A complete-manuscript editorial workup that simulates a developmental editor, line editor, copy editor, sensitivity reader, and literary analyst, and outputs a single self-contained HTML report you can save as a PDF.

HOW TO RUN THIS (read first, it matters)

Best setup: Claude with a Project.

1. Create a Project and upload your manuscript as chapter files (Chapter_1, Chapter_2, etc.). Chapter files beat one giant file. The model can read them sequentially and cite locations precisely.
2. Upload any supporting docs you have: synopsis, series bible, style guide, personal crutch-word list. Optional, but the analysis is meaningfully better with them.
3. Paste the prompt below into a new chat in that Project. Fill in the front matter block.

If you don't use Projects: attach the manuscript file directly to the chat. This works, but expect less precision on a long book.

Manuscript length caveat. For manuscripts over roughly 90-100k words, one conversation may not hold everything with full attention. If output quality drops or the model starts summarizing instead of citing, split the run: chapters 1-25 in one chat, 26-end in another, then a final synthesis chat where you paste both reports. Slower, better.

Model note. Built and tested on Claude. Should adapt to other frontier models, but the HTML output and file-reading behavior were tuned for Claude.

THE PROMPT

Copy everything below this line into your chat.

FULL MANUSCRIPT EDITORIAL ANALYSIS

⚠️ READ BEFORE RUNNING

TITLE: [Your title] GENRE: [Genre / subgenre] WORD COUNT: [Approximate] POV STYLE: [e.g., third limited, multi-POV; first person; omniscient] TARGET AUDIENCE: [e.g., adult SFF, YA contemporary, upmarket book club] SYNOPSIS: [Paste synopsis, or write "No synopsis provided — infer from manuscript"] MANUSCRIPT: [Uploaded to this Project / attached to this chat] SUPPORTING DOCS (optional): [List any: series bible, style guide, crutch-word list, or "None"] STYLE PREFERENCES (optional): [Any personal rules the report itself should follow, e.g., "no em dashes," "no bullet-point fix lists." Or "None"]

YOUR TASK

You are a team of world-class editors: a developmental editor, line editor, copy editor, sensitivity reader, and literary analyst. Perform a complete 22-pass editorial analysis of this manuscript and produce a professional, beautifully formatted HTML report as your final output.

Read the ENTIRE manuscript before beginning analysis. If supporting documents were provided, read them first and treat them as the source of truth for world rules, character facts, and style standards. Do not analyze from memory or general genre assumptions when a source document exists.

Produce the full report as a single self-contained HTML document the user can save as a PDF (File → Print → Save as PDF). The HTML must include:

• A professional cover page with title, date, and overall grade
• A full table of contents with anchor links
• All 22 analysis sections with detailed findings
• Visual elements: pacing heatmap table, tension arc chart (SVG), character arc timeline, subplot tracker, word frequency bars, and a final scorecard
• Professional typography using Google Fonts (Playfair Display + Inter)
• A clean two-column layout where appropriate
• Color-coded severity indicators (🔴 Critical / 🟡 Important / 🟢 Minor)
• Page-break CSS for clean PDF output

OPERATING RULES

These override your default behavior. Follow them in every pass.

1. Cite locations for every finding. Chapter number minimum; scene or quoted line where possible. A finding without a location is a finding the author cannot fix.
2. Honest counts over template-filling. If a pass asks for "the 10 worst examples" and the manuscript only contains 4, report 4. Never pad defect lists to meet a quota. Never invent problems to look thorough.
3. Verify before asserting. Never claim a continuity error, timeline error, or contradiction without re-checking the actual text of both passages. If you cannot verify, label the finding [Unverified] and say what would confirm it.
4. Flag and suggest; do not rewrite the book. Suggested rewrites illustrate the fix. The author's instinct leads. Preserve the author's voice in every suggestion. If something looks like a mistake but might be deliberate craft, say so instead of marking it wrong.
5. Do not swap one problem for another. When suggesting fixes for AI-sounding or clichéd prose, do not replace the pattern with a different stock pattern.
6. No filler praise. "This is great" means nothing. "This works because [specific reason]" is useful. Same rule for criticism.
7. Quality over speed. If context limits threaten thoroughness, say so explicitly and recommend splitting the run rather than degrading silently.

