Using AutoCrit to Edit Book

Using AutoCrit to Edit My Next Book – The Story So Far

I recently finished the first draft of my next book, which I plan to edit with AutoCrit. So far, it has found a lot of repetition and redundant phrases. That’s actually one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to use AutoCrit in the first place.

I’ve re-read the book three times and none of my beta readers saw a lot of what AutoCrit detected. That demonstrates that a lot of readers won’t care about the slight nuances that editors and publishers try to force on writers.

If they didn’t see it, does it really matter? In all honesty, writing a good book comes down to storytelling over “proper” grammar and verb usage.

In any case, it was kind of neat to see the results of my latest book in AutoCrit.

Fixing Redundancies and Repetitions

I have a problem with redundant and repetitive words. It was something Tom Bromley pointed out during the Reedsy masterclass for How to Write a Novel. It’s something I’ve been working on, but they still slip through the cracks.

It’s important to note, however, that repetition is often used to accentuate a point in the story. That means not all of the repeated words AutoCrit detects are necessarily bad form.

Not to mention that it may simply be part of your style as an author.

In any case, AutoCrit found a lot of places where I overused a word. And that’s something I also try to teach to my writing team – word variation. See, even professionals such as myself who have been doing this for a decade aren’t perfect.

Repeated words are those that are placed within a sentence or two of each other, making it feel overused in a short span of reading. And while you might not think it makes a difference, it does change the flow of a paragraph overall.

As I said before, some repetitions are made on purpose for effect. Then, you also have to take into consideration when talking about specific things.

For instance, AutoCrit flagged the word “new” as repetitious even though the paragraph was describing the difference between New York and New Jersey.

Another report in AutoCrit that I focus on is Phrase Frequency. This is when you use the same three-word phrases too often throughout the book. That’s because diversity in word choices makes for a better read.

There are a lot of ways you can structure the wording better throughout the story. For me, a report like this is quite valuable. But like the repetitious words, some things make more sense leaving them as they are.

For instance, I used “to Atlantic City” and “in Atlantic City” quite a bit. But also keep in mind that this story is based in Atlantic City in 1874. So, this will be quite a common phrase in the manuscript.

Using AutoCrit to Edit for Structure

AutoCrit analyzes your manuscript for structure, nothing more. You can use all of the suggestions from AutoCrit to edit your book perfectly but still have terrible plot and character development.

Writing a good book is purely subjective. What one person thinks is amazing, another might think it’s crap. It’s all about delivering a story the best you can to the individual who wants to read it.

Having editors, whether human or AI, doesn’t guarantee it’ll be a bestselling novel.

With that being said, automatic systems like AutoCrit will help you find all kinds of errors that you and your beta readers may have missed. Or, it’ll find redundant and repetitious phrases you can edit to make it flow better while reading.

For example, one of the “no-nos” from authors and editors alike is the use of adverbs in dialogue tags. It’s quite a common practice, especially with newer writers. AutoCrit will find those while scanning the manuscript.

Coincidentally, I use fewer adverbs in dialogue than Stephen King.

Even if you plan on using a human editor before publishing the book, something like AutoCrit will help you tighten the manuscript before someone else reads it. And the less work for them means the less work for you.

Take it with a Bit of Salt

As I’ve pointed out a couple of times, no automated system is going to be 100% accurate. Programs like AutoCrit will do their best to find faults when you edit the manuscript. However, they won’t take into consideration style or nuance.

In other words, you don’t have to change every single thing an app points out in the manuscript. I don’t even pay attention to some of the elements Grammarly points out when writing a blog post.

Some changes these apps want you to make may not even change the layout or flow of the storyline anyway. As I said, none of my beta readers spotted even a fraction of what AutoCrit found.

And I know several people on Threads who have said they would read a good storyline even if it had spelling errors and was filled with improper grammar.

Don’t get me wrong, AutoCrit is still a useful tool and there were plenty of areas in the book that would read much better if I made some changes. But it doesn’t have the final say in what makes a good book.

That is up to your reader.

Comparing Myself to Stephen King

When I ran the Summary Report and compared myself to Stephen King, it was more out of fun than anything. Do I really think I could compare to one of the most prolific authors today? Nope. But it’s fun for me to see the overall differences in writing style.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that our styles aren’t that much different from a structural perspective in AutoCrit. We have similar dialogue use, word choices, words per paragraph, showing vs telling, and more.

Then again, it’s not all that surprising when you take into consideration that I’ve been a fan of King’s work since I was twelve. In fact, Stephen King is one of the inspirations of why I wanted to become a writer.

So, no, I don’t seriously compare my work to Kings. It’s fun and interesting to see the differences, but at the end of the day, I have my own style and flow for storytelling.

He’s kind of like the senior-year football jock the freshmen want to emulate. That’s how I see it for myself, anyway.

If anything, I view the comparison report as more of a learning tool, especially when it comes to repeated words and redundancies.

Are Human Editors Better than AutoCrit?

There are a lot of great human editors out there who can help you put together a great manuscript. But, I’ve also seen some terrible editors who have ultimately butchered a book.

Humans are fallible. And what works for one editor may get flagged by another. The trick is to find one that works in your genre while actually working toward your success and not merely because of a cash deposit.

AutoCrit uses AI to help edit the manuscript and find precise things that need attention, even if those elements were on purpose. A human understands more of those nuances and wouldn’t bat an eye.

Perhaps one of the biggest differences between human and AutoCrit editing is the price tag. Some editors can charge anywhere from $4,000 up to $10,000 depending on the type of editing you need. Then, it could take months to get the results.

AutoCrit was only $180 per year and can scan a document in less than a minute.

Yet, I would still love to have the money to have a human give the book a once-over. Unlike AI, a human can tell if there is enough emotional connection for readers to enjoy the story or character development.

Automated Systems are Better Than Nothing

When you don’t have a massive bankroll but want to publish your book, there’s nothing wrong with automated systems. Just make sure you’re aware of the changes it wants you to make and don’t strive for perfection.

Systems like AutoCrit are not perfect, especially when it comes to human-understood nuance.

Nonetheless, automated systems are better than nothing if you’re trying to put together an understandable book. And thus far, I’ve been quite impressed with many of the reports and tools in AutoCrit.

The best part is that AutoCrit is comparable in price to something Grammarly if you pay a year in advance. Until you can afford a professional (and hopefully good) editor, AutoCrit is not a bad tool to use to edit the manuscript.

Need help writing your book? Knowing how to structure your manuscript can go a long way to providing a better exeperience for your readers. Take a look at the Reedsy Masterclass for How to Write a Novel. It was perhaps the most influential three months I’ve spent for crafting my books.
Michael Brockbank
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