# Reader contract and progression

## Keep promises visible

The opening establishes what kind of pleasure, tension, or question the story will repeatedly deliver. Later chapters may vary pace, but they must keep feeding that contract through concrete events. A hook is not maintained by mentioning it; someone must act on evidence, pay a cost, make a choice, or change their understanding.

## Progress on more than one axis

A useful chapter changes at least one primary axis and one supporting axis: plot position, knowledge, relationship, status, danger, resources, or self-understanding. Quiet chapters still need a durable change. Climaxes need aftermath before the next escalation.

## Preserve causal ownership

Consequences come from character choices under constraints. Do not solve pressure through coincidence, unexplained competence, or an antagonist becoming careless. When a new fact changes the route, show how it was discovered and why it matters now.