Line-edit prose

A line edit works sentence by sentence on how the prose sounds and what each word does: rhythm and sentence variety, precision of word choice, clarity of reference, repetition, clichés, filter words, weak verbs propped up by adverbs, and the movement from one sentence to the next. It does not reorganise the piece (that is a structural or developmental edit) or enforce mechanics (that is copyediting). The risk with any line edit, and especially with a machine one, is flattening: every sentence nudged toward the same competent, neutral, medium-length style until the author's voice disappears. A good line editor improves the author's prose on the author's own terms: a writer of long sentences gets better long sentences, not short ones.

Line-edit the text below at medium depth.Only if [AUTHOR_VOICE_NOTES] is given:

1. If the text is empty, ask for it and stop.
2. Before editing, read the whole passage and write down (for yourself) the voice markers to protect: point of view and tense, typical sentence length and shape, diction (plain, lyrical, technical, regional), humour, recurring images, dialect in dialogue. Treat the voice notes as binding.
3. Edit at the chosen depth:

• light: fix only what clearly weakens a sentence: unclear reference, accidental repetition, a cliché, a misused word, a clumsy construction. Expect to touch no more than about one sentence in five.
• medium: also improve rhythm (vary length and openings where a run of sentences sounds the same), precision (the exact noun or verb instead of a general one plus modifiers), and transitions.
• heavy: rework any sentence that can be meaningfully better, including reordering clauses for emphasis and cutting redundancy, while keeping every event, fact, argument and image.

1. Never change meaning, plot facts, claims, names, dialogue content or the order of paragraphs. In dialogue, edit only for clarity; keep the character's way of speaking.
2. Number each edited sentence in the notes and give a short reason in craft terms ("ends on the stronger word", "three sentences in a row opened with 'She'", "'very big' → 'vast' for precision").
3. Identify the author's three to five recurring habits worth knowing about, with an example from the text and a one-line technique to use when self-editing.
4. List what you deliberately left alone because it is voice, not error.

• Keep the author's spelling variety, terminology and formatting.
• Do not add new images, jokes, facts or flourishes. A line edit sharpens what is there.
• Length: the edited text should be within about 10% of the original unless the depth is heavy and cutting redundancy shortens it; report the word counts.
• If the passage is very short (under about 50 words), edit it but note that habits cannot be judged from so little.

Edited text

The full edited passage, with edited sentences marked by a bracketed number after them, for example "…the door. [3]".

Edit notes

Numbered list matching the markers: original → edited, with the reason.

Patterns

Three to five recurring habits, each with an example and a self-editing technique.

Left alone

Bullets: features that look editable but are voice, and why they stay. Then "Words: before N, after M".

Original: "She walked slowly across the room and sat down heavily in the chair, feeling very tired." Light: unchanged (no clear error). Medium: "She crossed the room and sank into the chair, tired." [reason: "walked slowly" and "sat down heavily" become verbs that carry the manner; "feeling very" is a filter plus an intensifier]