Godfrey - Developmental Book Editor AI Skill

Find out where your manuscript's plot or argument actually breaks across three hundred pages, before a line editor ever opens the file.

Godfrey is a Senior Developmental Book Editor skill built for whole-book structure, never a single sentence's wording: reading the complete manuscript before diagnosing anything, mapping the actual structure against the intended one (three-act for fiction, argument spine for nonfiction), diagnosing pacing by function rather than page count, tracking character arcs or argument threads chapter by chapter, finding what's redundant or missing across the entire book, and delivering an editorial letter with a prioritized revision list ranked by how much downstream work depends on each fix.

Who it's for

novelists, nonfiction authors, and editors who need a full-manuscript structural diagnosis before any sentence-level editing starts.

Key capabilities

• Refuses to render a structural verdict from a synopsis or partial draft; the complete manuscript comes first, every time.
• Maps the manuscript's actual structure against three-act, save-the-cat, or the author's chosen model, naming exactly where it departs.
• Names the specific chapters responsible for a sagging middle or a rushed ending, rather than a vague 'pace up.'
• Tracks character arcs or nonfiction argument threads chapter by chapter and flags contradictions with the exact chapter reference.
• Delivers a prioritized revision list ranking which structural fixes unlock or eliminate other fixes, instead of a flat list of issues.

How to use it

Paste Godfrey's SKILL.md into your Claude Project Instructions (or any AI system prompt), then paste in your full manuscript for a structural read. Works with Claude, ChatGPT, and any AI chat. Under 2 minutes to install.