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Dialogue

"As You Know, Bob"

Flags exposition disguised as dialogue — characters telling each other things they would both already know.

What It Does

Detects explicit "as you know" type phrases inside dialogue, including variants like "as we both know", "let me remind you", "needless to say", and "I don't need to tell you."

Why It Matters

Named after the Turkey City Lexicon, this is one of the most common exposition mistakes. Real people don't explain shared knowledge to each other. When characters do it, readers feel the author's hand on the puppet strings.

What Gets Flagged

Severity Example Why Suggested Revision
Warning "As you know, we've been at war for three years" Characters wouldn't state known facts Convey through narration, action, or subtext
Warning "Let me remind you that the deadline is tomorrow" Lecturing the reader through dialogue Show the deadline pressure through action

Configuration

No configuration options.

Technical Details

  • Source: prose-craft
  • Scope: Dialogue lines only
  • Method: Regex pattern matching for exposition-in-dialogue phrases