#ProWritingAid

[pvposeur]

Useful F2U Programs (and 1 F2U Website) For Writers

Can't afford Microsoft Office?? No problem, just download LibreOffice or OpenOffice, both in which are not-for-profit + open source, and you're good to go.

Need a dictionary to use when you're offline and have no internet or just need to know what something means + synonyms/antonyms?? No problem, just download WordWeb and you're good to go.

Need to create some fictitious deities for your fictitious race?? No problem, just go to Chaotic Shiny Productions, press CTRL + F, and type in Pantheon Generator Portable. Once downloaded, you're good to go.

Need to know how many words you need to write a day to reach your monthly goal of _____ number of words?? No problem, just go to Chaotic Shiny Productions, press CTRL + F, and type in NaNoWriMo Calendar. Once downloaded, you're good to go.

Want something that's better than Notepad because it auto-backups every-so-often and has a countdown word counter?? No problem, just download yEdit2 and you're good to go.

Need a program that allows you to do a scene-by-scene play for your works?? No problem, just download yWriter7 and you're good to go.

Want to be able to use ProWritingAid Pro without needing to purchase it?? No problem, just head to The ProWritingAid Team Trial Signup, get a Temporary Email (almost any of them will suffice), and create a new account every seven (7) days which will lead to an infinite number of #7DayTrails. You'll also need to download ProWritingAid and you're good to go.

Want to create your own Wikipedia?? No problem, just download this Wikipedia HTML-CSS-JS Template from HTML5 Templates, create an account on Neocities, and download Brackets to edit said Wikipedia Template. Once finished, you're good to go.

[physalian]

Fuck Grammarly

Okay I need to rant about Grammarly. A program I never used before and never will now. Doubly pissed because their ads keep interrupting my peaceful 4-hour Minecraft music session with their fake-ass influencers.

Guys. Gals. Nonbinary pals.

“As a corporate girlie—” learn how to write a proper concise email.

“I used to spend hours proofreading—” enjoy the process, and then the product.

If you hate proofreading, to the point where you’ll consult a robot to do it all for you, then you hate writing. If all you care about is the end product, sorry to say but ‘writing’ is like, 30% of writing. The other 70% is editing, by design. You’re supposed to like it.

Of course I’d love to have beautiful artwork of whatever’s in my head, but I’m going to love whatever I make a whole lot more than whatever I type into some garbage generator. Because I love the process of creation.

Do I think editing is tedious as hell? Absolutely, but it’s still a tedium that I enjoy. I like fixing my mistakes, I like improving my sentence flow. I like thinking about patterns and connections that I didn’t see before and revising and reworking until I’m satisfied.

For the humdrum day to day work emails that some of us have to write—if you’re sending out whole essays to your coworkers that you need a robot to write for you, you’re doing it wrong. Corporate emails are boring and trite, but I can type out a “hey please do this thing for me” faster than I can load up ChatGPT or Grammarly, type out my prompt, make sure the result is what I actually want to say, and then send it to my coworker. If you can’t, learn.

Apparently, Grammarly used to be a helpful way to check for spelling and grammar errors. I don’t have any issue with the AI that runs spellchecker whatsoever. I type so fast and miss typos constantly and when the spellchecker is absent, like on this website, it’s annoying af.

But that’s not what Grammarly is about anymore, and that’s not what the above ad was trying to sell you, either.

You won’t get better if you don’t practice. You won’t get better if you aren’t the one making, seeing, and fixing your mistakes. Especially if you write fiction where grammar rules are a suggestion at best. My published novel is littered with flagged words and sentence fragments that I know are technically improper English, but I sacrificed an MLA-proof paper for something fun and entertaining.

AI does not understand nuance and flavor text and aesthetic choices. It never will.

If you train yourself by using a crutch you don’t need, you will end up needing it because you’ll be too afraid to act without it.

Fuck up. Make a mess. Make mistakes. You won’t make them for long once you see them. You do not need a robot to do it for you. We’ve been writing books for hundreds of years and all the authors who came before did it just fine without a robot.

This isn’t even about writing novels, it’s about communicating in the written medium. Fucking. Learn. It’s not rocket science, it’s not coding in C++, it’s not brain surgery. It’s stringing words together in a comprehensible sentence.

And obligatory disclaimer: To anyone who has an impairment and needs these tools, this is not about you and you know it.

[me-is-androide]

how it feels to write a chapter and have pro writing aid's chapter review say it's really good and only list 4 improvements (i have visibly improved from my last attempt at writing)

[cookiequeen3fan-blog]

So I’m a writer and I was using this thing, ProwritingAid. And to be honest? It sucks!

In order to have it talk about your story, you need to give it a credit and you only get one! Just one, and if you want more? You need to pay 50 bucks! Just for one credit! It’s like Episode but for criquting and writing stories! Like, what?!

They just need to get rid of that whole system and find some other way to make people because I’m not spending a dime on that and neither should you, it’s totally predatory!

[k--havok]

Does anyone have any editing software suggestions that’s not grammarly and doesn’t use AI?

