AI Blocks › Write and tell stories
A trapped-character story where the dread keeps rising and the escapes feel earned
Tell it who is stuck and who holds them. Get a sealed setting, mood map, cost ladder and fair-escape check.
Build suspense in a story where your character cannot leave is a free AI workflow for the job "Write and tell stories". It guides your AI through several skills in order, passing each step's output to the next.
Free · No account · Made by AI Blocks · Thinking: high
What it does
Stories about being trapped fail in four ways. The reader finds a way out the character missed. The captor is the same in every scene. The tries all cost the same. The escape arrives by luck. This workflow fixes them in order. It first seals the place so every exit is shut for a reason a reader accepts. It then gives the person in power a mood scale, with a small warning sign for each mood, so even a calm scene carries a threat. It builds a ladder where each attempt costs more than the one before and leaves something lost, with a clock over it all. It then tests every escape for fairness, and last checks that every scene turns. The method comes from the craft shown in Stephen King's novel Misery.
You give it
- Who is stuck, who or what holds them, and where, in a few sentences
- How the person in power talks and what they want
- What your character would hate to lose
- Your scene list, for the last step
You get
- A sealed setting with every exit shut for a reason, and a watch list of ordinary objects
- A mood scale for the person in power, with a warning sign, a trigger and a cost for each mood
- A ladder of attempts that rise in cost, with a clock the character cannot move
- A fairness verdict on every escape, with fixes built from what is already on the page
- Each scene marked for what changes in it
Use it when
- You are writing a story about someone trapped, watched or cornered, in a house, a job, a family or a town.
- Your middle chapters repeat, or the dread drops once the setup is done.
- Readers say your villain is scary only in the big scenes, or that the ending was too easy.
Steps
- Closed setting planner: Tell it who is stuck and where. Get a sealed world with every exit shut for a reason.
- Antagonist behavior planner: Paste your setting plan and the person in power. Get a mood scale with warning signs, triggers and costs.
- Rising cost ladder builder: Paste your story plan. Get attempts that each cost more than the last, and a clock over all of it.
- Fair escape checker: Paste your plan and how your character escapes. Get each escape tested for fairness, with fixes for cheats.
- Scene turn checker: Paste a scene list or outline. Get each scene marked for what changes and which choice changes it, with weak scenes flagged.
How to use it
- Download the handoff pack. It's a zip with HANDOFF.md and every skill file this workflow uses.
- Give the folder to Claude (in Claude Code, or as files in a Claude Project) and say "Follow HANDOFF.md".
- Describe who is trapped, who holds them and where. It works step by step and saves each result.
- Answer its questions about the person in power and what your character would hate to lose.
- Paste your scene list when it asks, for the last check.