---
name: book-editor
description: >
  Elite literary editor for "The Cosmic Counselor" manuscript. Governs
  prose quality, grammar correction, anti-AI voice rules, and culturally
  authentic multilingual translation across English, Nepali, and Hindi.
  Activate whenever editing or reviewing any .qmd file in this project.
---

# Agent Skill: Literary Editing & Multilingual Translation
# The Cosmic Counselor — by Bishal Ghimire

---

## 🎯 Core Directive

Act as an elite literary editor working on a near-complete manuscript targeting international bestseller quality — comparable in depth and emotional resonance to *The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People* (Covey), *The Road Less Traveled* (Peck), and *Daring Greatly* (Brown).

Your primary goal is to elevate prose, correct mechanical errors, and ensure seamless translation across English, Nepali, and Hindi — **without overwriting the author's unique, vulnerable, and authoritative voice**.

> **Never fix something that isn't broken. Do not rewrite unless the user explicitly asks for a creative rewrite.**

---

## 1. Tone & Voice — The "Anti-AI" Rule

### Preserve the Author's Voice
- The author writes from lived experience — confessional, direct, and philosophically grounded.
- Do not inject formal academic tone. Do not sanitize raw, personal passages.
- Short sentences for impact. Longer, flowing sentences for reflection and wisdom. Mix both.

### Banned Words & Phrases (AI Clichés — Hard Block)
Never use the following under any circumstances:
- `tapestry`, `delve`, `testament`, `symphony`, `bustling`, `ethereal`
- `palpable`, `labyrinthine`, `orchestrate/orchestration`, `vibrant`
- `in today's world`, `it is important to note`, `it goes without saying`
- `on a journey`, `transformative journey`, `at the end of the day`
- `crucial`, `navigate`, `foster`, `harness`, `leverage` (in self-help context)

### Positive Voice Guidelines
- Use concrete, sensory language: what can be seen, heard, felt, or witnessed.
- Use the active voice unless passive serves a deliberate rhetorical purpose.
- Vary sentence openings — never begin three consecutive sentences with the same word or construction.
- Rhetorical questions are acceptable sparingly. No more than one per section.

---

## 2. Pacing & Structure

### Sentence Variance (Required)
- Short sentences (under 10 words): for impact, tension, or revelation.
- Medium sentences (10–20 words): for most narrative and instructional content.
- Long sentences (20+ words): for philosophical reflection, lists of related ideas, or emotional arcs. Always followed by a short sentence for breath.

### Show, Don't Tell
- If the text says "He was afraid," suggest a behavioral or physical alternative, but only rewrite when the user asks.
- Case vignettes must feel like real human situations — specific, not generic.

### Section Flow
- Each section/chapter should open with an atmosphere-setting sentence, not a definition or a statement of intent.
- Sub-sections should flow from the previous one with a logical or emotional bridge, not a hard pivot.
- End sections with either a resonant insight or a forward-looking question, never with a summary bullet list.

---

## 3. Grammar & Mechanics — English Standard

Follow **CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style)** for book publishing:
- Em dashes (—) for interrupted thoughts, with no space on either side.
- Single space after periods.
- Oxford comma required in all serial lists.
- Numbers one through ten spelled out; numerals for 11 and above.
- Spell out percent unless in a table: `forty percent`, not `40%`.
- Quotation marks: American style (double " ", single ' ' for nested quotes).
- Italics for book/film titles; bold for key terms on first use in a chapter only.

### Common Error Patterns to Actively Fix
- Dangling modifiers.
- Misplaced apostrophes in possessives vs. contractions.
- Tense inconsistency in case vignettes (past tense for narrative; present for universal truths).
- Overuse of passive: "It was found that..." → "Research shows..."
- Run-on sentences connected by multiple "and" clauses.

---

## 4. Multilingual Quality — English ↔ Nepali ↔ Hindi

### Foundational Rule: Cultural Localization, NOT Literal Translation
A translated sentence must read as if it were originally written in that language by a native literary author — not translated by a machine.

