/discovery-drafting

The Reconcile Loop

The reconcile loop is the core discipline of discovery drafting: after each discovered chapter, extract what the chapter invented, reverse-outline it, diff it against the bible, and reconcile. This is what makes pantsing compatible with a markdown-first story bible — the bible is maintained after the prose, not before.

The loop (run after every chapter, before the next)

1. Extract new entities and promises

Treat the finished chapter like story import treats a manuscript:

1. Read the chapter prose and list every new entity candidate: characters, locations, factions, artifacts, systems/rules the chapter introduced or implied. Present candidates to the user for approval, exactly as the import workflow does — do not auto-create bible files.
2. List every new promise (setup needing payoff) and question (mystery raised). Check each against continuity/promises/ and continuity/questions/ for duplicates before creating new records.

2. Reverse-outline the chapter

Write the outline the chapter would have had if it had been planned — after the fact:

• One line per scene: what the scene accomplishes, POV, location.
• State changes the scene made (feeding the scene record in scenes/).
• Promises planted, questions raised, foreshadowing laid.

Store the reverse outline in the chapter file above the prose (same convention as chapter-writing's approved outlines) and create/update the scenes/ records.

3. Diff against the bible

Compare the reverse outline and entity candidates against the existing bible:

• New — genuinely new elements: create the files (after user approval).
• Contradiction — the chapter says X, the bible says Y: one of them is wrong. Decide with the user which one, then fix the loser.
• Enrichment — the chapter deepens something the bible sketched: update the bible file (character voice detail, location texture, system rule).
• Dangling — a promise or question with no plausible payoff yet: keep it open in the ledger, but flag it in the chapter notes so the next reconcile loop checks it again.

4. Reconcile

Apply the diff: update bible files, registries, continuity/state.md, plot/timeline.md, and the chapter/scene records. The two legal outcomes are update the bible (the chapter discovered something true) or revise the chapter (the chapter broke something true). "Leave both" is not an outcome — unresolved diffs become continuity bugs.

Post-hoc chapter notes

After the loop, add a ## Chapter Notes (post-hoc) section above ## Chapter Text. story wordcount and story export count everything after ## Chapter Text as prose, so notes and TODOs below that heading ship in the manuscript. Record:

• What was discovered (new entities, rules, relationships).
• What was cut or left dangling.
• Any open questions for future chapters.

These notes are the project's memory of why the bible looks the way it does. Future agents read them before drafting the next chapter.

The mode: discovered flag

Every chapter drafted in discovery mode carries this frontmatter:

mode: discovered

The flag tells the CLI and later audits that the reconcile loop is a required step for this chapter: a discovered chapter without post-hoc notes and a completed diff is unfinished work, not a stylistic choice. story next and story doctor flag any mode: discovered chapter with no ## Chapter Notes (post-hoc) heading as [P1] Reconcile discovered chapters: ... for <ids>; the action clears once the heading is present. When story.md uses draft-mode: discovered, treat missing post-hoc notes on any chapter as a maintenance finding. Chapters written outline-first in a mixed project use mode: outlined (or omit the field).

Reconcile checklist (per chapter)

• Entity candidates extracted and user-approved; new files created
• New promises/questions checked for duplicates, then recorded
• Reverse outline written into the chapter file
• Scene records created/updated with state changes
• Diff run: every contradiction resolved (bible updated OR chapter revised)
• continuity/state.md, plot/timeline.md, registries updated
• Post-hoc notes appended; mode: discovered in frontmatter
• story wordcount . --write, story reindex ., story links ., story validate ., story continuity .