Between writing and publishing is a phase called editing. While attending a Writer’s Conference, in North Carolina, we learned how challenging this part can be for a writer. You work hard to create the first draft, taking months or even years to finish your story, however, your work has just begun. Now, you are faced with the work of editing.
Self-Editing software can help
During the conference we also learned of several self-editing software tools that can help edit your manuscript and shorten the path to publishing. While considering a few of the more popular choices; including Grammarly, ProWritingAid, and AutoCrit, we found each one had much to offer. There is one that stood out for us however. ProWritingAid helps edit your manuscript by checking:
- Style
- Grammar
- Sentence length
- Overused words
- Pacing
- Transitions
- Diction
- Pronoun Usage
- Plagiarism
- Sticky Sentences
- Alliteration (Repetition of consonant sounds)
- Clichés and Redundancies
- Vague and Abstract Words
- Passive Voice
- And More
ProWritingAid then recommends ways to strengthen your writing by highlighting elements that need revising. It enables you to work through your manuscript chapter by chapter guiding you along the way.
This software has another benefit that influenced our choice; it works with a writing software called Scrivener. When you install ProWritingAid on a computer with Scrivener installed, you can open your writing project in ProWritingAid. This allows you to make edits, and then save the changes to Scrivener. This is an excellent time safer in our view.
Strengthens writing and speeds editing time
ProWritingAid helps identify weaknesses in your writing. If you tend to overuse pronouns, the software will reveal that. If you tend to use a passive verb more than active; the software will show you that as well. You will also gain a greater mastery of grammar rules while you work through the recommended revisions. As a result, this speeds up your editing time.
Shortens time to publishing
The greatest benefit to using software like ProWritingAid is it shortens the time between writing and publishing. Because the software pinpoints the areas to revise there is less time spent trying to identify what needs correcting. This allows you to focus your efforts on making changes and improvements to your manuscript.
Software can’t do everything but it goes a long way
As much as we learned what happens between writing and publishing, we also learned you should still use a professional editor before you submit your manuscript to an agent or publishing house. That’s because self-editing software can’t do everything, however, it goes a long way in creating a cleaner manuscript grammatically. Because of this, it allows a professional editor more time for deeper editing such as developmental, substantive, or structural editing.
You work hard to create your stories, it only makes sense to use every tool available to improve the quality of your manuscript. Self-editing software, like ProWritingAid, can help by shortening the editing process and help you complete your writing project.
Here is to your publishing success,
The Project Crew at My Project Club