---
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 fallback `node ../story-maintenance/scripts/story.js` with the same arguments. Use `node <checkout>/bin/story.js` instead only when the user names a Story Skills repository checkout or you are working in one. Write the script as an absolute path (resolve the fallback relative to this skill folder) and run it from the folder you would run `story` from, so `.` and other relative paths keep their meaning. Use Node, not Bun or a package script: Bun would load that folder's `bunfig.toml` (which can run code) and `.env`, and a package script runs from the checkout's root. If no CLI is available, perform the registry, backlink, and word-count checks manually.

After each reconcile loop:

```shell
story reindex .
story wordcount . --write
story check .
```

## Reference Files

- **`references/story-kernel.md`** - The one-paragraph kernel: character in a situation, want, obstacle, tone signal
- **`references/reconcile-loop.md`** - The core loop: extract entities/promises → reverse-outline → diff against the bible → reconcile; `mode: discovered` flag
- **`references/dead-ends.md`** - Recognizing and cutting dead ends: cut/fold/prune, abandoned ledger entries, the darling log
- **`references/drafting-cadence.md`** - Daily targets, batch reviews, session shape, recovering a broken cadence

## Shared Conventions

Every story skill follows the shared conventions in [`../story-maintenance/references/conventions.md`](../story-maintenance/references/conventions.md), resolved relative to this skill folder. Read it before creating, renaming, or linking story files. If that file is missing because this skill was installed without `story-maintenance`, the essentials are: kebab-case ids and filenames, YAML frontmatter on every story-project file, `_index.md` registry tables that `story reindex` rebuilds (never edit them by hand), bidirectional links between entities, `characters` for who is on the page and `mentions` for who is only referred to, `status: deceased` plus `died-in: chapter-{NN}` for deaths, and no project-local generator or build scripts (run only the installed or bundled Story CLI).