What Is AutoCrit?

Writing your draft is just the first part of the process. What could come next are multiple rounds of revision and several passes of copyediting. Once you deem your novel good enough to send to beta readers, at least one more pass could be required before you contact an agent.

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? That’s why it isn’t uncommon for writers to look to editors or technological advancements when drafting their novel.

AutoCrit is one such tool that can aid you in your dream of becoming a fictionist. Let’s delve into this online software designed to polish drafts to near perfection. 

What Does AutoCrit Do?

AutoCrit is an online editing platform that helps writers make speedy and significant improvements to their style of writing. It spots strengths and weaknesses in a draft and offers suggestions to enhance content. In doing so, it gets manuscripts ready for publication earlier and boosts a book’s chances for success.

The software focuses on interactive editing of fictional and non-fictional content beyond the standard grammar and spell checking. It also has complex functions that address the issues that keep readers from enjoying an author’s work. These include:

• Unnecessary dialogue usage
• Slow and boring pacing
• Passive voice usage
• Unvaried sentences
• Repetitive wording
• Detached storytelling

The AutoCrit book editor spreads this insight across several interactive reports, allowing writers to detect potential issues in their manuscript instantly. It highlights these problems, so they’re easy to spot while also explaining why editing them matters.

What Does Having an AutoCrit Account Entail?

We already know this editing software quickly identifies errors, but what exactly does it allow you to accomplish? Here’s what’s in store for those who have a professional account on the platform:

• Standard grammar and spell checker
• Editing guidance that revolves around real-world standards of publishing
• More than 20 interactive editing reports
• Word-choice comparisons to that of the industry’s most accomplished authors
• Progress tracking using the AutoCrit Summary Score
• Expert guidance across genres, such as Young Adult, New Adult, Science Fiction, Romance, and more
• Addresses fillers, poor writing, repetition, tense and point-of-view shifts, and slow and boring pacing
• Provides online manuscript storage
• Zero word limits

AutoCrit’s Flaws

As well as AutoCrit identifies most of your writing flaws, it does have shortcomings of its own you may want to learn to handle. While it’s true that your poor AutoCrit Summary Score could be due to a poorly written manuscript, it could just as easily be because of the software’s non-consideration of context.

AutoCrit could ding you for word repetition even when the context suggests you meant to use the word more than once. You weren’t redundant, just deliberate; yet, AutoCrit fails to identify that. AutoCrit’s team, though, explains that the reason behind this is to give writers more control over their editing—to make you think more deeply and professionally about your words.

Still, if you feel AutoCrit is too harsh on your writing or spot errors that are non-existent, head to the support section. This is where you can find details regarding its assessment for pacing, repetition, and word choice. With this info in mind, you might no longer feel so bad about your Summary Score.

While AutoCrit can sometimes be off with some of its critiques, it’s overall evaluation of a novel will usually be spot on. If it says your work needs stronger writing, then it may very well need stronger writing. Working your way up the word count, you want to take notes of the little tips AutoCrit throws your way since they could mean a big difference in the outcome.

How You Should Use AutoCrit

Given what was just discussed, you might want your approach to AutoCrit to be as follows, so you don’t get disappointed with a low score:
 

Don’t Stress Over Details

When it comes to AutoCrit reports, you want to focus on trends and not details. Don’t stress about the passive indicators the software is asking you to remove. Instead, pay attention to where the most editing suggestions are. The issues surrounding point-of-view shifts, repetition, and pacing are more important.

Take Recommendations To Heart

AutoCrit could recommend edits that are so obviously correct you won’t hesitate to implement them. Or, they could fail to consider your intentions and be totally wrong. Either way, suggestions don’t necessarily mean you should change anything.

Sometimes, suggestions are there to make you ask questions about your work. Is it good enough?

Could your sentence or paragraph stand to be a little bit better? In asking yourself these questions, you identify your strengths and weaknesses as a writer and learn to become better in your craft.

Growing as a Writer With AutoCrit

More than helping you spot pacing, points-of-view, and repetition errors in your draft, AutoCrit makes you ask the important questions. It brings to light certain flaws in your writing that may not necessarily be detected by your readers. It helps you understand yourself better as a writer and could mean the difference between becoming a good author and a great one.