Long Form Fiction

Long-Form Fiction Writing

Write novel-length fiction (30,000–100,000+ characters) from concept to complete draft. Covers the full pipeline: design document, part-by-part drafting, assembly, and delivery format.

When to Use

• User asks to "write a novel", "장편소설", "write a story from start to finish"
• User wants fiction in a specific author's style
• User asks for a complete narrative (not a snippet or outline)

Workflow

Phase 1: Design Document

Before writing prose, create a design doc (00_설계도.md or 00_design.md):

1. Concept — one-line logline + genre blend
2. Characters — name, age, role, wound, want vs need
3. Structure — parts × chapters (e.g., 5 parts × 5 chapters = 25 chapters)
4. Core twist/reversal — the single biggest reveal, stated plainly
5. Theme — what the story is about underneath the plot
6. Style guide — sentence length, POV, tense, specific author influences and what to take from each

Write the design doc to a file. This is the contract the rest of the draft follows.

Phase 2: Part-by-Part Drafting

Write one part (4–6 chapters) per write_file call. Each part file:

• Named 01_1부_발견.md, 02_2부_규칙.md, etc.
• Contains full prose, not summaries
• Ends at a natural break (part boundary)

Pacing rule: each chapter should end with either a revelation, a question, or a shift. Never end flat.

Phase 3: Assembly

Merge all part files into a single complete manuscript:

• Strip line-number prefixes if using read_file
• Add a title page header
• Verify total character count and chapter count
• Save as <title>_완결.md or <title>_complete.md

Phase 4: Delivery

Offer the user format options:

• Markdown file (default, via MEDIA:)
• EPUB for e-readers (use epub-creation skill)
• PDF (use pdf skill)

Style Fusion Technique

When the user names specific authors as influences:

1. Identify 2–3 concrete craft elements from each (not vague "style")
2. State the fusion rule explicitly in the design doc
3. Apply consistently — don't drift between chapters

Example fusion rules:

• Guillaume Musso: short sentences, cinematic cuts, cliffhanger chapter endings, supernatural premise treated matter-of-factly
• Higashino Keigo: restrained emotion, logical deduction as narrative engine, precise daily-life detail, one-line emotional gut-punch at chapter end
• Fusion: supernatural premise described in dry procedural prose (Higashino), emotions detonate at chapter boundaries (Musso)

Structural Patterns That Work

• Mystery with emotional core: the "whodunit" is secondary to "why did they do it" and "what does it cost to know"
• Escalating cost: each step forward costs the protagonist something irreversible
• Parallel timelines: past (what happened) and present (discovering what happened) alternate
• The twist recontextualizes: the reveal doesn't just surprise — it makes the reader re-evaluate every prior chapter

Korean 무협 / 웹소설 Genre Conventions

When the user asks for 무협소설, 웹소설, or "먼치킨/천재형 주인공" fiction:

Structure: 권(卷) not 부(部)

Korean web novels publish by 권 (volume), not 부 (part). Use 01_1권_각성.md, 02_2권_출세.md naming. Each 권 = 12 chapters, ~600–1,100 lines, 25–46KB. A 5권 series ≈ 150–200KB total.

경지 (Realm/Level) System

무협/웹소설 readers expect an explicit power-level ladder. Design it in the 설계도:

• Name each tier (e.g., 뇌신공 일~구 층 → 뇌성 → 뇌제 → 뇌원)
• Tie breakthroughs to plot events (기연, 사투, 깨달음)
• The protagonist should skip tiers or reach them absurdly fast — that's the genre promise

Protagonist Archetypes (먼치킨/천재형)

• 폐맥 → 기연: starts broken, gets a one-time cheat (벼락, 전승, 환생)
• 천재형: talented from birth, but the world keeps raising the ceiling
• Growth must be visible every chapter — new technique, new tier, new scale
• 사이다 전개 (cathartic payoff): every 2–3 chapters, the MC humiliates someone who underestimated them

무협 Prose Style

• Short, punchy sentences. Fragments for impact. 검이 없었다. 그러나 뇌력이 손끝에 모였다.
• 한자 terms in parentheses on first use: 뇌제(雷帝), 천뢰체(天雷體)
• Scene breaks: ---. Chapter titles: 4-char 한자 + Korean subtitle: 제1장 각성(覺醒)
• Internal monologue in single quotes: '강해져야 한다.'
• Sound effects on their own line: 쾅—!

