Let me tell you about my new favorite program—one I will happily advocate for to any other writer out there (aspiring or otherwise).
And guess what? AutoCrit is an editing software and I love it.
I know, I know. How can I—the proclaimer of doom and gloom whenever editing is involved—possibly come to enjoy the process of editing? It’s simple really. In using this software, I can see the improvement in my writing.
I’ve become more cognicent of my word choice and the pacing of my chapters, and become better at trimming the fat. I used to rely on Grammarly solely, but now it’s fallen to the wayside in favor of this software, which quite frankly, does so much more.
What impresses me most about AutoCrit is that it reviews individual components of the work you submit. Now, this might not sound overly impressive but hear me out. Here are the eight categories you get to dig into:
- Pacing & Momentum
- Dialogue
- Strong Writing
- Word Choice
- Repetition
- Compare to Fiction
- Readability
- Grammar
Still not impressed? Look at the image below.
Not only do you have 8 categories to go through—not including the overall summary report you receive that offers a birds-eye view of how you measured up—but each category drills down into specific aspects of the category. Take a look:
- Pacing and Momentum
- Sentence Variation
- Pacing
- Paragraph Variation
- Chapter Variation
- Dialogue
- Dialogue Tags
- Adverbs in Dialogue
- Strong Writing
- Adverbs
- Passive Voice
- Tense COnsistency
- Showing vs. Telling
- Clichés
- Redundancies
- Unnecessary Filler Words
- Word Choice
- Initial Pronoun and Names
- Sentence Starters
- POV Consistency
- Generic Descriptions
- Homonyms
- Personal Words and Phrases
- Repetition
- Repeated Words
- Repeated Uncommon Words
- Repeated Phrases
- Word Frequency
- Phrase Frequency
- Compare to Fiction
- Overused Words
- Combination Report
- Readability
- Readability Statistics
- Dale Chall Readability
- Complex Words
- Uncommon Words in Fiction
- Grammar
- Spelling and Grammar
Convince me that this isn’t helpful! I dare you to try!! Even if some of the categories aren’t of particular use to you, there are an abundance leftover for you to take advantage of. Additionally, if you’re not sure how to utilize certain categories, AutoCrit provides a helpful link within each section titled: How do I interpret this analysis?
The only downside I’ve come across is that it can take a fair amount of time to comb through each category and their subsequent subcategories. At times, the process is cumbersome and lengthy, but when I finish with a chapter, I am left satisfied and proud of my work.
I want to touch quickly on one of the most unique features of this software. It’s the ‘Compare to Fiction’ option. AutoCrit studies millions of published books and allows you to compare your work to your genre of choice and even specific authors! How cool is that? Right from the get-go, you can receive a summarized report of your work in comparison to the genre you pursue!
The categories I gain the most use from are ‘Repetition’, ‘Word Choice’, ‘Strong Writing’, ‘Dialogue’, and ‘Grammar’. These five categories open my eyes to my weak writing and highlight the specific areas that can be bolstered and improved. Sure, it’s a huge pain in the ass when I’m editing a chapter that is close to 7k words long, for the process seems never-ending, but it’s worth it.
The extra time I’m devoting to this personal editing process makes all the difference (in price and time) when I send my manuscript off to my actual editors.
So, for those of you looking for an editing software, look no further than AutoCrit! It is a quality investment you won’t regret!
Here are a few other snapshots of the software for you to peek at!
