/discovery-drafting

name: discovery-drafting
description: This skill should be used when the user asks about "pantsing", "discovery write", "write without an outline", "discovery draft", "write into the dark", "story kernel", "reconcile a chapter", "dead end", "drafting sprint", "writing cadence", or wants to draft a story by discovery with retrospective bible reconciliation. NOT for outline-first drafting, or mysteries and other clue-dependent genres where setup must come before payoff (use chapter-writing), or a reverse outline of an existing linear draft, a subplot cut, or another revision pass on existing chapters (use revision-continuity).

Discovery Drafting

Overview

Draft by discovery ("pantsing"): start from a one-paragraph story kernel rather than a beat sheet, write forward, then reconcile each chapter back into the story bible through a structured loop (extract entities → reverse outline → diff against the bible → reconcile). This is the complement to chapter-writing's outline-first workflow. The bible is maintained *after* the prose, not before — which the repo's import-style entity extraction and continuity checks already support.

Prerequisites

A story project must already exist (created via the story-init skill), with at least a `story.md` and one character. No plot structure is required to start — arcs get built during reconciliation.

When to Use

• The user wants to draft without outlining first, or identifies as a

discovery writer

• Starting a project from a situation/character rather than a plot
• NOT for mysteries or other clue-dependent genres where setup must precede

payoff (use chapter-writing; see `genre-craft`)

• NOT for revising existing chapters, including a reverse outline of an

existing linear draft or cutting a subplot as a revision pass (use `revision-continuity`). The reverse outline inside the reconcile loop, and cutting dead ends in a batch review, stay here

• The user can switch modes per project or per chapter; record the mode so

audits know which discipline applies

Workflow

1. **Write the story kernel.** Consult `references/story-kernel.md` and draft the one-paragraph kernel with the user (character in a situation, a want, an obstacle, a tone signal). Store it in `story.md` under `## Story Kernel` and set `draft-mode: discovered` in frontmatter. 2. **Draft forward.** Create the chapter with `story add chapter 'Title' --number N --mode discovered` so `story next` flags it until it is reconciled (in a `draft-mode: discovered` project a drafted chapter with no `mode` is flagged too). Write the chapter from the kernel using the session shape in `references/drafting-cadence.md` (re-read → write → close with a next-session note). Write forward only; park bible questions as `[TODO: check bible]` inline rather than stopping. Follow the prose craft in `chapter-writing/references/writing-guidelines.md` and the scene-grain tools in the `scene-craft` skill as usual, and write in the voice and house style recorded in `style-sheet.md` — discovery changes *planning order*, not prose standards. Write in the `language` set in `story.md` (a missing field means `en`); the craft references' word-level advice is English, so in another language keep its aims and follow the style sheet's conventions. 3. **Run the reconcile loop.** After each chapter, follow `references/reconcile-loop.md` exactly:

• Extract new entity/promise candidates (import-style, user-approved),

keeping names as the prose spells them. Ids stay ASCII kebab-case: Cyrillic and Greek names get one automatically (`Пётр` gives `petr`), and a name in a script with no transliteration table (`李明`) needs `story add character '李明' --id li-ming`, with the id agreed with the user

• Reverse-outline the chapter into the chapter file and `scenes/` records
• Diff against the bible (new / contradiction / enrichment / dangling)
• Reconcile: update the bible **or** revise the chapter — never neither
• Add post-hoc chapter notes above `## Chapter Text` (below it they

count and ship as prose); set chapter frontmatter `mode: discovered` 4. **Batch review every 3–5 chapters.** Re-read post-hoc notes, sweep the promise/question ledgers for dangling setups, and cut dead ends per `references/dead-ends.md` (abandoned ledger entries keep a recorded reason; cut characters get `status: cut`, not deletion). 5. **Hold the cadence.** Keep the agreed target (see `references/drafting-cadence.md`) and log each session with `story progress . --log`; at midpoint and draft completion, hand the batch to `revision-continuity` for developmental checks before continuing. 6. **Close the loop on mode.** When the draft is complete, every `mode: discovered` chapter must have post-hoc notes and a completed diff — `story next` lists any without post-hoc notes under `Reconcile discovered chapters`; finish those, then hand the manuscript to `revision-continuity` for revision passes.

Conventions

• `story.md` frontmatter `draft-mode: discovered` marks a discovery project;

per-chapter `mode: discovered` / `mode: outlined` tracks mixed projects.

• Chapters carry a `## Chapter Notes (post-hoc)` section, above

`## Chapter Text`, recording what was discovered, what was cut, and open questions — the project's memory of why the bible looks the way it does.

• Entity candidates extracted from prose are presented for user approval

before bible files are created (same discipline as `story import`).

• Cut threads are logged, not erased: abandoned promises/questions keep

`status: abandoned` with a reason; cut characters keep their file with `status: cut`.

• Bidirectional links and kebab-case ids follow the shared story conventions

exactly — discovery changes when the bible is written, not how.

CLI Maintenance

Use the Story CLI when it is available. If `story` is not installed, use the bundled fall