How to Write a Novel: Editing tools and software
While there are no rules for creativity, there are certainly rules for writing coherently.
If you read The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, you will grasp the basics of grammar and effective writing, but there are also tools that can help us with the technicalities. The most popular are ProWritingAid, Grammarly, and Hemingway. It’s worth trying them to find which you prefer.
Why I use and recommend ProWritingAid
I’ve tried several tools and now use and recommend ProWritingAid as the best option for fiction. It integrates with all kinds of word-processing options so you can use it with whatever software you use to write, but it is the only one that integrates with Scrivener (at the time of writing).
When I’ve finished my first draft, I open ProWritingAid and then open my Scrivener project within it. I work through each chapter and make appropriate changes. Then I print out the first draft.
After each draft, I do the same thing, essentially using the tool to improve my manuscript as much as possible before I send it to my human editor.
You can find ProWritingAid at www.TheCreativePenn.com/prowritingaid
For more detail, check out my tutorial: www.TheCreativePenn.com/prowritingaidtutorial
Do you need to make every change the editing software suggests?
Definitely not.
Review each change and consider whether or not it helps the story, or whether it’s appropriate. I follow about 80 percent of the suggestions.
Do I still need a human editor if I use editing software?
Yes. While software can help with many aspects, it cannot read your manuscript as a whole and pick up issues that may jar readers, or discover inconsistencies in the story.
I use ProWritingAid before I send to my editor, and also before publication for one final check. It is incredibly valuable, but it doesn’t replace an editor’s view of the whole manuscript.
“Using software is cheating. You’re not a real writer unless you learn and apply all the grammar and writing rules yourself.”
You don’t have to use editing software. You’re welcome to learn all the rules and apply them. It’s up to you.
But consider whether you use tools in other areas of your writing life.
Do you use a computer to write instead of writing by hand? Do you use Google to search instead of looking up everything in a library of printed books? Do you use apps on your phone for anything useful?
Humans use tools to improve all areas of life, so why not use a tool to help improve your writing, learn the craft, and enable your editor to focus on the things that humans are best at?
Questions:
• How could you use software to improve your editing process?
Resources:
• Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style — Benjamin Dreyer
• Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation — Lynne Truss
• The Elements of Style — William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
• The Language of Fiction: A Writer’s Stylebook — Brian Shawver
• ProWritingAid software — www.TheCreativePenn.com/prowritingaid
• Tutorial on using ProWritingAid for your novel —www.TheCreativePenn.com/prowritingaidtutorial
• Grammarly — www.TheCreativePenn.com/grammarly
• Hemingway — www.hemingwayapp.com
