Author Intentions Assessment

Overview

The Author Intention Assessment evaluates how well your manuscript fulfills your personal vision and creative goals. Unlike traditional analysis methods, this assessment begins with your answers to four foundational questions at the time of manuscript upload. These responses shape how every report is generated, ensuring that Story Stream always responds to what you are trying to do, not what we assume you meant.

This step is central to Story Stream’s mission as an author-focused developmental editing platform. It provides a personalized lens for understanding how your story lands relative to the vision you set out to achieve.

Purpose of the Author Intention Assessment

The purpose of this analysis is to check alignment between your creative goals and the current execution of your manuscript. It examines how effectively your stated intentions, whether emotional, thematic, stylistic, or structural, are realized throughout the draft. Instead of relying on pre-set metrics, this report generates a tailored analysis based on your answers to the intention questions.

By centering your vision, this assessment helps identify areas where the manuscript is already succeeding and surfaces opportunities to reinforce, clarify, or elevate that vision on the page.

What the report includes

Strengths

This section highlights moments where your intentions come through clearly and powerfully. These may include:

• A protagonist arc that directly reflects the emotional transformation you intended
• Scene structures and pacing choices that support your vision for genre or tone
• Thematic depth that matches your intended message or worldview
• Stylistic or voice decisions that align with your stated artistic goals
• World building or framing that reflects your unique point of view

“The intimate first-person narration and atmospheric rendering of the Mexican desert align strongly with your stated goal of exploring isolation and moral compromise.”

Suggestions

This section identifies areas where your manuscript could better reflect your original goals. Suggestions often focus on:

• Themes or plot turns that feel underdeveloped compared to your stated intent
• Scenes that contradict or dilute your intended tone or genre
• Endings that resolve too quickly or miss emotional closure
• Missed opportunities to reinforce message or character impact
• Moments where reader experience might diverge from author intent

“The manuscript’s commentary on geopolitical forces lands powerfully in the final act. To increase cohesion, consider lightly foreshadowing this element during earlier scenes with Stephanie or the flight south.”

Summary

The Author Intention Assessment delivers a holistic view of how well your manuscript reflects the vision you shared at upload. When that vision is well-articulated, the results are especially precise and actionable. This report can be a critical guidepost for revision planning, helping you center your next draft on what matters most to you.

What We Evaluate

Because your goals are unique to your manuscript, we do not use a fixed set of metrics for this analysis. Instead, our system reads and interprets your answers to the following four questions:

The Four Questions We Ask

These questions are presented during manuscript upload and provide the foundation for every Story Stream report. They help us anchor our analysis in your intent rather than generic standards.

1. What is the core message or main themes you're trying to explore?
   This helps us understand the deeper meaning behind your story and evaluate whether those themes are showing up in ways that resonate.

2. What are the main plot elements you want to highlight or think are interesting?
   Knowing which events you find most important helps us assess whether they are landing with enough weight or clarity in the narrative.

3. Why is your central character interesting?
   This question guides us in evaluating whether the protagonist’s actions, growth, and emotional beats are aligned with what makes them compelling in your eyes.

4. What atmosphere, tone or vibe are you going for?
   Your intended mood and genre expectations shape how we assess pacing, voice, and structure. A story aiming for tension and dread will be read differently than one aiming for intimacy and quiet reflection.

The more specific and honest you are when answering these, the more grounded and useful the entire editorial process becomes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is this analysis so important?

This step grounds every part of the Story Stream workflow. Without understanding what you want the story to achieve, no analysis can fully reflect the manuscript’s purpose or success. Your stated vision helps transform generic feedback into meaningful insight.

Can I change my answers after uploading?

Not at this stage. Changing your answers would reframe all subsequent analysis and require the entire workflow to rerun. If this feature is important to you, please reach out to us at the contact page to let us know.

What if I wasn’t sure how to answer at the time?

That’s okay. Many writers discover their intentions more clearly after a draft is complete. If you’d like help refining your vision or revisiting your answers in the future, we’d love to hear your feedback at the same contact page.