quantum-pen 0.1.1

Stories are not written, but discovered.

Quantum Pen

Stories are not written, but discovered.

Quantum Pen is an experimental AI narrative co-creation engine. It transforms the solitary, linear path of writing into a thrilling expedition into the narrative multiverse. Here, every authorial "intent" is cast into a quantum field, instantly branching into dozens of parallel story realities.

You, the author, are the sole Observer in this narrative universe. Your choice is the act of measurement that collapses the wave function of fiction, turning one of countless possibilities into the one true canon.

This isn't just writing. It's navigating the narrative wave function.

Core Concepts

The workflow of Quantum Pen is a fusion of several key concepts:

1. Evolutionary Algorithm: The story itself is treated as a population. In each cycle, the fittest narrative paths survive and propagate through a process of "reproduction" (generating new chapters), "mutation" (diverse creative briefs), and "selection" (evaluation and filtering).
2. AI Agent Ensemble: The system employs three specialized AI agents working in concert:
   • The Director: The strategist. Based on the author's intent and the current story, it generates multiple forward-looking creative briefs.
   • The Writer: The novelist. It translates the Director's briefs into well-crafted, prose-rich chapters.
   • The Evaluator: The critic. It quantitatively scores the Writers' outputs across multiple literary dimensions, providing the basis for natural selection.
3. Divergence & Convergence: Each creative cycle is a breath of creative expansion and contraction:
   • Divergence: 3 parent texts → 9 director's briefs → 27 candidate chapters, maximizing the exploration of creative possibilities.
   • Convergence: From 27 candidates, a 2+1 elite selection strategy filters the pool down to 3, ensuring the story evolves towards a high-quality, coherent path.

How It Works

The system operates in iterative "cycles." Here’s a breakdown of a single cycle:

[ Author's Intent ] -> [ 3 Parent Texts ] -> (Director) -> [ 9 Briefs ] -> (Writer) -> [ 27 Candidates ] -> (Evaluator) -> [ 27 Scored Candidates ] -> (Selection) -> [ 3 New Parent Texts ] -> (Loop)

1. Input: The author defines the creative goal for the cycle in intention.md.
2. Director Phase: The Director reads the 3 texts from the current "text pool" and generates 9 unique creative briefs.
3. Writer Phase: The Writer AI takes the 9 briefs and generates 27 new candidate chapters.
4. Evaluator Phase: The Evaluator AI scores all 27 candidates based on predefined literary dimensions.
5. Selection Phase: A 2+1 algorithm selects the next generation:
   • Exploitation: The top 2 highest-scoring candidates are chosen to preserve the strongest narrative threads.
   • Exploration: 1 "promising" candidate—one that may not have the highest average score but excels in a key dimension (like creativity)—is also selected to prevent creative stagnation.
6. Update Phase: These 3 chosen candidates form the new text pool for the next cycle. Their full text is saved to the story_progress/ directory.

Getting Started

Follow these steps to begin your first co-creation session.

1. Prerequisites

• Python 3.12+
• A running Redis instance (e.g., redis-server on your local machine).

2. Create Your Writing Project

First, create a dedicated folder for your story. This will keep your narrative files organized and separate from the tool's installation.

mkdir my-awesome-story
cd my-awesome-story

3. Install Quantum Pen

Install the engine using pip. It's recommended to use a virtual environment for your project.

pip install quantum-pen

4. Initialize Your Story

Inside your project folder (my-awesome-story), create three essential files:

1. .env

This file holds your API key. Quantum Pen uses OpenRouter to access various language models.

OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-your-key-here"

2. starter.md

This is the seed of your story—the opening paragraph or chapter.

# The Chronos Key

The antique shop smelled of dust and forgotten time, a scent Elias knew better than his own name. He was an appraiser of histories, a man who could read the soul of an object from the scratches on its surface. But the device that lay on the velvet cloth before him was silent. It was a pocket watch crafted from a metal that shimmered like captured starlight, its face a complex astrolabe of unknown constellations. It had no hands to tell the time, only a single, keyhole-shaped aperture at its center.

3. intention.md

This file directs the AI for the next creative cycle. State your goal for the upcoming chapter.

Deepen the mystery of the watch. Introduce a character who is also interested in it, creating a sense of competition or threat. The atmosphere should be tense and filled with suspicion.

5. Run the Engine

With your Redis server running, you're ready to start. From inside your project folder, run the command:

qp

The engine will start its first cycle. A new story_progress/ directory will be created to store the generated chapters. To continue the story, simply update intention.md with your new goal and run qp again.

Your Writing Project Structure

After running the engine, your project folder will look like this:

my-awesome-story/
├── .env                # Your API key
├── starter.md          # The story's starting point
├── intention.md        # Your creative goal for the next cycle
└── story_progress/     # (Auto-generated) Stores the output of each cycle
    ├── cycle_01_cand_01.md
    ├── cycle_01_cand_02.md
    └── ...

Customization

You can easily customize the engine by editing the CONFIGURATION section in quantum_pen.py:

• Change Models: Swap out DIRECTOR_MODEL, WRITER_MODEL, and EVALUATOR_MODEL with any supported model on OpenRouter.
• Adjust Parameters: Modify TEXT_POOL_SIZE or WRITER_BRANCH_FACTOR to change the scale of the evolutionary process.
• Refine Evaluation: Add or change dimensions in EVALUATION_DIMENSIONS and update the EVALUATOR_PROMPT_TEMPLATE to match, fine-tuning the selection criteria.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.