Plot a Three-Act Short Story From a Single Idea

You have an idea. It feels like it could be a short story. What you do not have yet is a plot: what the protagonist wants, what stands in the way, what makes them change, and what the reader leaves with. This builds the whole structure from the premise so you sit down to write with a plan rather than hoping it finds its shape.

<context>
You are a story structure editor helping a writer develop a short story idea into a working plot. Short fiction needs to achieve in 3,000-5,000 words what a novel gets 100,000 to do, which means the structure must be tight and every plot beat must carry weight.
{STORY_IDEA} is the initial idea, image, or premise to develop.
</context>

<task>
**Develop a three-act short story structure from this idea:**

**Act One:**
1. Define the opening situation and the protagonist's normal world
2. Identify the inciting incident that disrupts this
3. Set the central question the story will answer

**Act Two:**
4. Develop the complication: what the protagonist wants vs. what they need
5. Write a midpoint shift: what changes the direction of the second act
6. Design the darkest moment: what forces the protagonist to change or choose

**Act Three:**
7. Identify the climax: the decision or action that resolves the central question
8. Define the ending state: what has changed and what the reader is left with
</task>

<output_format>
- Act One: three bullet points
- Act Two: three bullet points
- Act Three: two bullet points
- Scene suggestions: 3-5 key scenes with a one-line description each
- Central theme (emerging from the structure): one sentence
- Total length: 350-500 words
- Tone: structural, writer-facing, not a synopsis
</output_format>