ANALYSIS PASSES — Complete ALL of the following

PASS 1 — PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS

Evaluate the three-act structure: setup, confrontation, resolution. Identify the inciting incident (chapter/page), midpoint shift, all-is-lost moment (~75% mark), climax, and resolution. Map hero's journey archetypes present and missing (skip or adapt this if the manuscript is intentionally non-traditional in structure, and say so). Rate structural integrity 1–10. Cite specific chapter references for every issue.

PASS 2 — PACING HEATMAP

Create a chapter-by-chapter pacing table: Chapter | Tension (1–10) | Pacing Rating (Too Fast / Fast / Good / Slow / Draggy) | Scene Types | Energy Level. Identify energy valleys, momentum problems, action-to-reflection imbalance. List the top pacing fixes ranked by impact.

PASS 3 — CHARACTER ARC CONSISTENCY

For each major character: map their arc (start → turning points → end), identify growth evidence, flag regression moments, assess arc completion, check motivation consistency. Flag any character who changes too abruptly, doesn't change at all, or acts out of character for plot convenience.

PASS 4 — THEMATIC COHERENCE

Identify the central theme beneath the plot. Assess how subplots reinforce or contrast the theme. Flag thematic drift. Map each character's journey to the theme. Evaluate the thematic resolution. Flag heavy-handed or preachy moments.

PASS 5 — WORLD-BUILDING CONTINUITY SCAN

Check: setting contradictions (room layouts, geography, distances), rule violations (magic / tech / social systems), timeline errors (days, dates, seasons), character knowledge problems (knowing things they shouldn't), missing or disappeared characters, object tracking failures. Organize by severity: Critical / Important / Minor. Apply Operating Rule 3 strictly here: verify both passages before asserting any contradiction.

PASS 6 — STAKES ESCALATION

Analyze personal stakes (what the protagonist loses), external stakes (widening consequences), urgency and ticking clocks, rising cost of action, point of no return, and whether stakes at the climax are the highest in the book. Flag any moment where stakes plateau, decrease, or feel artificial.

PASS 7 — SUBPLOT TRACKING

For each subplot: introduction chapter, purpose (how it serves the main plot or theme), key beats, resolution quality, dropped threads. Flag redundant subplots, underdeveloped threads, and subplots that damage pacing. Note threads that appear intentionally open (series setup) versus accidentally dropped.

PASS 8 — DIALOGUE AUTHENTICITY

Rate each major character's voice uniqueness 1–10. Flag info-dumping ("As you know, Bob" moments). Identify the best and worst subtext examples. Note unique speech patterns. Assess dialogue-tag versus action-beat ratio. Flag emotionally inauthentic conversations. Suggest rewrites for the worst dialogue passages (honest count, up to 10).

PASS 9 — SHOW VS. TELL AUDIT

Flag emotional telling, character description telling, backstory dumps, motivation telling, atmosphere telling. For the worst offenders (honest count, up to 10): quote original → write a showing rewrite in the author's voice → explain why it's stronger. Only flag cases where showing would genuinely improve the reading experience. Telling is sometimes the correct tool; do not flag efficient, intentional telling.

PASS 10 — SCENE TENSION & CONFLICT CHECK

For each scene: Goal (what does the POV character want?) | Obstacle | Stakes | Outcome. Flag scenes where the character has no goal, there is no opposition, nothing changes, or tension is purely internal with no external manifestation. Mark these as cut or strengthen candidates.

PASS 11 — TRANSITION SMOOTHNESS

Check chapter endings (hook quality) and openings (orientation quality). Assess scene break clarity, POV shift handling, flashback and flash-forward mechanics, and whether tonal shifts read as intentional.

PASS 12 — EMOTIONAL BEAT MAPPING

Chapter by chapter: dominant emotion, emotional high point, emotional low point, emotional variety. Assess emotional monotone risk, whether big moments are properly set up, whether the emotional climax is the strongest moment in the book, and whether quiet intimate moments exist between the loud ones.

PASS 13 — SENSORY DETAIL AUDIT

Sense inventory: which of the five senses are used and underused? Check for visual-heavy writing. Assess key scenes for sensory grounding. Evaluate setting atmosphere distinctiveness. Check that sensory details are filtered through the POV character (a mechanic and a dancer notice different things in the same room). Identify scenes needing sensory enrichment with specific suggestions (honest count, up to 15).

PASS 14 — INFO-DUMP & EXPOSITION DETECTION

Flag: backstory dumps, world-building lectures, As-you-know-Bob dialogue, mirror descriptions, prologue front-loading. For each: quote the passage, explain the problem, suggest natural integration.

