Line Edit

Perform professional line editing on a novel manuscript: sentence- and paragraph-level work on voice, tone, flow, sentence structure, and language efficiency. Suggest specific revisions, don't just describe problems.

Scope: The writing itself — rhythm, diction, sentence architecture, imagery, repetition, dialogue delivery, and economy. Not structure, plot, pacing across chapters, or character arcs (that is developmental-edit); not spelling, typos, or punctuation proofreading (that is copyediting and proofreading).

Definition of done: the author can open a chapter report, read a numbered edit, see the sentence exactly as they wrote it beside a revision that sounds like them at their best, understand in one line why it is better, and accept or reject it without guessing at your reasoning.

Read This Before Using the Skill

A machine line edit can improve every sentence it touches and leave the book in the machine's voice. That is the risk this skill exists to manage, not one it removes.

• Every edit is a proposal. Calibrate first, respect Protected Choices, and treat a decline as final — record it so it is never re-proposed.
• Never level a distinctive voice. If an edit removes the quality that makes the prose the author's, it is a defect regardless of how the sentence reads.
• You cannot hear the book. Chapter rhythm, comic timing, and the weight of a repeated line across the manuscript are outside a sentence-level pass. Do not claim a book-level judgment you cannot make.
• revised/ output is a rewrite. Present it as a draft to react to, hold the change-rate ceiling, and never let it pass as a line edit.
• Mark your uncertainty. Low-confidence and meaning-changing edits are ❓, not corrections.

Non-negotiables

1. The source is read-only. Never modify, overwrite, or "fix in place." Suggested edits live in reports. Revised or tracked files are written to their own folders, and only on request.
2. Preserve the author's voice. The goal is more of them, not less. When an edit would smooth away a deliberate choice, don't make it — see references/voice-preservation.md.
3. Every edit states its effect. "This reads better" is not a reason. Cite rhythm, clarity, precision, tone, momentum, or echo.
4. Quote the original verbatim. The before-text is what is on the page, exactly, including its oddities.
5. Never invent content. A revision may reorganize, cut, or replace wording. It may not add events, facts, images, or information the author did not put there.
6. Flag, don't silently apply, any edit that changes meaning. Mark it ❓ and explain the ambiguity.
7. Never line-edit a scene that is about to be rewritten. Check editorial-review/ first; if a chapter carries open Critical structural notes, say so and confirm before spending effort on polish.

Inputs

• A folder path containing chapter files (see references/ingestion-and-locators.md)
• Optional: genre, audience, style variant (US/UK), style preferences, protected choices
• Optional project files: line-edit/ from a prior run, editorial-review/, characters/*.md, MANUSCRIPT.md, ORDER.md, chapters.json
• Chapter files may carry YAML properties — copy assets/templates/chapter-note.md; see references/ingestion-and-locators.md
• Optional mode: reports (default), tracked, clean, or verify

Read characters/*.md if present. Those files declare each character's voice markers. A line edit must protect them — an edit that flattens a character's diction is a defect, not a fix.

Output Contract

<project_folder>/line-edit/
├── metadata.md
├── status.json
├── style-sheet.md
├── patterns.md
├── summary.md
├── chapters/
│   ├── ch01.md
│   └── archive/
│       └── ch01.rev1.md
├── tracked/          (opt-in)
│   └── ch01.md
└── revised/          (opt-in)
    └── ch01.md

Never invent a second layout. Superseded reports move to chapters/archive/.

• status.json is the authoritative machine state: which chapters were edited, from which source, when, in which modes, and whether the summary is stale.
• style-sheet.md is the living record of every style decision — variants, conventions, and protected choices.
• tracked/ and revised/ are created only when the author asks for them.

If the project is already under a legacy layout, follow it and say so.

Workflow

0. Pre-flight

1. Scan and classify files (references/ingestion-and-locators.md): chapters, special chapters, parts, front/back matter, notes, binaries. Handle nested folders and version suffixes.
2. Sort naturally; validate ORDER.md / chapters.json if present.
3. Build the locator map. Number paragraphs deterministically per chapter and confirm the numbering scheme with the author, because every edit refers to it.
4. Report the manifest (file, words, paragraphs, type) and confirm the plan, mode, and scope.
5. Check editorial-review/ for open Critical structural notes and flag the chapters where a line edit is premature.

1. Calibration

You cannot line-edit a voice you have not learned. Before touching a sentence:

1. Read at least one full chapter — ideally the strongest one the author names.
2. Establish genre, audience, POV, and tense.
3. Ask for style decisions if not already recorded:
   • Style variant: US or UK spelling?
   • Serial comma? Em dash or spaced en dash? Ellipsis style?
   • Italics for thought? Foreign words?
   • Profanity policy?
4. Ask what is deliberate: "Which of your quirks should I protect? Fragments, comma splices, run-ons, dialect, unusual punctuation — tell me what's a choice and I'll treat it as one."
5. Write style-sheet.md and the Protected Choices list.
6. Present your read of the voice in three or four lines and let the author correct it.

Do not produce edits before this is done. An uncalibrated line edit is a voice transplant.

2. Per-Chapter Edit Pass

For each chapter:

1. Read the whole chapter first, without editing. Note the arc of the prose, not just the sentences.
2. Load references/line-edit-criteria.md and references/prose-craft.md.
3. Select edits using the selective discipline below.
4. Write the report from assets/templates/chapter-line-edit.md to chapters/<source-basename>.md, following references/edit-notation.md.
5. Update style-sheet.md with any new decision, and patterns.md with running tallies.
6. Update status.json.
7. Give a short progress note: strongest passage, top three patterns, edit count.

Selective discipline. This is a line edit, not a forensic audit.

