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From skills-for-humanity
Audits point-of-view for violations, consistency, and fit in narrative writing. Helps fix head-hopping and inconsistent narration.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/skills-for-humanity:s4h-writing-povThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
POV is a contract with the reader about what the narration can know. The moment that contract is violated — the moment the narration accesses something it has promised not to access — the reader's trust breaks. Usually they don't know why. They just feel the seam, the moment the author's hand becomes visible. "How did we know that?" is the diagnostic question.
POV is a contract with the reader about what the narration can know. The moment that contract is violated — the moment the narration accesses something it has promised not to access — the reader's trust breaks. Usually they don't know why. They just feel the seam, the moment the author's hand becomes visible. "How did we know that?" is the diagnostic question.
Each POV type makes a different promise:
First person: The narrator tells us what they experienced, observed, thought, and felt. They cannot know what other characters are thinking unless they are told or infer it (and the inference should be flagged as inference). They can be unreliable — their account of events may be shaped by their psychology, their blindspots, their desire to present themselves well.
Close third person: Narration follows one character's subjective experience. The narration can access their thoughts and feelings but cannot access anyone else's interior. Physical details that the POV character couldn't observe (what their own face looks like, what's happening in a room they're not in) require specific handling. Thought and feeling are rendered from inside, not described from outside.
Omniscient: The narrator has access to any mind. But omniscient POV is not a licence for chaos — it must be used consistently. An omniscient narrator who dips into three minds in one scene and then goes external in the next has not chosen omniscient POV; they have abandoned POV control entirely.
The fit question is as important as the violation question: does the chosen POV serve what the story is trying to do? A story whose power lives in dramatic irony (the reader knows something the protagonist doesn't) may work better in third than first. A story whose power is unreliable memory may need first person. The POV choice is not arbitrary — the story's core effect often depends on it.
Step 1: Identify Current POV Type First person / close third / omniscient / second person / mixed. If mixed, is it intentionally mixed (multiple POV characters with clear transitions) or unintentionally mixed (the narration drifts without structure)?
Framing check: Confirm the specific text and POV situation before continuing. State what you've identified — the POV type, the POV character (if applicable), and whether the concern is violations, fit, or both — in one sentence, then use AskUserQuestion:
Step 2: State the Contract What does this POV promise about access to interiority? First person: access to the narrator's interior, inference about others. Close third: access to POV character's interior, not others'. Omniscient: access to any interior, but must be applied consistently. State the contract explicitly — it becomes the audit standard.
Step 3: Scan for Violations Violations fall into four categories:
For each violation: quote the line, identify the type, name what was accessed that couldn't be accessed.
Step 4: Fit Assessment Does the chosen POV serve the story's core effect? Consider:
Before proceeding, use the AskUserQuestion tool. State your interpretation of the situation in 1–2 sentences — what is being analyzed and what the core question is — then ask:
Proceed based on their selection. If the user reframes, incorporate the correction before running any analysis.
Type Identified: [First person / Close third / Omniscient / Second / Mixed — and whether mixed is intentional]
Contract Stated: [What this POV promises about access to interiority and observation]
Violations:
Fit Assessment: [Does this POV serve the story's core effect? What would be gained or lost by changing it?]
Recommendation: [Maintain current POV with fixes / Consider switching to X because Y]
/s4h-writing-voice-consistency — POV and voice are linked; a close-third narration that suddenly takes on the author's philosophical voice rather than the character's is both a POV violation and a voice inconsistency./s4h-writing-inconsistency-audit — POV violations are logged there as a category; this skill provides the deeper analysis when they're numerous or the POV choice itself is the problem.After delivering this output, use AskUserQuestion to offer the next move:
/s4h-writing-voice-consistency — Ensure POV is voice-consistent throughout/s4h-writing-scene-construction — Construct scenes from the established POV/s4h-writing-character-development — Develop the character whose POV this isnpx claudepluginhub human-avatar/skills-for-humanitySelects and applies narrative point of view (first person, third limited, third omniscient, second person) for fiction projects based on intimacy, narrative distance, and structural needs.
Runs four systematic passes to identify timeline errors, character logic violations, world-rule breaks, and physical continuity errors in a manuscript.
Audits writing against Kurt Vonnegut's 8 rules for fiction and nonfiction. Provides structural gut-checks and diagnoses why a piece feels lifeless.