Prose checks › Repetitive openers Pro
Prose check: repetitive openersShe. She. She. She.
Three sentences in a row starting with the same word, and the reader starts hearing a drum instead of a story. Falcontext finds these repetitive sentence openings.
In Falcontext’s Edit tab, Repetitive openers is one part of Sentence openers, with “-ing” openers. Each part has its own light, and the worst sets the check’s.
Which repetitive sentence openings it looks for
Three or more sentences in a row that open with the same word. Most often a name, or “She” and “He” in a close third-person scene.
Sometimes the drumbeat is what you want: a list of actions, a moment of panic. Then leave it.
How often do novels do it?
Rarely. Across the 38 published books I measured, the middle one had 0.7 runs per 100 sentences, and the most had 2.2.
Where these numbers come from.
How Falcontext checks repetitive sentence openings
Guidelines, not rules. A drumbeat on purpose is a choice. This only shows you where it is.
- Finds
- Runs of three or more sentences opening with the same word, each run marked in your text.
- Traffic light
- Up to 1 run per 100 sentences
- Up to 2
- More than 2
Vary one or two openings in a run, and the drum stops.
Repeated openers are easiest to hear. The guide’s third pass, sentences, suggests reading flagged stretches aloud, or letting your computer read them to you.
Do you catch yourself starting every sentence with a name?
Questions about repetitive sentence openings.
How many sentences starting with the same word is too many?
Three or more in a row is what Falcontext counts as a run. Published novels have well under one run per 100 sentences.
Is it wrong to start sentences with “She”?
Not at all. It’s only the run of three or more in a row that Falcontext points out, and even that can be on purpose.
Related checks
In Falcontext
Your next chapter starts today.
Set a goal, open your draft and let the checks look over your shoulder.
Add to Chrome – it's freeOr get the desktop app or Perch, the web app.
Free forever plan · No sign-up · Pro from $1.99/month with a free trial