Chapter 10. From Design Document to Manuscript — A Chain of Ten Decisions

There are things to do before sitting before a blank document. Previous chapters addressed each one: stakes, point of view, form, and length in Chapter 3; checking the Vault in Chapter 4; choosing characters in Chapter 5; finding material in Chapter 6; and selecting a Fun Engine in Chapter 8.

The design document connects them into one workflow. It is a short planning document written before drafting—not the manuscript, but a map for writing it.

This chapter explains how to prepare that design document and traces the full path from design to completed manuscript, showing how ten decisions form a chain.

What Is a Design Document?

A design document records the items settled before drafting one manuscript. It resembles an architectural blueprint: the plan is drawn before a house is built, the house is constructed according to it, and the plan is not drawn after construction. Pixar's one-page treatment for Toy Story and the starting point Hemingway reportedly wrote in a notebook before a short story—“one true sentence”—share this quality. A concise plan preserves freedom in writing; no plan leaves the writing lost.

Without a design document, drafting becomes exploration. Exploration is not inherently bad, but writing all one hundred pieces that way creates inefficiency and inconsistency. A design document turns drafting into execution. You open the document already knowing what to write and how to write it.

The design must be short. If it consumes too much time, it breaks the rhythm of writing. All ten items should be completed in twenty to thirty minutes.

Ten Decisions

The following decisions are recorded in order.

Decision 1: Choose the form

Select short story, comic sketch, comic dialogue, or four-panel comic script. Add one sentence explaining why: “This material is relationship-centered, and everything emerges through two characters' conversation, so use comic dialogue.” Recording the reason provides a basis for reviewing the choice later.

Decision 2: Set the length target

Choose a specific target within the form's range: “short story, approximately 7,000 Korean characters” or “comic sketch, 2,000–2,500 characters.” A number makes it easier to correct excess or shortage while drafting.

Decision 3: Choose the protagonist

Confirm the protagonist's name and Tier. Briefly note their current position in the coverage matrix: existing manuscript count and distribution by form.

Decision 4: Select the material

In one line, record which Library heading—background, material, character, event, object, or place—supplied the material and what it is. “Place heading: a brief encounter with a member of another team in the practice-room corridor.” Keep it concise.

Decision 5: Define the stakes

Write external and internal stakes separately. External: “Whether this encounter creates a good first impression (no explicit event).” Internal: “How to define oneself in an unfamiliar world.”

If the stakes feel too weak, reconsider the material. Material without stakes rarely becomes a manuscript.

Decision 6: Choose the point of view

Set the narrator's position and psychological distance. “Third-person limited through Kang Myeongsuk; close psychological distance; interior monologue allowed.” Or: “Because this is comic dialogue, point of view is handled through conversation, with minimal stage directions.”

Decision 7: Choose the Fun Engine

Select one or two of the five engines to drive the manuscript. “Buddy dynamic plus aesthetics of paradox. The unequal pairing itself creates energy, while Myeongsuk's unexpected response supplies the paradox.”

Decision 8: Plan the worldbuilding signal

Plan an introductory signal that satisfies Criterion A. “Naturally include K-pop K's internal forms of address or a specific practice-corridor system in the first two paragraphs.”

Decision 9: Plan the body anchor

Select the principal body anchor for Criterion B in advance, consulting the character's physical records in the Vault. “Myeongsuk's tension signal: picking at her left thumbnail. Use once in the opening or at the turning point.”

Decision 10: Set the landing direction

Choose the type and direction of the Criterion E landing. “Still landing: after the encounter, Myeongsuk stands alone in the corridor. End with a body anchor.” Knowing the landing in advance lets you write toward it.

Design Document Template

This is the working format.

## Design Document — [Manuscript Title or Temporary Code]
Date: YYYY-MM-DD

### Decision 1. Choose the Form
Form: [ Short Story / Comic Sketch / Comic Dialogue / Four-Panel Comic ]
Reason:

### Decision 2. Length Target
Approximately [  ] Korean characters

### Decision 3. Protagonist
Name:
Tier: [ 1 / 2 / 3 ]  (1=core, 2=middle, 3=background)
Current manuscript count:

### Decision 4. Material
Heading source: [ Background / Material / Character / Event / Object / Place ]
Material summary:

### Decision 5. Stakes
External:
Internal:

### Decision 6. Point of View
Narrator:
Psychological distance:

### Decision 7. Fun Engine
Primary:
Secondary: (optional)
Execution plan:

### Decision 8. Worldbuilding Signal Plan
Opening plan:

### Decision 9. Body Anchor Plan
Character-specific anchor:
Placement plan (opening/turn/landing):

### Decision 10. Landing Direction
Type: [ Still / Action / Dialogue ]
Landing direction:
Final-sentence idea:

### Vault Check (Pre-Draft Checklist)
Items checked: [ Background / Material / Character / Event / Object / Place ]
Expected new Vault entries:

Completing this template should not take more than twenty minutes. One or two lines per item are enough. It is a note, not a thesis.

