Software Review: ProWritingAid
Beyond clear communication, grammar is something I only enjoy for the sake of laughing at cartoons. However, poor grammar can reflect badly on the writer. Investing in language editing software, such as ProWritingAid, could help you take your writing to the next level. Consider:
A book was read. -or- A good book was read.
What’s wrong with these statements? In a nutshell, they are flat; the language is passive, and they aren’t specific. Who read the book? What kind of book was it? How do we know it was good? Why did it matter that the book was good?
Chester devoured the pages, losing track of time as the story unfolded. He knew he’d be shattered for his presentation in front of his firm’s biggest clients but right now, nothing mattered except for the story unfolding in the book he’d found hidden in the attic.
Better, right? Yes, except for the missing comma, hidden, passive verb in the passage and the cliche. This next version has no hidden verbs, cliches, or sticky sentences.
Chester devoured the pages, eyes flicking to the clock each time he started a new chapter. He knew he was risking exhaustion before his presentation in front of his firm’s biggest clients, but right now, nothing mattered except for the story unfolding in the book he’d found hidden in the attic.
Here’s the final version. Again, there are no hidden verbs, cliches, or sticky sentences, and I’ve also made it a faster read at 11 seconds vs 13 seconds for the previous version.
Chester devoured the pages, eyes flicking to the clock each time he started a new chapter. He knew a flat presentation to his firm’s biggest clients could jeopardize his job, but nothing mattered except for the story unfolding in the book he’d found hidden in the attic.
What is ProWritingAid?
ProWritingAid is a desktop and web-based software system that provides a grammar checker, a style editor, and writing analytics. Sure, it will help you find misspelled words and wayward commas, but ProWritingAid goes further, using artificial intelligence to analyze your writing. The software comes with reports to help you assess your writing for style, cliches, repetition, and sticky sentences among others.
How Does ProWritingAid Work?
You can use ProWritingAid in a stand-alone desktop application, via integration with Microsoft Word or Google Docs, or through their web editor. The software offers various reports via in-software buttons. Running them is simple; you select a section of text and click the button for the report you want, or if your document isn’t too long, run the report on the entire length. You can also create a custom report, but I haven’t played with that yet. Via the ProWritingAid extension for Chrome, I’m also able to use the software on other websites.
Does ProWritingAid Work?
Yes! Not only will the software tell you where you could improve your writing, every suggestion includes a link to an article to further explain the suggestion. If you explore these links and learn the reasons behind the suggestions, the software acts like a writing coach. The software also emails a summary of weekly achievements, even noting the days I was most actively improving my writing.
What I Like
ProWritingAid is versatile. I use it on websites, documents, and even in Scrivener. When I’m editing a story, I use the Grammer & Style report first, but I’ll often run a separate Style report afterward to look for adverbs, occasions where I tell instead of show, and where I’m using passive voice.
Recently, I’ve played with the Sensory report which summarizes the sensory aspects of a scene. The report will actually tell me how many of the words in the selection relate to vision vs. sound, touch, taste, and feel. I’ve also looked at the Cliches report which provides a list of cliches used and separates cliches used in dialogue from cliches used outside of dialogue. I also recently learned I can make word clouds through the software to the delight of my critique partners.
There is so much to this program I’ve barely explored. Today, looking at the web version, I realized there is a feature called WordExplorer. If I type in the word ‘Story’, WordExplorer provides a definition (both noun and verb), thesaurus, reverse dictionary, alliteration, cliches (“to make a long story short” or “cock and bull story”), rhyming words, pronunciation, collocations, common phrases, possession, anagrams, and examples from books or quotes.
What Could be Better
My biggest complaint with the software is the need to run a small section of text at a time. I’d love to run a report on my entire document and then work through changes, but when I try to run a report on a large section of text, the document occasionally crashes.
I don’t like how the reports reflect a snapshot in time. If I alter the language in my document, suggestions do not drop off the list, even if I’ve changed or omitted the offending words. The workaround is to clear the report and rerun the section, but I wish the list of suggestions would dynamically update.
Also, I’ve had the Scrivener interface act buggy. I’ve made a change via the desktop app to my Scrivener document, but I don’t see the change when I open Scrivener. I’ve only had this experience a few times, so truthfully, it could have been user error. Before I do heavy editing in Scrivener, I’ll test a smaller section to make sure it implements the changes before I go through an entire document.
“Yes yes yes, we’ll get the grammar police onto her first thing. Do they have actual powers of arrest, do you think? Or will they just hang her from the nearest participle?”
― London Rules
Final Thoughts
ProWritingAid is a valuable tool which has improved my writing. Besides the capabilities I described above, the company has continued to provide value. This week, ProWritingAid sponsored a Fantasy’s Writer week, which included live (free) webinars on world building, creating magic systems, editing fantasy, YA fantasy, organizing story ideas, tricks of the genre, among others. Their blog is constantly delivering high-value content, and they email new resources to me as they become available.
I highly recommend ProWritingAid and would love to hear what your experience has been.
Header Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash