Website Review: Pro Writing Aid


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Vision 70

 

Website Review:


"Pro Writing Aid" Manuscript Analyzer Review

By

J.A. Marlow

Website

Copyright © 2012, J.A. Marlow, All Rights Reserved

 

 

"Pro Writing Aid" is a new manuscript analyzer for writers available through a web interface. Paste your story into the window provided and then click "Analyze" at the bottom. It will first come up with a summary of the issues it finds with a red "X". The issues which passed will be flagged in green.

To see the details of the issues found, use the links on the left side of the page. There are many categories this generator looks at (text in parenthesis are from the website):

 

  • Overused Words - "Compares the frequency of commonly overused words in your text to published fiction to give you an indication of where you may be over-using words." Not only does it give suggestions on words to fix, but the tool will also tell you how well you have done with commonly abused words with commendations such as "Awesome," "Well done," and "Just right."
  • Sentence Variation - "Shows a visual representation of the sentences lengths of your writing. Try and vary the sentence lengths to maintain the interest of the reader." It will also flag long sentences of 30 words or more.
  • Grammar - This is a separate report than the "Analyze" report. Paste in your text and at the bottom click "Grammar" instead.
  • Adverbs/Passive - "Checks your text for uses of the passive voice. Try and use the active voice more often." This is a newly added feature.
  • Sticky Sentences - "Shows sticky sentences in your writing. Sticky sentences slow your reader down, try and avoid them."
  • Cliches & Redundancies - ÓScours your work for cliches and highlights them. Nobody likes to read a cliche so best to avoid them. Redundant expressions can also be removed as they say the same thing twice."
  • Repeated Words & Phrases - "Highlights any words and phrases that you have repeated within a short space of writing. Try and think of something else to say." I've found this very useful, as it looks over a span of several paragraphs, not only within the same paragraph.
  • Phrases Summary - "Provides a summary of all the phrases that you have repeated in your writing. Try and cut down on repeats."
  • Diction - "Provides a list of possible diction problems and suggestions on how you might revise them."
  • Vague & Abstract Words - "Provides a list of possible diction problems and suggestions on how you might revise them."
  • Complex Words - "Highlights complex words in your writing. Words are broken down by number of syllables." I have not used this much, as it keeps picking up scientific terms (I write a lot of science fiction). However, I could see its usefulness with books aimed at specific age groups.
  • Alliteration Analysis - "Highlights alliterations in your writing. Alliterations are a linguistic tool used by some writers for effect."
  • Pacing - "Identifies the slower paced parts of your manuscript, such as introspection and backstory so you can spread them out."
  • Consistency - "Highlights inconsistency in your text. Picking up inconsistencies in your text can be one of the hardest editing tasks." This has picked up inconsistent hyphenation and capitalization for me. It will also check to see whether you have remained consistent in UK or US spellings.
  • Sentiment - "Shows a histogram of the sentiment in your story so you can monitor large swings." This is a newly added feature.
  • Time - "Highlights any temporal references in your text so you can check for inconsistency and view the time-line of your novel." This is a newly added feature.
  • Dialog - "Highlights the dialogue tags in your text. Editors prefer minimal use of all dialogue tags (except for 'said')." Especially for new writers, this is useful for counting the occurrence of various dialogue tags. Hint: most should be the word "said."
  • Homonyms - "Helps you check for incorrect word usage. Homonyms are words which sound alike yet are spelled differently. For example: there, their and they're or raw and roar."

Hovering over a highlighted word or phrase will reveal a dialog box listing possible other words to use or an explanation of the issue. I appreciate this, as several of the tabs check several issues at once, and the information in the hovering-window will tell you what type of problem the analyzer believes it might be.

When using, I would suggest fixing a few issues in your draft, and then running it again. Sometimes what you have fixed will also fix other issues, or make them worse. Better to give it the absolute most current story so you are working with current information.

To work off-line, the tool gives the option of printing out the individual reports, as well as the ability to email all of the report with the various summaries to yourself.

The tool does something I like to see, and that is highlighting the problem areas in the text itself. That gives context to the problem, allowing you to see if it really is a problem or not. Not the entire story, however. It displays only the portions of the story around the problem points. This makes it easier to study without having to scroll through vast areas needing no corrections.

Limitations: While the tools is comprehensive and great fun to use, there are also limitations.

Sometimes it flags a word that is a part of a word. For instance: For one user the tool said he was using UK spelling, but spelled 'litre' in the US spelling 'liter'. After searching the manuscript, he found that the 'offending' mention was in the word 'literature.' For myself, I have found the same issue with the word 'just' being counted when in the word 'justice.'

As with any automated tool, any suggestions need to be taken with a grain of salt. However, the tool is a good place to start when it comes to the final stages of editing.