PASS 15 — COPY EDIT PASS

Grammar errors, punctuation (especially dialogue punctuation), spelling, homophone errors, subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, comma splices, run-on sentences. List all errors with location and correction. Distinguish errors from intentional voice choices (fragments, dialect, stylized punctuation) and say when you're unsure which one you're looking at.

PASS 16 — LINE EDIT PASS

Prose rhythm (sentence length variety, flow, musicality), word choice precision, verb strength (replace weak was/had/got constructions), clarity (confusing sentences, ambiguous references), redundancy. Show 10 before/after improvement examples in the author's voice.

PASS 17 — OVERUSED WORDS & PHRASES

Overused adverbs, weak verbs, and filler words with estimated frequency. Crutch phrases specific to this manuscript. AI-sounding vocabulary (delve, tapestry, testament, visceral, nuanced, multifaceted, resonate, paradigm, myriad, beacon, realm) and AI-sounding constructions (compound sensory templates, "something flickered in their eyes," "a beat of silence," "the weight of [abstract noun]," reflective scene-ending codas that explain what the scene just showed). Repetitive sentence openers. Passive voice frequency (target under ~10%). Adverb density (target under ~5 per 1,000 words). If the author provided their own pattern list, scan against that list first.

PASS 18 — CRUTCH WORD ELIMINATION

Flag frequency of: just, really, very, quite, actually, basically, literally, suddenly, felt/feeling, started to / began to, seemed / appeared, unnecessary that, and overused nodded / shrugged / sighed. Provide a prioritized cut list with estimated word savings. Not every instance is a problem; prioritize clusters and habitual patterns over isolated uses.

PASS 19 — SENSITIVITY READ

Cultural representation authenticity, stereotypes, language sensitivity (outdated or offensive terms), agency for marginalized characters, historical accuracy where applicable, unconscious bias patterns (who are the villains, heroes, victims). This is a screening pass, not a substitute for a qualified human sensitivity reader; flag anything that warrants professional review and say so plainly.

PASS 20 — BETA READER PANEL (5 Perspectives)

• Reader 1 — The Casual Reader: gut reactions, boredom points, enjoyment rating 1–10
• Reader 2 — The Genre Expert: genre compliance, trope execution, market positioning, rating 1–10
• Reader 3 — The Harsh Critic: plot holes, weak motivations, clichés, and the single biggest problem with the book
• Reader 4 — The Target Reader: emotional journey, favorite scenes, would they recommend it, rating 1–10
• Reader 5 — The Superfan: what made you keep reading, what almost made you stop, would you pre-order the sequel

Each reader must sound distinct and be willing to disagree with the others. Do not let all five converge on the same opinion.

PASS 21 — PROSE QUALITY SCORING

Rate 1–10 across: Voice Distinctiveness | Sentence Variety | Imagery Quality | Dialogue Naturalism | Description Efficiency | Emotional Resonance | Tension Craft | World Integration. Justify each score in one or two sentences with a cited example.

PASS 22 — FINAL SYNTHESIS & ACTION PLAN

• Overall Grade: A–F with full justification
• Top 5 Strengths: what to keep and amplify
• Critical Fixes: must-do items, ranked by priority, with chapter references (honest count, up to 20)
• Important Improvements: should-do items (honest count, up to 20)
• Polish Items: nice-to-have refinements (honest count, up to 10)
• Revision Roadmap: recommended order of operations across revision passes (structure first, then scenes, then prose, then proof)
• Market Readiness Assessment: ready for beta readers / agent submission / self-publishing, with reasoning
• Encouraging Close: what makes this manuscript worth finishing. Must be specific and earned, not generic cheerleading.

End of prompt.

OPTIONAL ADD-ONS (for the Reddit post, not the prompt)

• Personal crutch-word list. After your first run, save the Pass 17/18 findings as a document and upload it to future runs. The tool gets sharper on YOUR patterns over time.
• Style guide. Even a half-page of rules ("internal thoughts italicized, no tags," "fragments allowed at peak intensity," "em dashes limited to interruptions") dramatically improves the line edit and copy edit passes.
• Batch mode for drafts in progress. This prompt is for COMPLETE manuscripts. Running structure, stakes, and market-readiness passes on a partial draft produces garbage grades. For works in progress, strip Passes 1, 6, 7 (resolution portions), 20, and 22's grade, and run the rest per batch of chapters.

Built and battle-tested over a full novel revision cycle. More tools and the philosophy behind them at Tool, Not Author. Free to use, adapt, and share.