A detailed compliance verification tool that maps every element of an outline to its realization
in the manuscript. Goes significantly deeper than Module 3 of the Novel Audit by producing a
full compliance matrix with per-beat status tracking.

## Key Points

- User provides both an outline and a manuscript and wants to know if the draft matches the plan
- User says "did I follow my outline", "check outline compliance", "what did I miss from the outline"
- User suspects the AI drifted from the plan during generation
- User wants to identify which outline beats need more development
- The manuscript (full or partial)
- The outline (any format: bullet points, numbered beats, scene cards, chapter summaries)
- Author notes on intentional deviations ("I decided to cut the bar scene")
- Priority markers on outline items (must-have vs. nice-to-have)
- "Elena confronts Marcus about the letter" — one beat
- "Elena confronts Marcus, they fight, she leaves, and Marcus calls his lawyer" — four beats
- **Location**: Chapter and approximate position (beginning, middle, end)
- **Coverage**: How much text is devoted to this beat

Outline Compliance Checker Skill

A detailed compliance verification tool that maps every element of an outline to its realization in the manuscript. Goes significantly deeper than Module 3 of the Novel Audit by producing a full compliance matrix with per-beat status tracking.

When to Use This Skill

• User provides both an outline and a manuscript and wants to know if the draft matches the plan
• User says "did I follow my outline", "check outline compliance", "what did I miss from the outline"
• User suspects the AI drifted from the plan during generation
• User wants to identify which outline beats need more development

Input Requirements

Required:

• The manuscript (full or partial)
• The outline (any format: bullet points, numbered beats, scene cards, chapter summaries)

Optional:

• Author notes on intentional deviations ("I decided to cut the bar scene")
• Priority markers on outline items (must-have vs. nice-to-have)

If the outline is vague, do your best but note in the report which beats were too ambiguous to verify with confidence.

Compliance Analysis Process

Step 1 — Outline Decomposition

Break the outline into atomic beats. An atomic beat is the smallest unit of story action that can be independently verified. Examples:

• "Elena confronts Marcus about the letter" — one beat
• "Elena confronts Marcus, they fight, she leaves, and Marcus calls his lawyer" — four beats

Number every beat sequentially (B001, B002, ...) for reference in the matrix.

Step 2 — Manuscript Mapping

For each atomic beat, search the manuscript for its realization:

• Location: Chapter and approximate position (beginning, middle, end)
• Coverage: How much text is devoted to this beat
• Fidelity: How closely the manuscript version matches the outline description

Step 3 — Status Classification

Assign each beat one of these statuses:

Status	Color	Meaning
PRESENT	Green	Beat appears in manuscript, matches outline
MODIFIED	Yellow	Beat appears but with significant changes to characters, setting, or outcome
UNDERDEVELOPED	Orange	Beat appears but is glossed over (< 1 paragraph for what should be a scene)
OVERDEVELOPED	Blue	Beat is present but expanded far beyond outline scope (tangent risk)
REORDERED	Purple	Beat appears but in a different sequence position than outlined
MISSING	Red	Beat does not appear in the manuscript at all
ADDED	White	Scene in manuscript that has no corresponding outline beat

Step 4 — Impact Assessment

For every non-green beat, assess downstream impact:

• Does the change break any later plot points?
• Does the change require updates to the outline (if the change is an improvement)?
• Does the change create continuity problems with beats that were implemented as outlined?

Step 5 — Gap Analysis

Identify structural gaps:

• Missing setup: A beat is present, but its required setup beat is missing
• Missing payoff: A setup beat is present, but its payoff beat is missing
• Orphaned additions: Added scenes that don't connect to any outline thread
• Sequence breaks: Reordered beats that create logical impossibilities

Output Format

# Outline Compliance Report
**Title**: [Novel title]
**Date**: [Today]
**Outline beats analyzed**: [N]
**Manuscript chapters analyzed**: [N]

## Compliance Summary

| Status | Count | Percentage |
|--------|-------|------------|
| PRESENT | X | X% |
| MODIFIED | X | X% |
| UNDERDEVELOPED | X | X% |
| OVERDEVELOPED | X | X% |
| REORDERED | X | X% |
| MISSING | X | X% |

**Added scenes (no outline beat)**: X

**Overall compliance score**: X% (PRESENT + MODIFIED beats / total beats)

---

## Full Compliance Matrix

| Beat ID | Outline Description | Status | MS Location | Notes |
|---------|-------------------|--------|-------------|-------|
| B001 | ... | PRESENT | Ch.1, start | — |
| B002 | ... | MISSING | — | Setup for B010 also missing |
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |

---

## Critical Findings

### Missing Beats with Plot Impact
[List of MISSING beats that affect downstream story logic]

### Dangerous Modifications
[List of MODIFIED beats where the change creates contradictions]

### Added Scenes Assessment
[List of scenes in the manuscript with no outline beat — are they improvements or drift?]

## Recommendations

### Priority Fixes
[Ordered list of what to address first]

### Outline Updates
[Suggestions for updating the outline to match intentional improvements in the manuscript]

Handling Edge Cases

Vague outline beats: If a beat says "they talk about the past", match generously — any conversation touching on backstory counts. Note the ambiguity.

Split beats: Sometimes one outline beat is realized across two separate manuscript scenes. Mark as PRESENT but note the split.

Merged beats: Sometimes two outline beats are combined into one manuscript scene. Mark both as PRESENT but note the merge.

Contradictory outlines: If the outline contradicts itself, flag the contradiction separately before assessing compliance.

Anti-Patterns

Penalizing intentional improvements. If the manuscript improves on the outline (adds needed character development, fixes a plot hole), note it as MODIFIED but flag it as a positive deviation in the notes column. Not all drift is bad.

Binary thinking. A beat that is 80% present but missing one detail is MODIFIED, not MISSING. Reserve MISSING for beats with no trace whatsoever in the manuscript.

Ignoring added scenes. Scenes that appear in the manuscript but not the outline are often where AI generation drifts most dangerously. Always assess added scenes for relevance and whether they introduce contradictions.

Reporting without page-level specificity. Every mapped beat must include its chapter and position. "Somewhere in the middle" is not acceptable.

Treating the outline as infallible. The outline may have its own problems. If compliance analysis reveals the outline has structural flaws, report those too.