dna-extraction

What this skill does

# DNA Extraction: Functional Analysis for Adaptation

You help extract the functional DNA from existing works. Your role is to identify what makes a work function—not its surface elements, but the underlying structures, relationships, and emotional mechanics that could be preserved in an adaptation.

## Core Principle

**The first ideas when adapting are surface elements. The functional DNA is what those elements DO, not what they ARE.**

Hamlet's prince status is not the DNA—it's a form. The DNA is:
- "Protagonist has proximity to power center but is not the power holder"
- "Protagonist has structural obligation that conflicts with personal desire"
- "Protagonist has insider access to observe corruption they cannot act against"

## The States

### State EX0: No Extraction
**Symptoms:** Work identified but no analysis started. User says "I want to adapt X" without having analyzed what makes X work.
**Key Questions:**
- What work are we extracting from?
- What medium is the source? (affects extraction approach)
- What's your extraction goal? (adaptation, trope mapping, analysis)
**Interventions:** Begin with emotional core identification. Use genre-conventions skill to identify primary/secondary genres.

### State EX1: Surface Reading
**Symptoms:** Analysis focuses on what happens, not why it works. "It's about a prince who sees a ghost." Plot summaries without function identification. User conflates events with functions.
**Key Questions:**
- Why does this element exist?
- What would break if we removed it?
- What does the audience feel because of this element?
- Is this what the work IS or what the work DOES?
**Interventions:** Four-axis function extraction. Apply "function not form" reframe to each element.

### State EX2: Single-Axis Extraction
**Symptoms:** Functions extracted only for plot OR character OR theme. Missing interconnections. "The ghost provides inciting incident." (True, but incomplete—what about character function? Emotional function? Relational function?)
**Key Questions:**
- What other functions does this element serve?
- How does this connect to character arc?
- What genre promise does it fulfill?
- What relationships does it create or complicate?
**Interventions:** Multi-axis checklist. Cross-reference with genre-conventions skill. Force extraction on all six axes.

### State EX3: Missing Emotional Core
**Symptoms:** Functions extracted but no clarity on what emotional experience the work creates. Mechanical analysis without genre promise. Can describe plot functions but not audience feeling.
**Key Questions:**
- What does the audience feel while experiencing this work?
- Which elemental genre(s) does this work deliver?
- Where are the emotional peaks and valleys?
- What would someone who loved this work say about WHY they loved it?
**Interventions:** Genre-conventions integration. Emotional beat mapping with `emotional-beat-map.ts`. Primary/secondary genre identification.

### State EX4: Structural/Stylistic Conflation
**Symptoms:** Analysis treats stylistic choices as structural necessities. Shakespeare's language treated as structural when it's stylistic. Period setting treated as essential when it's adaptable.
**Key Questions:**
- If we changed this, would the story break?
- Is this essential to function or characteristic of form?
- Could another form serve the same function?
- Would a different setting make this impossible?
**Interventions:** Structural/stylistic classification with `structural-stylistic.ts`. Test each element against "would the story still work?" criterion.

### State EX5: Missing Relationships
**Symptoms:** Individual character functions extracted but relationship dynamics aren't. "Hamlet is indecisive" without "Claudius represents what Hamlet could become if he acted." Characters analyzed in isolation.
**Key Questions:**
- What does this character mean TO other characters?
- What choice does this relationship force?
- What would be lost if this relationship didn't exist?
- How do characters define each other through contrast?
**Interventions:** Relationship function mapping. Character web analysis. Identify foil pairs and what they illuminate.

### State EX6: No Hierarchy
**Symptoms:** Everything treated as equally important. No distinction between load-bearing elements and removable details. Every scene, character, subplot given equal weight.
**Key Questions:**
- Which functions are primary (story breaks without them)?
- Which are reinforcing (story weakens without them)?
- Which are optional flavor (nice but not necessary)?
- What's the minimum viable extraction?
**Interventions:** Function hierarchy classification. Impact scoring. Identify which 3-5 elements are truly non-negotiable.

### State EX7: Extraction Complete
**Symptoms:** Comprehensive extraction document exists. Functions identified at multiple levels. Emotional core clear. Structural/stylistic separated. Hierarchy established. Links to clusters documented.
**Key Questions:**
- Is this extraction complete enough to generate a new work?
- Are there gaps that would cause synthesis to fail?
- Have you validated against the emotional experience?
- Are cluster links identified?
**Interventions:** Validation checklist. Hand-off to adaptation-synthesis skill.

## The Six Extraction Axes

For every story element, extract functions across all six axes:

| Axis | Question | What It Reveals |
|------|----------|-----------------|
| **Form** | What is it? | The surface element (adaptable container) |
| **Structural Function** | What does it enable in the plot? | Story mechanics, cause-effect chains |
| **Character Function** | What does it enable in character journeys? | Arc requirements, transformation catalysts |
| **Emotional Function** | What does it make the audience feel? | Genre promise delivery, emotional beats |
| **Thematic Function** | What ideas does it explore? | Meaning, questions, resonance |
| **Relational Function** | What dynamics does it create between elements? | Web of connections, contrasts, tensions |

## Tone and Voice Extraction

Beyond structural functions, works have distinctive tonal signatures that define their feel. Extract these separately:

### Tonal Registers

| Register | Description | Examples |
|----------|-------------|----------|
| **Sincerity Level** | Earnest vs. ironic/detached | Killjoys: high sincerity despite humor. Bebop: detached cool masking pain |
| **Humor Mode** | How comedy functions | Banter (Killjoys), deadpan (Bebop), physical (Jackie Chan), dark (Breaking Bad) |
| **Emotional Expression** | How feelings are shown | Direct statement, subtext-heavy, action-reveals-feeling, denial/deflection |
| **Dialogue Density** | Talk-to-action ratio | Quippy/rapid-fire vs. sparse/weighted silence |
| **Conflict Style** | How characters fight | Verbal sparring, cold silence, explosive outbursts, passive aggression |

### Voice Patterns to Extract

**Character Voice Distinctiveness:**
- Do characters sound different from each other?
- What speech patterns mark each character? (Jargon, formality, sentence length)
- How do characters reveal vs. conceal through dialogue?

**Dialogue Functions:**
- Information delivery (exposition handling)
- Relationship expression (how connection shows in speech)
- Conflict escalation (how arguments build)
- Subtext density (what's said vs. what's meant)

**Tonal Consistency:**
- Does tone shift between scenes/episodes? How?
- What triggers tonal shifts?
- Is there a baseline tone that anchors the work?

### Example: Killjoys vs. Cowboy Bebop Tonal Extraction

| Element | Killjoys | Cowboy Bebop |
|---------|----------|--------------|
| Sincerity | High - characters mean what they say | Low - ironic distance masks vulnerability |
| Humor | Banter, quips, playful antagonism | Deadpan, absurdist, melancholy comedy |
| Emotional expression | Direct - "I love you, asshole" | Deflected - shown through action, not words |
| Dialogue density | High - constant verbal play | Varied - he