Editing software worth it?

You need to understand the rules of grammar first. Otherwise, these programs may lead you astray. Saying that, if you tune the Grammar and Style editor in MS Word to look at fiction writing styles, it works very well, and it comes with the program.

In addition to the add-0n with Word, I subscribe to Autocrit. It is more a style editor than a grammar editor. It will find over-used words and phrases, clichés, overused pronouns, improper dialog tags, over-long sentences, and a plethora of other items that affect your writing. The program doesn't fix or change anything. It simply finds areas that good writers avoid and points them out to you. It's up to you to fix them.

No, none of it I've tried is worth the cost, and all of it makes serious mistakes. The style software is worse than the grammar check, and it can totally screw up your writing, if you follow half of what it says.

One way to check such software is to run a few pieces of famous, critically acclaimed writing through it. With every piece of writing I've tried, the software wants a hundred changes, none for the better. AutoCrit is notorious for this.

And no software has much of a clue about grammar. The grammar check in Word is far and away the best out there, but even it makes some serious mistakes with grammar and punctuation on a regular basis.

But at least Word's grammar check gives you the rule it uses to reach a decision, and you can read the rule to learn grammar, and what you should be doing.

But there really are no shortcuts. You either learn grammar and punctuation yourself, or you're pretty much stuck. All grammar check programs make serious mistakes, and unless you know grammar and punctuation, you won't know whether such software is right or wrong. The same is true of styling software. You have to know good style from bad, know when to use something and when not to, and this varies with every story. No style checker can tell you, and no style checker out there passes the test of passing good, famous, critically acclaimed writing.

I use Autocrit's free on-line checker as a backup for 'dithery' sentences where I can't make up my mind. I've looked at some programs like Grammarly and I think they must be designed for those who don't have even the basics of grammar.

Word has both a Standard and Formal grammar and spellchecker. Standard is fairly useless, but Formal picks up on a lot of things I miss. To find it go to Grammar&Spelling, click on Options, and change Standard to Formal.

Carmy said:

I Standard is fairly useless, but Formal picks up on a lot of things I miss. To find it go to Grammar&Spelling, click on Options, and change Standard to Formal.

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For fiction, I believe it's the other way around. Using the Formal setting ruins otherwise good writing. I believe you have to go inside Word's grammar check and uncheck about half the boxes therein, or Word will formalize your writing to death, and will very often be wrong when it does so.

The latest version of Word has, I think, only two settings, Grammar Only, and Grammar and Style. With either option, it's going to be wrong a LOT, unless you uncheck several of the boxes. With the style setting, it's going to be wrong so often that the writing becomes almost unreadable, if you do all it tells you to do.

Thanks for the warning.

Nah, I'd never allow a machine to tell me what to do. I use bad English in a lot of dialogue and that Ignore button comes into play regularly.

I'm using a very old version of Word and I can't say I've had too many problems with suggestions being out of line or too formal or stilted. Maye they've "improved" the program in the newer versions. Not always a good thing.

A good old fashioned grammar book can help you with grammar. A dictionary is also an excellent tool. I would not use grammar editing software, because they do not know the tone, voice, etc. of your story.

I use Word 2003. The grammar check is way out of whack, especially when it comes to words that are the same but spelled differently, such as "there, their, they're." It screws up a lot, which is exactly why writers need to know their grammar and spelling.

A robot is never going to be able to replace a human at this kind of thing (at least at the level of technology we're at now). Language is just too subjective. If anything, I'd be worried about it inserting mistakes.

Jamesaritchie said:

No

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This exactly, and with emphasis. There are no shortcuts via computer software. The language is your tool. You need to learn to use it, wield it like a scalpel, and feel its use in your bone marrow. No damn computer program is going to help you do that.

There are computer resources that will help you greatly in understanding the principles of good written communication. But they won't do that communication for you. Start with the Purdue On-Line Writing Lab.

And read a hell of a lot of really good writing, across many genres. I'm always mystified at the impression I get that aspiring writers never seem to want, or think, to do this.

caw

blacbird said:

This exactly, and with emphasis. There are no shortcuts via computer software. The language is your tool. You need to learn to use it, wield it like a scalpel, and feel its use in your bone marrow. No damn computer program is going to help you do that.

There are computer resources that will help you greatly in understanding the principles of good written communication. But they won't do that communication for you. Start with the Purdue On-Line Writing Lab.

And read a hell of a lot of really good writing, across many genres. I'm always mystified at the impression I get that aspiring writers never seem to want, or think, to do this.

caw

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I do agree with blacbird that no software will be a complete substitute for your own learning. However, do note that IT is here to help us a great deal.

The initiator if this thread asked if editing software is worth it. My answer is yes, if you have the right software that suits your needs. Of course the implicit implication is that the software, no matter how 'right' it is, is not a perfect substitute.

'Whitesmoke' is an ironic name for the software because that's what it does - blowing white smoke and hot air. The software has many viruses attached to it and the features are so-so.

I have been introduced to Ginger Software, and have been using it since. The innovation with the Ginger Spell Checker is that it corrects writing mistakes according to the context of the sentence, which other editing software does not.

If you're serious about using an effective editing software, I'll recommend you check Ginger out. They just released a freemium version.

This is a fascinating thread, since I've heard about writing tools but have not seen any of them in operation.

Does anyone use OpenOffice? I have Word at work, but for home use I prefer OpenOffice because it's FREE and it opens docs exactly where I left off.

At first the idea of software for this was appealing, especially as a time saving device.

But really, I want to be fully in control of my own work. Plus, I think great writers are those who know how the rules work, so as to be able to break them successfully. That produces original writing.

blacbird said:

This exactly, and with emphasis. There are no shortcuts via computer software. The language is your tool. You need to learn to use it, wield it like a scalpel, and feel its use in your bone marrow. No damn computer program is going to help you do that.

There are computer resources that will help you greatly in understanding the principles of good written communication. But they won't do that communication for you. Start with the Purdue On-Line Writing Lab.

And read a hell of a lot of really good writing, across many genres. I'm always mystified at the impression I get that aspiring writers never seem to want, or think, to do this.

caw

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Agree entirely.

I think one would do better to read a few guides to self-editing, style, grammar and punctuation, and learn how to apply the principles yourself. Also as blacbird, suggests read fiction widely.