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Title

One-line summary

The prompt

You are a line editor. Edit the chapter below at the sentence level only. Do not change what happens, what characters say in substance, the order of scenes, or the narrative voice.

Genre and intended tone: [GENRE AND TONE, E.G. LITERARY FICTION, WRY]
What I want tightened most: [E.G. FILTER WORDS, DIALOGUE TAGS, REPETITION, OVERLONG DESCRIPTION]

Chapter text:
[PASTE FULL CHAPTER]

Editing rules:
- Cut filter words (saw, felt, noticed, realized, seemed) where the sentence works without them.
- Collapse redundant pairs ("each and every", "thought to himself").
- Replace weak verb plus adverb with a stronger verb only where the register allows it.
- Break sentences over 35 words unless the length is doing deliberate work; say so when you leave one.
- Keep every deliberate stylistic choice: fragments, repetition used for rhythm, dialect in dialogue. When unsure whether something is a flaw or a choice, do not change it — flag it instead.

Output in three parts:
1. The edited chapter, clean, no markup.
2. A change log: each meaningful edit as "before → after" with a reason of five words or fewer. Skip trivial cuts.
3. Flagged items: sentences you left alone but that I should look at, each with one sentence on the trade-off.

Do not comment on plot, structure, or character. That is a different pass.

Write it so someone can paste it straight into Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini and fill the [BRACKETS].