From Design Document to Manuscript

Once the design is complete, keep it open while drafting and refer to it throughout.

The writing process has three stages.

Stage 1. Opening (approximately 15–20 percent).

Install the first Criterion A worldbuilding signal and Criterion B body anchor. In a short story, secure both within the first two paragraphs; in a comic sketch, the first three sentences; in comic dialogue, the first three exchanges; and in a four-panel comic, panel one.

Plant the seed of the stakes as well, indirectly signaling the external stakes to the reader.

Stage 2. Development (approximately 65–70 percent).

This is where the Fun Engine runs. Lead the story through the selected engine.

Place a body anchor at the turning point. Reveal the character's internal change through a physical change.

Criterion F, dramatizing numbers, fits naturally into this stage. Insert a detail midway through that makes the world's quantity or scale sensory.

Stage 3. Landing (approximately 10–15 percent).

Execute the Criterion E landing planned in the design document.

Let the final scene or sentence satisfy both the last Criterion B body anchor and the Criterion E landing.

Criterion D, character name: confirm that the protagonist's name appears explicitly at least once in the manuscript.

May the Design Change During Drafting?

There will be moments when you want to depart from the design.

That is allowed, with conditions.

The MUST PASS criteria, B and E, cannot be removed. Do not eliminate the body anchor or abandon the landing while drafting. Giving up Criterion B or E itself is prohibited.

Other items may change. You may switch form, replace the Fun Engine, or change the landing type from still to action or dialogue. Changing the type differs from abandoning Criterion E: the landing must remain. Record the reason in the design document: “The aesthetics of paradox emerged more naturally than the buddy dynamic during development. Fun Engine changed.”

This note later proves during review that the decision was deliberate rather than arbitrary.

The Relationship Between Design and QA

After completing the manuscript, perform QA against all six quality criteria. The design document becomes the reference point.

Did the manuscript realize what was planned? Does the opening contain the planned worldbuilding signal? Does the body anchor work at the designated location? Does the Fun Engine run through the development? Was the chosen landing executed?

Comparing design and manuscript is more systematic than intuitive QA. Instead of “Something feels lacking,” feedback becomes specific: “The design planned a still landing, but the manuscript ended with over-explanation. Revision required.”

If one decision frequently fails QA, focus more closely on it during design. If summary endings recur, plan the landing direction more concretely when completing Decision 10.

K-pop K Example: Demonstrating the Design

Suppose we are writing a comic sketch about Kang Myeongsuk. Here is the actual design.

Decision 1. Form: comic sketch. Reason: brief material whose core is strong irony.

Decision 2. Length: approximately 2,200 Korean characters.

Decision 3. Protagonist: Kang Myeongsuk, Tier 1. Three existing manuscripts—two short stories and one comic dialogue. First comic sketch.

Decision 4. Material: place heading. A short interval with a junior member in the fan-signing waiting room.

Decision 5. Stakes: external: none, with no explicit external outcome. Internal: self-consciousness as a seven-year senior.

Decision 6. Point of view: third person through Kang Myeongsuk, with close psychological distance.

Decision 7. Fun Engine: aesthetics of paradox. A seven-year senior learns or falters in an unexpected way because of a newcomer.

Decision 8. Worldbuilding signal: include a fan-signing procedure or K-pop K internal term in the first sentence.

Decision 9. Body anchor: Myeongsuk's tension–release signals. A tension signal in the opening and a release signal in the landing.

Decision 10. Landing: action landing. One very small thing Myeongsuk does after the junior leaves.

Vault check: Myeongsuk's character record, the fan-signing venue record, and the junior member's character record.

This design takes fifteen minutes. Now write the sketch. With the design in hand, you know how to begin the first sentence and where to end.

What Chapter 10 Conveys

The design document is preprocessing for writing. Sufficient preprocessing makes drafting faster and more complete. Making ten decisions beforehand reduces time lost during drafting to “What should I do with this?”

At the scale of one hundred pieces, the habit of designing increases both the project's speed and quality. Each manuscript becomes an execution rather than an exploration. That is the difference the design document makes.

The next chapter addresses the reference-writer system: which writer's technique to apply to which material, and how foreign and Korean writers complement one another.

- Main Text / Library-Based Storytelling 100, Session 10 / 2026-04-30