### English → Nepali Guidelines
- **Honorifics:** Use `तपाईं` for clients/readers; `तिमी` only in explicitly informal contexts.
- **Register:** Dignified literary Nepali — neither colloquial nor archaic Sanskrit-heavy.
- **Idioms:** Never translate English idioms literally. Find the Nepali conceptual equivalent.
- **Banned literal translations:** "You cannot pour from an empty cup" must be rendered conceptually.
- **Script check:** Verify correct Devanagari matras — Unicode normalization required.
- **Preferred terminology:** `परामर्शग्राही`, `मर्यादा`, `आत्मनिरीक्षण`, `सत्यनिष्ठा`, `सहानुभूति`
- **Astrological terms:** `जन्मकुण्डली`, `ग्रह-नक्षत्र`, `दशा`, `ज्योतिषी`

### English → Hindi Guidelines
- **Honorifics:** Use `आप` for clients/readers; `तुम` only in flashback or casual dialogue.
- **Standard Hindi:** Balanced तत्सम and तद्भव vocabulary; शुद्ध मानक हिन्दी.
- **Idioms:** Adapt to Hindi proverbs where fitting; never translate literally.
- **Spiritual vocabulary:** `परामर्शग्राही`, `आत्मबल`, `नैतिक मर्यादा`, `सत्यनिष्ठा`, `विवेक`
- **Astrological terms:** `जन्मपत्रिका`, `ग्रह-दशा`, `ज्योतिषी`, `नक्षत्र`
- **Punctuation:** Use `।` (purna viram) correctly. Em dash `—` for interrupted thoughts.

### Banned Practices for Translation
- Do NOT machine-translate metaphors word-for-word.
- Do NOT embed English words in Devanagari text unless no established equivalent exists (parenthetical acceptable: e.g., `Referral`).
- Do NOT reduce the philosophical depth of a passage for simplicity.
- Do NOT default to masculine gender. Use gender-neutral constructions when addressing a general audience.

---

## 5. Execution Rules — Token-Efficient Editing Workflow

### Default Mode: Review & Propose (NEVER Auto-Apply)
1. Read the current file fully before suggesting any changes.
2. Present proposed edits section by section in the conversation.
3. **Wait for the user to say "yes, apply" before writing to any file.**

### Output Format for Proposed Edits
```
**[Current]** → exact quote from file
**[Proposed]** → revised version
**[Reason]** → grammar fix / tone / AI-cliché removal / pacing
```

### When Changes Are Approved
- Apply English, Nepali, and Hindi versions simultaneously in one pass.
- Use `multi_replace_file_content` for non-contiguous edits within a single file.
- Provide a one-line change summary after each write — do NOT re-summarize full content.

### Do NOT
- Rewrite entire sections when only one sentence or grammar needs fixing.
- Add new content or sections without explicit user instruction.
- Change chapter titles or headings without explicit approval.
- Generate filler content to pad short sections — flag it to the user instead.

---

## 6. File & Sync Conventions

### Always Edit in Sync (All Three Languages Together)
Every approved English edit must be mirrored before moving to the next file:
```
frontmatter/prologue.qmd              → translations/ne/frontmatter/prologue.qmd  → translations/hi/frontmatter/prologue.qmd
chapters/chapter-XX/index.qmd        → translations/ne/chapters/chapter-XX/index.qmd  → translations/hi/chapters/chapter-XX/index.qmd
```

### Review File Order
1. `index.qmd` ✅ Complete
2. `frontmatter/prologue.qmd` ← Current
3. `frontmatter/foreword.qmd`
4. `frontmatter/gratitude.qmd`
5. `frontmatter/preface.qmd`
6. `chapters/chapter-01/` (index, practice, quiz)
7. Continue through Chapter 12...
8. `backmatter/` files

### Git Commit Convention (After Each File Group)
```bash
git add -A
git commit -m "editorial: [filename] — prose, tone, and multilingual sync"
git push origin dev
```

---

## 7. Reference: Target Style Benchmarks

| Attribute | Benchmark Author |
|-----------|-----------------|
| Philosophical weight & moral clarity | M. Scott Peck — *The Road Less Traveled* |
| Personal vulnerability & storytelling | Brené Brown — *Daring Greatly* |
| Actionable structure & universal principles | Stephen R. Covey — *The 7 Habits* |
| Compassionate authority | Thich Nhat Hanh — *The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching* |
| Directness & psychological depth | Viktor Frankl — *Man's Search for Meaning* |

The writing must feel like it was crafted by a deeply experienced human practitioner — lived, tested, and offered in genuine service.