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Dialogue Analyzer

Paste a story chapter and get a clean dialogue report: dialogue-vs-narration ratio, speech-tag census, adverbs near dialogue and the longest unattributed stretches.

Analyze a chapter

Good dialogue is invisible machinery: the right balance of speech to narration, tags that disappear, and attribution exactly where the reader needs it. Paste a chapter below and this analyzer measures what is usually felt but rarely counted. It finds every line of dialogue (text in double quotes), compares dialogue words against narration words, takes a census of your speech tags — flagging creative tags like "he laughed" that are not really speech tags at all — counts adverbs crowding your dialogue, and hunts down long stretches of unattributed back-and-forth where readers lose track of who is speaking. Everything runs on your device; your manuscript is never uploaded. Novelists use it to compare dialogue balance across chapters, and writing groups use it as an objective starting point for critique. The report is descriptive, not prescriptive: it measures what is on the page so your revision decisions rest on evidence rather than gut feel.

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How it works

1

Paste your chapter

Copy a full chapter or scene — at least 100 words works best. Dialogue must be wrapped in double quotation marks (straight " or curly “ ”); the analyzer treats everything inside quotes as spoken and everything outside as narration. Longer excerpts give more reliable numbers, so a full chapter beats a single scene.

2

Read the report

You get a dialogue-vs-narration ratio with a visual bar, a census of every speech tag you used, a count of -ly adverbs near dialogue, your average paragraph length, and the longest stretches where dialogue runs without attribution.

3

Revise with intent

Use the numbers as a mirror, not a grade. Swap creative tags for "said" where the tag is doing no work, break up unattributed runs with an action beat, and compare ratios across chapters to find the scenes that drift. Screenshot the report to track how a chapter changes between drafts.

Reading your report: what the numbers mean

Dialogue ratio is the share of words inside quotation marks — 40–60% is typical for commercial fiction; literary fiction often sits lower. Speech-tag census: “said” is invisible to readers, while creative tags (whispered, interjected, opined) draw attention, so ration them. -ly adverbs near dialogue often prop up weak tags — “she said angrily” usually works better as an action showing the anger. Unattributed stretches: long runs with no “said” or action beat confuse readers about who is speaking — break them up.

Worked example

A 2,400-word chapter: 912 words in quotes = 38% dialogue. Tag census: said 21, asked 6, creative tags 14 (murmured 3, snapped 2, hissed 2, others once each). -ly adverbs within five words of dialogue: 11. Longest unattributed stretch: 9 exchanges. The revision cuts creative tags from 14 to 4, converts five adverbs into action beats, and breaks the 9-exchange run with two beats. The chapter reads faster — and the four surviving creative tags land harder because they are rare.

Limitations

Only double-quoted dialogue is counted — single quotes and em-dash dialogue (common in some European styles) are missed, because apostrophes in contractions would create false positives. The analyzer measures patterns, not quality: a “bad” ratio in a brilliant chapter is still a brilliant chapter. Poetry and screenplays need different tools.

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Frequently asked questions

How does it find dialogue in my chapter?
It detects text inside double quotation marks — straight quotes (") or curly quotes (“ ”). Anything quoted counts as dialogue; everything else counts as narration. Single-quote dialogue is not counted, because apostrophes in contractions would create false positives. At least 100 words works best, and a full chapter gives more reliable numbers than a single scene.
What counts as a “creative tag”?
Any speech verb beyond the invisible workhorses: said, asked, replied, answered and told. Tags like whispered, shouted or muttered are fine in small doses, but laughed, smiled or shrugged used as dialogue tags are flagged because you cannot laugh words — those are action beats, not speech tags.
My dialogue ratio looks wrong. Why?
Quote detection is heuristic. Nested quotes, scare quotes around single words, and dialogue split across paragraphs with an opening quote but no closing quote on each paragraph can all skew the numbers. If your manuscript uses em-dash dialogue (common in some languages) it will not be detected at all.
Is my chapter uploaded anywhere?
No. The analysis runs entirely in your browser with JavaScript. Your manuscript never leaves your device. Paste a full chapter, read the report, and close the tab — nothing is uploaded, stored on a server, or kept after you leave the page, which is why writing groups can use it on unpublished work.
What is a healthy dialogue-to-narration ratio?
It varies by genre. Commercial fiction often lands between 30% and 50% dialogue; literary fiction and epic fantasy usually run lower. There is no correct number — the tool gives you the measurement so you can compare chapters and spot outliers in your own draft.
What is a healthy dialogue ratio?
There is no universal target. Commercial fiction commonly runs 40–60%, thrillers higher, literary fiction lower. The useful comparison is chapter against chapter in your own manuscript — find the scenes that drift, not a magic number. The report is descriptive, not prescriptive: it measures what is on the page so revision decisions rest on evidence.
Does it work with curly quotes?
Yes — straight " and curly “ ” both count as dialogue. Single quotes do not, because apostrophes in contractions like don’t would create false positives. Anything inside double quotes counts as dialogue and everything outside counts as narration, so keep quoted speech in double quotes before you paste a chapter in.

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