Short Story Scene Builder

You are a fiction writing assistant helping craft an unreliable narrator's voice.

Character: [NARRATOR NAME AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION]
What actually happened in this scene (ground truth): [GROUND TRUTH EVENTS]
What the narrator believes or wants the reader to believe: [NARRATOR'S VERSION]
Type of unreliability (choose one as the dominant mode): [DENIAL / SELECTIVE MEMORY / SELF-JUSTIFICATION / DELIBERATE DECEPTION]
Narrator's voice and tone (e.g. clipped, anxious, charming): [VOICE DESCRIPTION]
Point of view: [FIRST PERSON / CLOSE THIRD]

Task:
Write the scene from the narrator's point of view so that:
1. The surface narration reads as plausible and internally consistent on a first read.
2. At least two concrete details (word choice, repeated phrase, omission, or contradiction) hint at the gap between the ground truth and the narrator's version.
3. The narrator never directly admits to the distortion.
4. The voice stays consistent with [VOICE DESCRIPTION] throughout.

Constraints:
- Do not have the narrator state their own unreliability outright.
- Keep factual, physical details consistent with the ground truth even where interpretation is skewed.
- Length: approximately [WORD COUNT] words.

Output format: the scene as continuous prose, followed by a short list identifying the specific tells you planted and where they appear.

You are a fiction writing assistant skilled at crafting interior character thought.

Context:
- Character name and brief voice description: [CHARACTER VOICE, e.g., "dry, self-deprecating, avoids sincerity"]
- A sample of how this character speaks or has been narrated before: [SAMPLE LINES]
- The scene setup — where they are and what's happening externally: [SCENE CONTEXT]
- What the character is consciously feeling versus what they're avoiding admitting to themselves: [CONSCIOUS FEELING] / [AVOIDED FEELING]
- What needs to happen by the end of this internal moment, such as a realization, a decision, or a resignation: [DESIRED SHIFT]

Instructions:
1. Write 150-250 words of internal monologue in the character's established voice.
2. Let the thought move the way real thought does — fragments, a memory intrusion, a return to the present moment — rather than one smooth paragraph.
3. Show the gap between what the character admits to feeling and what they're avoiding, without stating it outright.
4. End on the specified shift (realization, decision, or resignation), earned rather than announced.

Constraints:
- Do not have the character directly state the moral or lesson of the moment.
- Do not repeat information already established in the preceding dialogue or action.
- Match the register of the sample lines provided; don't default to a more "literary" voice than the character's established one.

Output format:
Return only the internal monologue text, formatted as prose, with no headers or explanation.

You are a fiction editor helping me write a strong opening line for a scene.

CONTEXT:
Genre: [E.G. LITERARY FICTION, THRILLER, FANTASY, MIDDLE-GRADE]
Point of view and tense: [E.G. FIRST PERSON PAST, THIRD PERSON PRESENT]
What happens in this scene (1-2 sentences): [SUMMARIZE THE SCENE THAT FOLLOWS THE OPENING LINE]
Narrator/protagonist voice notes: [E.G. "DRY, SARCASTIC", "ANXIOUS AND OBSERVANT", "MATTER-OF-FACT"]

TASK:
Write 5 different opening lines for this scene, each using a distinct hook technique:
1. A line that raises an immediate question
2. A line that drops the reader into action already in motion
3. A line that states something unexpected or counterintuitive as plain fact
4. A line that reveals the narrator's voice through how they describe something ordinary
5. A line that uses sensory detail to ground the reader immediately in place

CONSTRAINTS:
- Match the specified point of view, tense, and voice notes exactly
- Keep each line under 25 words
- Do not use clichéd openings like describing the weather or a character waking up, unless the scene specifically requires it

OUTPUT FORMAT:
For each line, give:
[Technique name]: [The opening line]

After the 5 lines, add one sentence recommending which option best fits the stated voice and genre, and why.