Also known as tonal map
A skill that maps tonal shifts scene by scene — flagging accidental breaks while respecting intentional gear changes — so the draft’s emotional through-line stays coherent.
Tone problems often hide until a cold read: a comic button that undercuts a funeral, a thriller scene that suddenly plays sitcom without intention. A tone pass maps shifts scene by scene so you can tell accidental breaks from gear changes you meant to make on purpose in the draft.
Treat the output as a reviewable map and suggested fixes, not an automatic sanding of every mood into one gray. Mark intentional shifts as deliberate when the tool flags them. You decide what changes; unaccepted suggestions do not rewrite the draft underneath you while you are still thinking.
Use it after structural rewrites when emotional through-lines tend to drift, and before you hand pages to a room that will feel tone faster than they can articulate it. Pair with Dialogue pass when the break lives in voice, and keep a save point so you can restore after aggressive cleanup passes.
No. It surfaces a tonal map and suggested fixes as reviewable output. You decide what to change; intentional shifts can be kept on purpose.
It should not be. The point is to catch accidents while respecting deliberate gear changes -- mark intentional moves so they are not "fixed" away.
After major rewrites, before a table read, and anytime Act Two starts feeling emotionally random compared with the opening promise.
Dialogue pass targets line craft and voice. Tone pass looks at emotional through-line across scenes -- related jobs, different scopes of attention.
