/line-editing

name: line-editing
description: This skill should be used when the user asks to "line edit", "edit my prose", "polish this chapter", "tighten the prose", "improve the sentences", "copyedit", "proofread", "proof pass", "check grammar and punctuation", "dialogue punctuation", "make the voices distinct", "everyone sounds the same", "read it aloud", "read-aloud pass", "text to speech", or wants a sentence-level quality pass on drafted chapters that preserves the author's voice. NOT for creating the style sheet, recording character voices, or checking voice consistency (use voice-style).

Line Editing

Overview

Own the prose-quality passes that come after structure is settled: the line edit (sentence clarity, rhythm, precision, voice), character-voice differentiation, the copyedit against `style-sheet.md`, a read-aloud pass, and a proof pass on a built copy. Every change is proposed with a before/after and a one-line rationale so the author can accept or reject it. The author's voice is the standard, not the agent's taste. The `better-writing` skill, when installed, is an optional complement for anti-generic checks; this skill does not depend on it.

Prerequisites

A story project with `story.md` and drafted chapters (status `draft` or later). Read `style-sheet.md` if present; if it is missing or thin, build it first with the `voice-style` skill, because the copyedit checks against it.

Language

Read `language` in `story.md` (a BCP 47 tag such as `en-GB`, `fr`, or `ja`; a missing field means `en`). Edit in that language and to its grammar and conventions, and write edit notes in the language the user works in with you, quoting the prose exactly as written. The checklists' word-level advice (filter words, -ly adverbs, *said*, dialogue punctuation) is English: for another language, apply its aim, not its word lists, and take dialogue and punctuation from the style sheet and `references/language-conventions.md`. When `story prose` or `story voices` reports a check skipped for the book's language, or a check plainly does not fit it, do that pass by reading.

When to Use

• A chapter's structure is settled and the prose needs polish
• Dialogue sounds the same from every speaker
• Preparing a manuscript for beta readers, an editor, or submission
• The `line`, `copyedit`, or `proof` revision pass is next in `story passes`
• NOT for structural, plot, or continuity revision (use `revision-continuity`; line-edit only after those passes, or the polish is wasted)
• NOT for setting house style, the voice description, or each character's recorded voice (use `voice-style`; this skill applies them)
• NOT for scene-level craft such as deep POV, subtext, or exposition strategy (use `scene-craft`)
• NOT for acting on external reader notes (use `feedback-triage`)
• NOT for writing or scanning verse (use `verse-craft`); this skill only

flags rhymes that slipped into prose by accident

Workflow

1. Scope and permission

1. Ask which chapters and which pass: line edit, voice differentiation, copyedit, read-aloud, or proof. Default order is the one below. 2. Ask how heavy the edit should be: **light** (errors and clear improvements only), **medium** (tighten and clarify), or **heavy** (restructure sentences and paragraphs). Default to light. 3. Never rewrite a passage wholesale without explicit permission. Propose edits; apply only what the author accepts, or apply all on explicit instruction. 4. Snapshot before a multi-chapter pass (see Draft Snapshots in the `revision-continuity` skill), and mark the pass in progress. If `story.md` has no `revision-passes` yet, `story passes . --init` writes the default ladder first; `story passes .` shows where the book is.

story passes . --start line

2. Line edit

1. Read `story.md` (POV, tense, Tone & Style), the style sheet's Voice section, and the chapter. Run `story prose .` for the chapter's counts. If the style sheet has no `samples`, suggest the author list an earlier book or chapter files they are happy with (see the `voice-style` skill), so the counts are measured against their own voice. A `prose-baseline-*` warning shows where a chapter drifts from it: use it to find passages to reread, and keep any drift the author meant. 2. Work paragraph by paragraph with `references/line-edit-checklist.md`: clarity, precision, economy, rhythm, POV distance, and voice. 3. Present edits in the format in `references/edit-note-format.md`: location, before, after, and one line of rationale. Group by paragraph; lead with the highest-impact changes; cap a batch at about 20 so the author can review them. 4. Leave passages that are unusual but deliberate. When unsure whether a quirk is voice or error, ask. 5. To check a rewritten passage before putting it in the chapter, pipe it in: `story prose - < rewrite.md` lints it against the style sheet, and `story voices - < rewrite.md` checks its dialogue against the characters' `voice-avoid` lists.

3. Differentiate character voices

story voices .

The report fingerprints each character's attributed dialogue (sentence length, contractions, questions, exclamations, signature words) and warns when two voices are near-identical, when a character says a `voice-avoid` word, and when a `voice-words` entry never appears.

1. For near-identical pairs, read both characters' Voice & Speech Patterns sections and propose line-level changes that follow them: vocabulary, sentence length, what each avoids saying, how each deflects. See the voice section of `references/line-edit-checklist.md`. 2. If a character file has no voice notes, propose `voice-words` and `voice-avoid` lists drawn from their best existing lines, and ask before adding them to the character file. 3. A line counts only when the narration names its speaker by a speech verb, or names one character in the paragraph. Pronoun tags (`she said`)