| name | critique-chapter |
| description | Run a full craft critique of a chapter draft -- structure, POV, prose, dialogue, pacing, exposition, hooks -- with findings cited to craft rules. Use when Sagar says "critique this chapter", "review my chapter", "is this chapter good", or pastes prose asking what's wrong with it. |
Critique a chapter
Structured, cited critique of one chapter. Report findings; never edit his prose unbidden.
Preparation
Read from the writing-craft library the modules matching what the chapter attempts, always including:
references/prose-style.md, references/pacing-scenes.md, references/openings-endings.md (opening + hook), references/pov-tense.md- Add
references/dialogue.md if it has dialogue, references/exposition.md if it explains world/backstory, references/description.md for setting-heavy chapters, references/serial-fiction.md for the chapter-end hook, references/fanfic-conventions.md on the fanfic shelf.
Passes (macro to micro, in order)
- Scene skeleton: does each scene have goal -> conflict -> disaster, or reaction -> dilemma -> decision (Swain/Ingermanson)? Name any scene that has neither.
- Progress signpost: which thread visibly advances? If none, flag it (Sanderson: this is why readers drop serials).
- POV discipline: one head per scene, no jump-cut zooms in narrative distance (Gardner ladder), filter words that widen distance unintentionally.
- Exposition load: infodumps, maid-and-butler dialogue, lore the scene doesn't need (Le Guin necessity test).
- Dialogue: said-bookisms, adverbed tags, on-the-nose lines with no subtext, dialogue-swap test between characters.
- Line pass (sample, not exhaustive): -ly adverbs after tags, thought verbs (Palahniuk list), 'suddenly', passive-timid phrasing, sentence-rhythm monotony (read a paragraph aloud mentally).
- Hook: does the chapter end on an open question or delivered-then-raised stake? Which of the rotating hook types is it (cliffhanger, revelation, decision, arrival)?
Output
- Verdict line first: what works, one sentence.
- Findings grouped by pass, each with: quote or line reference, the rule it trips, source attribution (e.g. "King, On Writing"), and a suggested direction (not rewritten prose unless he asks).
- Max 10 findings, ordered by impact on the reader; note what was left unflagged as minor.
- End with the single highest-leverage fix.
Rules
- Critique the craft, not the voice. Style choices that break rules deliberately get noted as choices, not defects.
- Chapters already published (has
publishedOn) get continuity-safe suggestions only: typo-level fixes and forward-looking advice, no retroactive plot surgery (see the retcon-discipline rules in serial-fiction.md).
