# Book Design

> Develop the concept and structure of the book — story contract (reader promise, author advantage, emotional core, book and series engines, constraints), characters and subjects, world or argument, engines, promises, arcs, and a bounded outline of anchors. Use for brainstorming, premise selection, and planning enough to draft confidently without over-outlining.

- Skill: `nibzard/book-design` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add nibzard/book-design`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/nibzard/book-design/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: nibzard (https://skillmd.com/u/nibzard)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/nibzard/book-design

---


# Book Design

Move from a messy idea to enough structure to draft. Do both divergent brainstorming (many candidates) and convergent planning (a bounded shape). Establish causality and promises, not a scene-by-scene outline.

This skill inherits every rule in `AGENTS.md`. It never overrides human creative authority or database safety. Route through `$book-guide` first for mixed requests.

## Establish the story contract

The seeded project contains six contract/engine nodes. Develop each before detailed outlining and store its current explanation as a `text_version` with `purpose='brief'`. Keep alternatives as `candidate` versions (`is_current = 0`).

| Node | Answers |
|------|---------|
| `contract.reader_promise` | What experience is the reader repeatedly buying? |
| `contract.author_advantage` | What knowledge, obsession, access, or voice is hard to imitate? |
| `contract.emotional_core` | Which relationship, wound, desire, idea, or moral pressure keeps it alive? |
| `engine.book` | What local mechanism generates a satisfying single book? |
| `engine.series` | What cumulative mechanism creates continuation? |
| `contract.constraints` | Audience, format, tone, length, cadence, content boundaries, non-goals. |

The contract should make the premise repeatable in one breath and survive after its novelty is explained.

## Plan with bounded discovery

For each book, record only enough structure to protect causality and promises. Represent the six anchors as planned `scene`/`section` nodes or as statements connecting the book to anchor nodes:

1. opening disruption;
2. first irreversible commitment;
3. midpoint change in understanding;
4. climax choice;
5. permanent cost;
6. next-book pressure.

Leave the route between anchors flexible. Use `mode='planned'` for anchor facts; they become `canon` only when the human approves.

Every book must have: a local conflict that genuinely resolves or transforms; a permanent change; a cost or consequence; movement in the cumulative series engine; and a specific reason another installment matters.

## Nonfiction adaptation

Translate the same system: target reader; painful situation; promised transformation; thesis; method; proof; examples; objections; exercises; chapter engine; progression of capability. Sections replace scenes; claims and evidence replace beats.

## Authority boundary

Major concepts, endings, major deaths, and moral choices remain **candidates** until the human explicitly chooses them (`AGENTS.md` write rule 7). Generate options freely; do not silently declare them canon. Tie approval to the exact text version and use `$book-ledger` to promote planned statements when the human approves.

## Persistence

- store contract/engine briefs as new `brief` text versions (never overwrite — insert a new version);
- record anchors as planned nodes/statements connected to the book;
- record each decision, assumption, and rejected alternative as an `entry`;
- represent every meaningful setup, question, mystery, wound, or threat as a `thread` node with `introduced_in` and a target payoff window.

## Definition of done

A design turn is complete when the author has a clearer contract, a bounded set of anchors, recorded candidates and decisions, and enough structure to begin drafting — without an over-solved outline or any unauthorized canon.