# Claude-Tic Audit - Chapter 10 Raw Draft

Source audited: `output/drafts/claude/chapter_10.round_01.md`

Mechanical input: `bash scripts/quality_gate.sh output/drafts/claude/chapter_10.round_01.md` returned FAIL, open=3, WATCH=83. WATCH counts: repeated descriptor 28, titlecase heading 1, hands-body watch 24, usual/routine 2, uncontracted casual dialogue 9, overused verbs 1, transition verbs 3, emdash dialogue 1, emdash participial absolute 1, trailing participle 12, and/but start 1.

- FOUND — tic 1 em-dash overuse — 7 instances — raw lines 29, 35, 39, 53, 61, 81, 141 include em dashes used for instruction, logistics, interruption, aside, and summary: "paint—here", "easels—whether", "oranges—he", "since—", "work on whatever it was—her easel", "twice more—once", "right way—soap". ORDER: reduce to the few that carry real spoken interruption; replace the rest with sentence breaks or cleaner syntax.
- CLEAR — tic 2 shimmer prose — checked class action and painting descriptions — nearest miss: line 63 "The work light put a hard shine on the wet grey" — passes because the image is material paint perception, not atmospheric drift.
- CLEAR — tic 3 recurring sentence-mood verbs — checked for mattered/earned/weighed/carried clusters — nearest miss: line 83 "the yarn tensioned over one finger like a held note" — passes; no recurring mood verb pattern.
- FOUND — tic 4 default-elegant noun phrases — 2 instances — line 45 "That was the part nobody warned you about" and line 141 "in the flat way you understand a bill" lean toward elegant generalization. ORDER: keep only if the surrounding action makes the thought character-specific; otherwise make the recognition object-bound.
- CLEAR — tic 5 habitual qualifiers/softeners — checked for softening adverbs and "kind of/sort of" — nearest miss: line 63 "possibly didn't deserve" — passes as Theo's self-deprecating attention, not chapter-wide weakening.
- FOUND — tic 6 narrator-as-philosopher intrusion — 1 instance — line 45 "That was the part nobody warned you about" steps out from Theo's immediate pressure into generalized wisdom. ORDER: convert to Theo-specific cost: being liked means the lie now has people in it.
- FOUND — tic 7 theme-explanation after beat — 3 instances — line 89 "None of it underlined. It was simply in the picture"; line 101 "everyone in the room had recognized them faster than he had"; line 141 "liking the right way to wash a brush was not the same as having an answer" explain the image's meaning after action already shows it. ORDER: thin the explanatory layer and let the painting/card/brush carry more of the implication.
- FOUND — tic 8 recursive negation — 1 blocking cluster — line 29 "Not a photograph... Not a mime..." also triggered the mechanical false-profound-negation ban. ORDER: replace with concrete rule language.
- CLEAR — tic 9 self-aware meta-clauses — checked for "if that was the word" patterns — nearest miss: line 61 "which the assignment permitted and his curiosity did not" — passes as focalized dry wit, not meta-uncertainty.
- FOUND — tic 10 over-balanced sentence structures — 2 instances — line 89 balances "None... It was simply..." and line 141 balances "liking X was not the same as..." ORDER: simplify syntax around the painting reveal and closing recognition.
- CLEAR — tic 11 single-short profundity close — checked final paragraph — nearest miss: final line "where somebody would be one chair short, and he could fix that" — passes because it is action/consequence, not a standalone profundity stamp.
- CLEAR — tic 12 default lovely/quiet/small register — checked emotional peak and critique scene — nearest miss: line 89 "She'd spent her best paint on the knuckles" — passes because the scene stays practical and uncomfortable rather than prettified.
- CLEAR — tic 13 physical reaction defaults — checked for heartbeat/throat/jaw/breath/body defaults — nearest miss: line 65 "his back ached from not moving" — passes as class posture consequence, not generic emotion shorthand.

Book-specific additions:

- FOUND — mechanical BANNED echo-line poetics — 2 instances — line 9 "He was not early. He was..." and line 139 "He tried... He tried..." ORDER: rewrite both before integration.
- CLEAR — zero-tolerance dialogue diagnosis — checked narration and dialogue for comments on wording/phrasing/delivery — nearest miss: line 85 "That is the entire comment" — passes because Odile comments on critique procedure, not a character's language.
- CLEAR — hands motif calibration — checked for erotic shortcuts — nearest miss: line 63 close study of June's brush grip — passes because the attention is craft-specific rather than sensual.

WATCH-count reconciliation: the high `hands` count is expected and licensed by the Week 4 assignment, but it requires judgment pressure so the chapter does not become generic hand-romance. WATCH em-dash hits aligned with tic 1. The titlecase heading is expected chapter formatting. The uncontracted dialogue hits are mostly Odile's register and assignment-card imperatives, but the mechanical open negation cluster must be repaired.

Chapter verdict: `TICS-FOUND (7)`. Blocks acceptance until the three mechanical orders and local tic reductions are executed in the integrated chapter.
