Handsomeboy990 Story Doctor
Critical analysis of the narrative at structural level. This skill does not fix sentences: it identifies why a story does not work and prescribes a repair.
1. Diagnostic method
A problem felt in one place almost always has its cause somewhere else, earlier. Never treat the symptom where it appears.
| Symptom felt | Probable cause, upstream |
|---|---|
| Act 2 sags | the protagonist's objective is not paid for dearly enough |
| The reader disengages at a third | the inciting incident is too weak or too late |
| The ending disappoints | the promises made at the start are not the ones settled |
| The lead is flat | they react instead of acting, or have nothing to lose |
| The villain is ridiculous | they have no logic defensible from their own view |
| The scenes feel alike | one single value swings across the whole novel |
| The rhythm is monotonous | every chapter has the same sign and the same length |
| Reveals fall flat | no clue was planted, or every clue was |
| The reader does not attach | the protagonist was not shown competent or generous early |
| Too many characters | several fill the same dramatic function |
2. The ten structural checks
- Is the dramatic question stateable as one closed sentence?
- Does the inciting incident arrive before twelve percent of the text?
- Does the protagonist take at least three decisions that worsen their situation?
- Does each act end on a loss rather than a gain?
- Does the midpoint reverse the information or the balance of power?
- Does the climax resolve the dramatic question through an action of the protagonist?
- Are the three initial promises settled?
- Does each subplot alter the main plot?
- Is there a chapter that can be removed with no consequence? If so, remove it.
- Does the last scene answer the opening image?
A failure on checks 1, 6 or 7 is blocking.
3. Causality test
Link chapters with donc or mais, never with puis. Walk the outline and
check the chain:
Elle mesure la fissure, DONC elle rédige un rapport, MAIS le rapport disparaît, DONC elle va voir le chef de secteur.
Every puis detected marks a non-causal link, to be rewritten or cut.
4. Passive protagonist test
Count the scenes in which the protagonist:
- decides and acts;
- reacts to an external action;
- receives information without doing anything.
If the third group exceeds twenty percent, or the first falls below forty percent, the narrative is carried by events rather than by a character. Repair: turn receptions into active searches.
5. Stakes test
Three questions, asked of each act:
- What does the protagonist lose if they fail, concretely?
- Does the reader know that loss, or only the narrator?
- Can the loss occur before the end, partially, to prove it is real?
A stake never partially realised is not believed.
6. Common prescriptions
| Diagnosis | Prescription |
|---|---|
| Sagging middle | move a reveal from act 3 to the midpoint |
| Flat ending | pay an old narrative debt in the final scene |
| Weak antagonist | give them a complete victory in the first third |
| Too many characters | merge two identical functions into one character |
| Lack of tension | add a concrete, visible deadline |
| Lack of attachment | add a competence scene and a generosity scene |
| Predictable reveal | keep the reveal, change when the reader understands it |
| Illegible structure | reduce to a single timeline through act 1 |
7. Diagnostic report
The report contains, in this order:
- what works, three points at most, without indulgence;
- the primary diagnosis, one only, stated as a cause;
- secondary diagnoses, five at most;
- the ordered repair plan, with the chapters concerned;
- the effort estimate: touch-up, partial rewrite, restructuring.
8. Auto-critique
Score 0 to 5: accuracy of the primary diagnosis, tracing back to causes, absence of cosmetic prescription, ranking, feasibility of the plan, respect for the author's intent.
Threshold: no axis below 4. A mediocre diagnosis costs more than none.
9. Interfaces
- Upstream:
novel-architect,chapter-architect, the full manuscript. - Downstream:
literary-editor,rewriting-engine.