# Prose Review Checklist

## Sound and Rhythm

### The Mind's Ear Test
Read the passage as if hearing it aloud. Note where it flows, where it stumbles, where it sings. If it sounds wrong, it is wrong — even before you can name the problem.

### Sentence Variety
- [ ] Map sentence lengths across the passage. Is there variety?
- [ ] Are short sentences deployed for emphasis at the right moments?
- [ ] Are long sentences clearly constructed — does the reader glide through?
- [ ] Is there conjunctivitis (strings of short sentences joined by "and" / "but")?
- [ ] Is there a monotonous rhythm (all sentences the same length)?

### Rhythm and Register
- [ ] Does the rhythm match the emotional content?
- [ ] Fast, staccato for action/urgency?
- [ ] Slower, rolling for reflection/grief/beauty?
- [ ] Does a sudden short sentence after long ones create intended emphasis?
- [ ] Are there accidental rhythmic patterns creating unintended effects?

## Word Economy

### Adjectives and Adverbs
- [ ] Can any adjective be absorbed into a stronger noun?
- [ ] Can any adverb be absorbed into a stronger verb?
- [ ] Are adjectives and adverbs adding precision, or padding?

### Qualifier Ticks
Check for and flag these bloodsuckers:
- just
- very
- rather
- a little
- kind of / sort of
- somewhat
- quite
- really

### Empty Intensifiers
Check for words that have lost meaning through overuse:
- great / amazing / incredible
- suddenly
- somehow
- absolutely / totally / literally (as emphasis)

### Verb Strength
- [ ] Are verbs active and specific?
- [ ] Are there weak verb + adverb combinations? (ran quickly → raced)
- [ ] Is passive voice being used where active would be stronger?
- [ ] Are there unnecessary "to be" constructions?

## Crowding and Leaping

### Crowding (Density)
- [ ] Is the passage vivid — can the reader see, hear, feel what's happening?
- [ ] Are details exact and concrete, not vague and abstract?
- [ ] Is every detail doing work — revealing character, advancing story, or illuminating theme?
- [ ] Is the passage rich enough — enough substance to engage?

### Leaping (Economy)
- [ ] Is there white space — things left unsaid that the reader can infer?
- [ ] Are there passages that list rather than describe?
- [ ] Is there over-explanation — the reader told what they could figure out?
- [ ] Are transitions belaboured — steps spelled out that could be leaped over?
- [ ] Does every sensory detail serve the story, or is some of it travelogue?

## POV and Voice

### POV Consistency
- [ ] Is the POV type identifiable and consistent?
- [ ] Are there accidental one-sentence slips into another character's thoughts?
- [ ] Is the protagonist's subjective filter colouring the narration?
- [ ] Does the language reflect the viewpoint character's vocabulary and sensibility?

### Tense Consistency
- [ ] Is the tense consistent throughout?
- [ ] Are any shifts between past and present deliberate and signalled?
- [ ] Is there accidental "two-timing" (drifting between tenses)?

### Voice and Register
- [ ] Is the narrative voice consistent in tone and register?
- [ ] Are there tonal lurches — shifts between formal/casual, serious/flip?
- [ ] Does the voice serve the story, or does it draw attention to itself?

## Repetition

### Accidental Repetition
- [ ] Are there unintentional word echoes within paragraphs or across adjacent paragraphs?
- [ ] Are there repeated sentence structures creating monotony?

### Deliberate Repetition
- [ ] Is intentional repetition accumulating meaning with each occurrence?
- [ ] Is it creating rhythm, emphasis, or structural echoes?

### Thesaurus Syndrome
- [ ] Has natural repetition been replaced with awkward synonyms?
- [ ] Are there words that stick out because they were chosen to avoid repeating a simpler word?

## Punctuation and Grammar

- [ ] Is punctuation clarifying the prose, not cluttering it?
- [ ] Are there grammar errors that will break the reader's trust?
- [ ] Are unconventional choices (fragments, comma splices, run-ons) deliberate and effective?
- [ ] Are semicolons used correctly and purposefully?

## Exposition

- [ ] Is necessary information integrated into the scene, or dumped in blocks?
- [ ] Are there "As you know, Bob" moments in dialogue?
- [ ] Does exposition arrive when the reader needs it, not before?
- [ ] Is backstory delivered through the character's emotional filter, not as neutral information?
