Product Overview: AutoCrit
AutoCrit is a web-based manuscript editing platform specifically designed to assist fiction and non-fiction writers in improving their writing craft. Here’s a detailed look at what AutoCrit does and its key features:
What AutoCrit Does
AutoCrit acts as an automated developmental editor, analyzing your manuscript using natural language processing (NLP) and comparisons to millions of successfully published works. This approach allows it to provide targeted feedback that goes beyond the capabilities of standard grammar checkers and spell checkers. The platform aims to help writers refine their writing style, address structural issues, and prepare their manuscripts for publication.
Key Features and Functionality
Genre-Specific Analysis
AutoCrit allows you to select your genre (e.g., fantasy, romance, sci-fi, thriller, YA) so that the analysis is tailored to the specific requirements and expectations of your chosen genre. You can also choose to mimic the style of well-known authors such as Stephen King, Danielle Steel, or Tom Clancy.
Comprehensive Reporting
The platform generates over 20 individual and interactive reports that highlight various aspects of your manuscript, including:
- Dialogue Analysis: Identifies poor dialogue choices and suggests improvements.
- Pacing Reports: Provides visual pacing graphs to help smooth out slow or uneven sections.
- Repeated Phrases: Uncovers unintended repetition of words and phrases.
- Tense Consistency: Checks for improper switches between past, present, and future tense.
- Passive Voice: Pinpoints areas of passive voice to change into active voice.
- Showing vs Telling: Helps identify passages dominated by exposition and suggests turning them into more immersive scenes.
- Cliches: Highlights overused cliches and encourages fresh alternatives.
- Redundancies: Calls out redundant phrases for removal.
- Unnecessary Filler Words: Identifies filler words that pad sentences rather than enhance them.
Word Choice and Variety
AutoCrit offers several reports to enhance word choice and variety:
- Power Words: Suggests impactful verbs and descriptors to replace weaker word choices.
- Initial Pronoun and Names: Ensures effective variation between pronouns, names, and nicknames when referring to characters.
- Sentence Starters: Identifies overused sentence starters to encourage variation.
- POV Consistency: Ensures the chosen narrative voice remains consistent.
- Generic Descriptions: Highlights bland descriptive words and suggests more unique options.
Story Structure and Context
The platform includes tools like the Story Structure Builder and Contextual Thesaurus to help you structure your story and avoid redundancy. You can also use the Inspiration Studio to get ideas and insights about your overall story.
Additional Tools
- Noteboard: Allows you to create a split-screen view of notes, color-code them, and export them as DOCX or RTF files.
- Built-in Thesaurus and Dictionary: Provides definitions and synonyms for words, helping you avoid redundancy and find better fits.
- Dictate and Text Reader: Offers voice-to-text dictation and a built-in text reader, although the dictation function can be slow and sometimes unreliable.
Summary Report
AutoCrit’s Summary Report provides an at-a-glance view of your manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses, weighing each area of reporting so you can focus your editing efforts effectively. This report can be generated using AutoCrit’s scoring system or through a direct comparison with your chosen author or genre.
User Experience
While AutoCrit is not a substitute for a human editor, it provides actionable insights that can significantly improve your writing. The platform is user-friendly, allowing you to upload your draft, run reports, and edit your manuscript directly within the app or download it with highlights for revision outside the platform.
In summary, AutoCrit is a powerful tool for writers, offering a comprehensive suite of features designed to enhance writing style, structure, and overall quality, making it an invaluable addition to any writer’s toolbox.