Prose checksChecks written for fiction.

• Pacing per chapterPro

  Chapters whose sentence length or amount of dialogue differs a lot from the rest of the book, which can mean a change of pace.

• Chapter openingsPro

  Chapters that open by waking up, with the weather or in front of a mirror: the openings agents and editors say they see most. Needs Bird’s Eye’s chapters.

No checks of that kind in this pass.

• Tense and point of viewFree

  Paragraphs that slip out of the tense or point of view the rest of the book uses.

• Head hoppingPro

  A scene told from inside one character (“Anna knew”, “her heart sank”) that slips into another’s thoughts (“Mark wondered”). One head per scene, or a scene break.

• Dialogue tagsFree

  Tags fancier than “said” (“he growled”), or with an adverb. “Said” disappears; the dialogue can carry the rest.

• Dialogue balancePro

  How much of the book is talk, and speeches that run on without a break.

  • Dialogue and narrative The share of the text that is spoken, against narrative.
  • Monologues Speeches of over 250 words without a break, added up across paragraphs (a speech tag alone isn’t a break). A beat, a reaction or a question from someone else keeps the scene alive.

• Stage directionsPro

  Nods, shrugs, sighs, smiles, glances: body language that fills the space between lines. A few help; many start to feel like stage directions. It skips dialogue.

• Continuity slipsPro

  Someone who gets up while already standing or sits while already sitting; or eyes, hair, height or writing hand that change (“Sarah’s eyes: green in ch. 2, blue in ch. 19”). Narration only; dyed or cut hair is a change, not a slip.

• The five sensesPro

  How much your writing draws on sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Books that lean only on sight feel thin. It skips dialogue.

No checks of that kind in this pass.

• Passive voiceFree

  The subject receives the action (“the door was opened”). Active is usually livelier (“she opened the door”). How someone is (“she was tired”) isn’t counted, nor is dialogue.

• Sentence openersPro

  How sentences start: the same word again and again, or an -ing word that makes two actions happen at once.

  • Repetitive openers Three or more sentences in a row opening with the same word.
  • “-ing” openers “Turning, she opened the door”: an -ing word and a comma. It skips dialogue.

• Sentence and paragraph lengthPro

  Lengths that vary keep a reader moving: stretches of sentences all the same length, very long sentences and very long paragraphs.

  • Sentence rhythm Flat stretches: four or more sentences of about the same length. Long sentences: over 35 words (very long: over 50). Mix lengths for rhythm.
  • Paragraph length Paragraphs over 250 words. Long paragraphs are normal in novels; only the very longest are worth a look, where a break could give the reader air.

• ReadabilityPro

  How easy the text is to read (Flesch score), from sentence and word length. Not a quality mark: fit it to your readers.

• Punctuation habitsPro

  Exclamation marks, ellipses and dashes in the narration, per 1,000 words. Every writer leans on one of them; in dialogue they’re the character’s voice, so they aren’t counted.

No checks of that kind in this pass.

• AdverbsFree

  Words ending in -ly, outside dialogue. Filler ones (simply, actually, really) can often just go; with the others a stronger verb often does the job alone (“walked slowly” → “crept”). It skips time words like “recently” and “finally”.

• Filter wordsFree

  Words like felt, saw, knew, that put the narrator between the reader and the scene. Cutting them puts the reader in it. It skips dialogue: there, “I saw him” is just how people talk.

• ClichésPro

  Stock phrases readers have met a thousand times. It skips dialogue: characters may talk in them.

• Repeated and crutch wordsPro

  Words used too often: the same word close together, and the words you lean on across the book.

  • Repeated words nearby The same word twice within a few sentences, outside dialogue, forms included (looked … looking). Sometimes deliberate, often not. Names, “said” and “asked” aren’t counted, nor the 500 most used words in fiction (look, eyes, door).
  • Your crutch words Words you lean on: at least twice as often as in English fiction published 2000–2019 (Google Books Ngram Viewer). A word’s forms count together (look, looked, looking). It skips dialogue.

• Telling emotionsPro

  Feelings named outright (“she was angry”) where the scene could show them.

• Weak constructionsPro

  Sentence shapes that pad or delay the action: “there was a knock” where “someone knocked” would do, and “began to run” where “ran” would. Passive voice is different: that’s about who does the action, not how the sentence is built.

• Uncommon wordsPro

  Long words (7 letters or more) outside the 20,000 most used in English fiction (Google Books, 2000–2019), which a reader may trip over. A rare word can be just right; many can slow the reading. It skips names and dialogue.

• Dated or hurtful wordsPro

  Words that may read as dated or hurtful (“wheelchair-bound”, “authoress”), each with what’s used now. Off until you turn it on: novels use such words on purpose, in a character’s voice or a period. It skips dialogue. From alex’s list (retext-equality).

No checks of that kind in this pass.

• Spelling consistencyPro

  Words spelled the other way from the rest of the book. Either way is fine; mixing them isn’t.

  • US or UK spelling US against UK (color, colour), or -ize against -ise (realize, realise).
  • Words written two ways Email and e-mail, all right and alright, okay and OK: it keeps the way the book uses most.
  • Name spelling slips A name spelled one letter differently from how the book usually spells it (“Rena” among the “Reina”s). Ignore it when it’s a different person.

• Punctuation consistencyPro

  Punctuation set one way throughout, as the book mostly has it. Either style is fine; mixing them isn’t.

  • Dialogue quotes Double (“Hello,” US) or single (‘Hello,’ UK) quotes for dialogue.
  • Curly or straight quotes All curly (“ ” ‘ ’) or all straight (" '), often mixed by pasted text.
  • Dashes Closed em dashes (word—word) or spaced en dashes (word – word); a range takes a closed en dash (10–20).
  • Ellipses … (one character), ... (three full stops) or . . . (Chicago style).

• Spacing slipsFree

  Two spaces between words, a space before a comma or full stop (“word ,”), or none after one (“word,word”). It leaves times, decimals, web addresses and abbreviations alone.

• Unfinished sentencesFree

  A paragraph with no full stop at the end, a line break mid-sentence, a small letter starting a sentence, or a quotation mark or bracket never closed. It leaves headings, abbreviations and the paragraph you’re writing alone.

• Doubled words and paragraphsFree

  What was left in twice by accident, from one word to a whole paragraph.

  • Doubled words and marks A word typed twice (“the the”) and doubled marks (“,,” “,.”). Words people do say twice (had had) aren’t counted.
  • Duplicate paragraphs The same paragraph (8 words or more) twice in the book: pasted twice, or left behind after a move.

• Homophones and sound-alikesPro

  A real word where its sound-alike was meant: whose and who’s, pour and pore over, then and than. In dialogue “would of” is left alone (a way of speaking). 100,000 rules, from published fiction (Google Books).

• One word or twoProNew in 6.0

  Written as one word or two by what it means: every day (each day) or everyday (ordinary), may be or maybe, all ready or already, a part or apart. And a lot, each other, in fact: always two.

• Punctuation rulesPro

  Punctuation set by the rules most publishers follow, around dialogue and in the text.

  • Dialogue punctuation A full stop where a tag follows (“Hello.” she said), no comma (“Hello” she said), the comma outside the quote, a capital after the comma, or a comma before an action: “Hello,” she smiled → “Hello.” She smiled.
  • Punctuation style (Chicago) The Chicago Manual of Style’s punctuation, used by most US publishers: commas and full stops inside the closing quote, and numbers up to a hundred in words. How you set dashes is up to you (Punctuation consistency checks they match).

No checks of that kind in this pass.