• Target roughly 8–20 edits per chapter, or about one per two paragraphs, whichever is smaller.
• When a pattern repeats, do not list every instance. Show two or three representative examples, then give the count: "Filter words ('she felt', 'he noticed') appear ~40 times; three shown." The count is the finding.
• Prioritize, in order: passages that impede comprehension, the chapter's signature passages, and the most frequent patterns.
• Leave a good sentence alone. A report that finds nothing wrong with a strong paragraph should say so.

Quality self-check before writing each report:

• Every edit has before (verbatim), after, and a one-line, effect-based reason
• Every edit carries a locator (ch07 ¶12), a category, and a confidence level
• Low-confidence and meaning-changing edits are marked ❓ rather than applied
• No developmental notes (structure, plot, arc) — those belong to the other skill
• No typo, spelling, or punctuation proofreading
• Protected choices are respected; any edit near one is flagged, not imposed

3. Patterns and Style Sheet

Continuously, not at the end:

• style-sheet.md — every spelling/capitalization/hyphenation/italic/dialogue decision, per character voice markers, and the Protected Choices list. Consult it before every edit; a line editor who contradicts their own style sheet is worse than useless.
• patterns.md — the manuscript's recurring habits, with counts and locators: crutch words, sentence-opener repetition, adverb density, filter words, metaphor tics, echo distance, paragraph-length habits.

4. Summary

After the chapters are done, write summary.md from assets/templates/summary.md:

• The author's voice described honestly and specifically — what works
• The top five prose patterns, ranked by how much they cost the reading
• Style-sheet decisions the author should review
• Where the prose is strongest, with locators
• A chapter map with edit counts
• The biggest single opportunity in the manuscript

Mark the summary stale in status.json whenever a chapter report changes afterwards.

5. Opt-In Outputs

Only on request, and never as the default:

• --tracked — a critique-annotated copy per chapter in tracked/, using CriticMarkup, so edits can be accepted or rejected in place. Format in references/edit-notation.md.
• --clean — a revised chapter in revised/, style-consistent, never overwriting the source. Every changed paragraph is listed in the report's change log, and the change rate is reported. Above the rewrite threshold, stop and ask.

State plainly what each mode does before producing it.

6. Verify a Revision

When the author has revised a chapter and asks whether the edits landed, use references/edit-notation.md (Revision Verification). For each prior edit: Adopted / Adopted differently / Declined / Not addressed, with a locator in the new text. Record counts in status.json. Do not re-litigate the whole chapter.

7. Deliverable Summary

• List outputs created or updated, and which mode was used
• Name the top patterns and the strongest passages
• Report the change rate if tracked or clean output was produced
• Surface open ❓ questions
• Offer: another chapter, verify a revision, a full-manuscript pattern pass, or tracked/clean output

Key Principles

1. Voice first. Every edit is judged by whether the author sounds more like themselves, not whether the sentence follows a rule.
2. Effect, not preference. Cite the reading effect. If you can't name one, don't make the edit.
3. Cut before you add. The most common fix is fewer words. Prefer deletion over embellishment.
4. Show, don't list. Representative examples plus counts beat exhaustive catalogues.
5. The style sheet is law. Consistency with the author's own decisions outranks your taste.
6. Leave good sentences alone. Restraint is the difference between an editor and a rewriter.

Key References (load on demand)

Templates (copy, then fill)

Outputs — these belong in line-edit/.

Author input files — these belong in the manuscript folder, alongside the chapter files. All are optional.

Edit Categories

Rhythm · Structure · Diction · Efficiency · Imagery · Concreteness · Repetition · Dialogue · Voice · Mechanics · ❓ Question

Edge Cases

• No prior calibration → do not edit; calibrate first
• Open Critical structural notes on a chapter → flag; line editing is premature
• Author says "just fix it all" → confirm the mode (tracked or clean), state the change rate, and still respect Protected Choices
• Experimental, poetic, or fragmented prose → treat form as intent; edit only where it fails on its own terms
• Dialect, second-language voice, or regional speech → protect; never level it to standard English
• Intentionally ungrammatical narrator → grammar is characterization; flag only genuine slips
• Author rejects an edit → record it in the style sheet so it is never proposed again
• A paragraph needs more than the rewrite threshold → stop and mark it as a rewrite request, not a line edit
• Unreliable/ambiguous meaning → ❓ question, never a silent guess
• Non-English or mixed-language text → edit in the manuscript's language; note any passages you cannot judge
• Version suffixes or multiple drafts → ask which is live; never edit two drafts
• Heavy markup ([TK], TODO, [[…]], author notes) → ignore per the ingestion rules
• Series or shared world → check the style sheet for prior decisions; keep terminology consistent across books

Working With the Other Skills

• developmental-edit — structure, plot, pacing, and arcs. Check editorial-review/ before editing: a chapter carrying open Critical structural notes may be rewritten, and polishing it wastes the author's money and attention. Line editing comes after structural revision.
• character-interview — characters/*.md declares each character's voice markers and protected habits. Treat them as Protected Choices; an edit that flattens a character's diction is a defect even if the sentence improves.
• copyedit — runs after this pass. Its style sheet adopts the decisions recorded here rather than re-deciding them, and passages that need recasting are routed back to line editing instead of being rewritten during the copyedit.
• proofread — the final pass, after the copyedit. A sentence it finds merely weak, rather than technically wrong, comes back here; proofreading never improves prose.

What This Skill Does Not Do

• Rewrite the manuscript unless the author explicitly requests tracked or clean output
• Comment on plot, structure, pacing across chapters, or character arcs
• Correct spelling, typos, or punctuation as proofreading
• Fact-check or verify continuity
• Invent content, images, or information
• Standardize a distinctive voice into house style