects to next section]

Emphasis levels guide the present phase:

• high — This section deserves maximum visual impact (could become multiple slides, large typography, dramatic layout)
• medium — Standard treatment, clear and clean
• low — Brief, transitional, or supporting (could be a simple divider or combined with adjacent content)

For how emphasis maps to slide layouts, see ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/slide-patterns.md — the layout catalog consulted in the design phase.

4. Validate Incrementally

Present the outline in batches. After each batch:

"Here are sections 1-4. Does this flow work? Any adjustments?"

5. Document the Outline

Save the validated outline to decks/<name>/content-outline.md (use the existing deck folder, or create one if it doesn't exist).

Document format:

# [Presentation Title] - Content Outline

> **Next step:** Use **/deckwright:design** to plan slides and visual direction.

## Overview
- **Estimated duration**: [X minutes]
- **Total sections**: [N]
- **Narrative doc**: [link to narrative if exists]

## Content Outline

### Section 1: [Opening — Title / Hook]
**Key message**: [First impression, context setting]
**Content**:
- [Title, subtitle, presenter info]
**Emphasis**: high
**Speaker notes**: [Introduction context]

### Section 2: [Title — states the takeaway]
**Key message**: [takeaway]
**Content**:
- [supporting details]
**Emphasis**: [high / medium / low]
**Speaker notes**: [talking points]
**Transition**: [connection to next]

[Repeat Section block for each remaining section]

## Source References
- [Carried forward from narrative — preserve all URLs]

## Design Notes
- **Brand requirements**: [if any — logos, fonts, colors the user specified]
- **Constraints**: [any visual preferences or restrictions mentioned during planning]

Handoff

After outline approval, offer next steps. Carry forward the session mode so downstream skills inherit the correct context:

If this was edit mode:

"Your content outline is ready. Edit session — the existing deck will be updated.

• Use /deckwright:design to revise the visual direction
• Or refine the outline further"

If this was a new presentation:

"Your content outline is ready. New presentation — building from this outline.

• Use /deckwright:design to plan slides and visual direction
• Or refine the outline further"

Content Principles

Apply these to every section in the outline. If a section violates any of these, restructure it before finalizing.

• One key message per section — If a section has two takeaways, split it
• Headlines state the takeaway — "Revenue grew 40%" not "Q3 Revenue Data". The headline IS the point.
• Keep supporting content focused — 2-3 supporting points max per section. More than that means the section should be split.
• Prefer evidence over assertion — Numbers, examples, and comparisons are stronger than bullet-point claims
• Speaker notes carry the detail — Dense explanation belongs in notes, not on screen. Write them as concise reference notes (key points, data to cite, transitions to hit) not as conversational scripts. Exception: if the deck is documentation rather than a live presentation (where the reader is the presenter), notes can be more descriptive.
• Vary emphasis — Not every section is high emphasis. Alternating intensity creates rhythm.

Handling Dense Content

When a narrative point requires complex information:

1. Split into sub-sections — Break into 2-3 sections that build on each other
2. Lead with the insight — First section states the conclusion, following sections show the evidence
3. Use the appendix pattern — Main outline has the simple version, mark detailed backup as appendix material