Tool Detail
Dialogue Autopsy
Grice's Maxims applied.
Identify on-the-nose lines and subtext depth.
Scene €4|Full €12
What This Tool Measures
Diagnoses dialogue subtext quality, on-the-nose exposure, and voice distinctiveness across speaking characters.
Methodology
- Classify subtext depth per line.
- Detect literalized intent and exposition leakage.
- Summarize worst offenders and voice traits.
Key Terms
- Maxim
- Grice’s rules of cooperative conversation: say enough (quantity), be truthful (quality), be relevant (relation), be clear (manner).
- Flouting
- Deliberately breaking a maxim so the listener looks for the meaning behind the words.
- Implicature
- The meaning a line carries beyond what it literally says. Dramatic subtext is engineered implicature.
- On-the-nose
- Dialogue with no implicature — characters state their emotions, motives, backstory, or the theme outright.