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Discovery Drafting

Draft fiction without an outline — start from a one-paragraph story kernel and reconcile each chapter back into the story bible.

Content & WritingIntermediate★ 243⑂ 36AI score 8/10Last updated: Sep 24, 2026

What it does

Turns "pantsing" into a repeatable, disciplined workflow:

  • Story kernel: one paragraph — character in a situation, a want, an obstacle, a tone signal
  • Write forward only: park bible questions as inline [TODO: check bible] instead of stalling
  • Reconcile loop after every chapter: extract new entity/promise candidates → reverse-outline the chapter → diff against the bible (new / contradiction / enrichment / dangling) → update the bible or revise the chapter
  • Batch review every 3–5 chapters: sweep dangling setups and cut dead ends (cut threads get status: abandoned/cut, never deletion)
  • Cadence keeping: word targets, session logging via story progress . --log, handoff to revision-continuity at midpoint and completion

Who it's for

  • Novelists who lose momentum when forced to outline first
  • Writers starting from a character or situation rather than a plot
  • Anyone who wants creative freedom but still needs continuity bookkeeping
  • Not for mysteries or clue-dependent genres where setup must precede payoff (use chapter-writing)

Examples

  1. "Let's just start writing, no outline" → drafts the kernel with you, sets draft-mode: discovered in story.md, then writes chapter 1.
  2. "Chapter 3 is done — reconcile the bible" → extracts new characters/places/promises for your approval, builds a reverse outline and scene records, and lists contradictions with existing canon.
  3. "Cut this subplot" → logs the promise as status: abandoned with a reason and keeps the cut character's file marked status: cut.

· · · Install guide · · ·

Try it now, no install

Paste this into Claude to use the skill without installing anything.

Read the instructions in this file and follow them to help me:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/danjdewhurst/story-skills/HEAD/skills/discovery-drafting/SKILL.md

What I want: (describe your task here)

If Claude can't open the link, open it yourself and paste the contents instead.

↓ If it works for you, download the ZIP below and install it. Then it runs on its own — no pasting each time.

Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
  1. Download the ZIP with the button below.
  2. In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
  3. Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
↓ Download ZIP
Install in Claude Code

Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code

Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart.
Copy the skills/discovery-drafting folder from the GitHub repo danjdewhurst/story-skills into my ~/.claude/skills/discovery-drafting/.
When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.

Install with a command instead

git clone https://github.com/danjdewhurst/story-skills.git ~/story-skills && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r ~/story-skills/skills/* ~/.claude/skills/

⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.

  1. Open a terminal.
  2. Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/danjdewhurst/story-skills.git ~/story-skills
  3. Create the skills directory: mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
  4. This skill references sibling skills (story-init, chapter-writing, revision-continuity, scene-craft), so copy all of them: cp -r ~/story-skills/skills/* ~/.claude/skills/
  5. (Optional) For the Story CLI, run bun install inside the repo and verify with bun run story -- --help. Without the CLI, the checks can be done manually.
  6. Restart Claude Code and say: "I want to discovery-draft a novel without an outline."
  7. Use the story-init skill first so a project exists (story.md plus at least one character).
View source on GitHub ↗License: MIT