Scale Escalation Pattern

권1: 개인/문파 → 권2: 무림 전체 → 권3: 상계/이세계 → 권4: 우주적 위협 → 권5: 존재론적 초월. Each 권's antagonist must be an order of magnitude above the last.

Iterative Expansion Workflow (Exact Char Targets)

When the user specifies a strict per-volume target (e.g. "권당 3만자"):

Counting method (Korean, excludes markdown/whitespace):

import re
with open(path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    text = f.read()
chars = re.sub(r'[\s#*\->|]', '', text)
print(f'글자수: {len(chars)}')

Workflow:

1. Write 12-chapter skeleton (~12,000–15,000 chars initial draft)
2. Measure with counting script above
3. Calculate deficit: target - current = remaining
4. Expand chapters in priority order: climax → emotional → transitions
5. Re-measure after each batch of patch calls (NOT full rewrites)
6. Repeat until within ±300 chars of target
7. Final micro-expansion: 1–2 paragraphs to close last gap

Expansion techniques (per chapter, in order of impact):

• Add sensory detail to combat (색, 소리, 냄새, 진동)
• Insert internal monologue connecting to backstory/trauma
• Add dialogue exchanges revealing character relationships
• Insert callback scenes (flowers, stars, hands) echoing earlier volumes
• Expand emotional beats: fear → resolve → relief patterns
• Add "night before" or "morning after" reflective scenes

Key rules:

• Use patch tool to expand, NEVER write_file (full rewrites lose prior work)
• Re-measure after every 2–3 patches, not after every single one
• Expansion priority: climax chapters first (they need the most words), then emotional turning points, then setup/transition chapters last
• For 30,000자 target: 12장 × ~2,500자. Climax chapters get 3,000+, setup chapters get 2,000–2,500
• Multi-session reality: 5 volumes × 30,000자 = 150,000자. This WILL span multiple sessions. Track progress with a todo list. At session end, report: which volumes are done, current char count of in-progress volume, and what remains. The user will say "계속" to resume.

Pitfalls

• Don't outline too much. The design doc is a skeleton, not a straitjacket. Let characters surprise you within the structure.
• Don't summarize when you should dramatize. "He was sad" → show the scene. The design doc can summarize; the prose must dramatize.
• Watch repetition across parts. When writing part 3, you've lost direct sight of part 1's exact phrasing. Vary your sentence openers and imagery.
• Korean fiction conventions: dialogue uses 「」 or "" (both acceptable), scene breaks use --- or * * *, chapter titles are short (2–4 words).
• Length management: 25 chapters × ~2,000 chars each = ~50,000 chars (원고지 ~250매). A "proper" Korean novel is 300–400매. Adjust chapter count accordingly.
• write_file truncation on long content: write_file silently truncates very large content (~30KB+). After writing each 권, ALWAYS verify the file ends with the expected closing marker (e.g., *제N권 끝*) by reading the last 10 lines. If truncated, use patch (mode=replace) to append the missing tail — find the last complete paragraph and replace it with itself + the remaining content. This happened on 3 of 5 volumes in a real session.
• Don't re-patch identical text: if patch returns "old_string and new_string are identical", the file was already complete — verify with read_file at the tail offset instead of retrying.
• Duplicate scenes from iterative patching: when expanding multiple chapters via patch, earlier patches can leave orphaned duplicate text (e.g. a battle scene appears twice because a later patch re-inserted content that an earlier patch already added). After major expansion passes, search for repeated dialogue lines or scene markers to catch duplicates.
• Korean char count ≠ byte count ≠ word count: 3만자 = ~30,000 Korean characters excluding spaces/markdown. Always use the regex counting method, never estimate from file size.

Related skills

humanizer (anti-AI-slop pass on prose), epub-creation (ebook delivery), pdf (print-ready delivery).