# Creative Research

Load when a story needs factual grounding the writer doesn't have: historical detail...

- Repository: https://github.com/haowjy/creative-writing-skills (556 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: Apache-2.0
- Last updated: 2026-10-28
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add haowjy/creative-writing-skills --skill creative-research -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add haowjy/creative-writing-skills --skill creative-research -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add haowjy/creative-writing-skills --skill creative-research -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add haowjy/creative-writing-skills --skill creative-research -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add haowjy/creative-writing-skills`

## Description

Load when a story needs factual grounding the writer doesn't have: historical detail, cultural texture, domain accuracy, or how other authors handled similar material. Pass the question and story context; returns a sourced report the writer can draw from.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Creative Research

Gather material the writer can use. Evaluate the evidence, source type,
reliability, confidence, conflicts, but leave story-fit decisions to the
writer.

## What to Look For

**Primary sources.** Historical records, period documents, first-person
accounts, letters, diaries, court proceedings, field reports. These carry
detail and texture that secondary summaries flatten.

**Reference works and published fiction.** Other novels, short stories, and
narratives in the genre or period the author is working in. How have other
writers handled similar material, settings, or problems?

**History, mythology, and lore.** Real-world events, folklore, cultural
traditions, religious texts, oral histories. Look for the specific and
surprising over the general and expected.

**Wikis and encyclopedias.** Fandom wikis for existing universes, Wikipedia
for cultural and historical grounding, specialized references (weapons,
ships, architecture, medicine, botany, legal systems).

**Community discussion.** Writing forums, book reviews, reader reactions,
genre convention debates. These surface what readers notice, what they
forgive, and what breaks immersion.

**Social media and interviews.** Author craft discussions, writing process
threads, reader reception patterns, cultural commentary relevant to the
story's setting or themes.

**Domain expertise.** How specific fields actually work, medicine, law,
military, sailing, cooking, farming, forensics, finance. The operational
details that make fiction feel grounded. Look for practitioner accounts over
textbook summaries.

**Place and culture.** Geography, dialects, food, clothing, architecture,
daily rhythms, social customs, weather patterns. The sensory and social
texture of a setting.

## How to Search

The rest: https://github.com/haowjy/creative-writing-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/creative-research/SKILL.md