Dialogue

This diagnostic catches the stuff that makes dialogue feel dead: same-voice characters, on-the-nose exchanges, and single-function conversations. It's built around Sloane's principle that dialogue must do multiple things at once or it's too inert for fiction. You get six diagnostic states covering everything from exposition dumps to pacing mismatches, each with checklists and concrete interventions. The three-layer framework (text, subtext, context) is clean, and the double-duty test is a fast filter for whether an exchange is pulling its weight. Useful when your characters all sound like the same person or when conversations are just moving plot pieces around without revealing anything.