I use to use prowritingaid but I am not a fan of the direction they’re heading in and have never been a fan of grammarly either.

[burnheartmusic]

I’m so mad about NaNoWriMo and AI so I made a video about it

https://youtu.be/2lRZi4BAnek?si=V3es6ECXEPDHIJ0Q

[maximumcatpress]

How bad is ProWritingAid, really? I have really tried to avoid the AI features, and even called them out on it a couple of times. I have to figure, at this point, even MS Word is using AI features in spell and grammar checkers, since Microsoft is so heavily leveraged in AI. Is there any avoiding it at this point? I'm vehemently opposed to the theft-based business model of GenAI, so I want to make sure I'm putting (or not putting) my money where my mouth is.

[doodleholic]

ProWritingAid: Consider unsplitting this infinitive.

Me:

[ownworldresident]

Yes that's much clearer thank you...

"Side Masterlist & Master Masterlist Link did not n't relate TRR3 ended to TRH. See also Side"

ProWritingAid coming in like a champ whilst I'm drafting a new chapter haha

[owlsandwich]

hey! this is chance & here’s this week’s prompt. what websites or resources do you use while you write or develop a character/story? what do you think of them and would you recommend them?

Hello! Thank you for adding me to the question list!

The main website/program I use is ProWritingAid. I have a lifetime subscription and use it with every chapter I edit.

It does the whole grammar/spellcheck thing (and you can set it to British English, which is great), but my favourite features are the 'overused', 'repeated phrases', and 'echoes' functions.

My brain often latches on to a cool word or description, and I end up using it multiple times in a chapter. This helps me catch them! I would definitely recommend it.

[pvposeur]

No, I do not mean ones like Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, DeepL, and ProWritingAid. These actually help and are used for educational uses.

Yes, I mean ones like DeepAI, ChatGPT, Claude, Llama, DeepSeek, etc. These are used to steal people's data and copy other people's unique writing styles.

Now explaining why you do or do not use AI is not required in the slightest, but hearing what people have to say would be nothing short of appreciated and interesting to see. So the more people who reblog this and vote, the bigger (and greater) the end results will be.

[ghost-chance]

Grammarly just had a stroke:

This is why I switched to ProWritingAid. JS.

[greatrunner]

ProWritingAid's beef with passive voice is more than a little annoying.

[wrenmkingsley]

Meanwhile, ProWritingAid, as soon as I even think about using anything other than 'say':

100 Dialogue Tags You Can Use Instead of “Said”

For the writers struggling to rid themselves of the classic ‘said’. Some are repeated in different categories since they fit multiple ones (but those are counted once so it adds up to 100 new words). 

1. Neutral Tags 

Straightforward and unobtrusive dialogue tags: 

Added, Replied, Stated, Remarked, Responded, Observed, Acknowledged, Commented, Noted, Voiced, Expressed, Shared, Answered, Mentioned, Declared.

2. Questioning Tags 

Curious, interrogative dialogue tags:

Asked, Queried, Wondered, Probed, Inquired, Requested, Pondered, Demanded, Challenged, Interjected, Investigated, Countered, Snapped, Pleaded, Insisted.

3. Emotive Tags 

Emotional dialogue tags:

Exclaimed, Shouted, Sobbed, Whispered, Cried, Hissed, Gasped, Laughed, Screamed, Stammered, Wailed, Murmured, Snarled, Choked, Barked.

4. Descriptive Tags 

Insightful, tonal dialogue tags: 

Muttered, Mumbled, Yelled, Uttered, Roared, Bellowed, Drawled, Spoke, Shrieked, Boomed, Snapped, Groaned, Rasped, Purred, Croaked.

5. Action-Oriented Tags 

Movement-based dialogue tags: 

Announced, Admitted, Interrupted, Joked, Suggested, Offered, Explained, Repeated, Advised, Warned, Agreed, Confirmed, Ordered, Reassured, Stated.

6. Conflict Tags 

Argumentative, defiant dialogue tags:

Argued, Snapped, Retorted, Rebuked, Disputed, Objected, Contested, Barked, Protested, Countered, Growled, Scoffed, Sneered, Challenged, Huffed.

7. Agreement Tags 

Understanding, compliant dialogue tags: 

Agreed, Assented, Nodded, Confirmed, Replied, Conceded, Acknowledged, Accepted, Affirmed, Yielded, Supported, Echoed, Consented, Promised, Concurred.

8. Disagreement Tags 

Resistant, defiant dialogue tags: 

Denied, Disagreed, Refused, Argued, Contradicted, Insisted, Protested, Objected, Rejected, Declined, Countered, Challenged, Snubbed, Dismissed, Rebuked.

9. Confused Tags 

Hesitant, uncertain dialogue tags:

Stammered, Hesitated, Fumbled, Babbled, Mumbled, Faltered, Stumbled, Wondered, Pondered, Stuttered, Blurted, Doubted, Confessed, Vacillated.

10. Surprise Tags

Shock-inducing dialogue tags:

Gasped, Stunned, Exclaimed, Blurted, Wondered, Staggered, Marvelled, Breathed, Recoiled, Jumped, Yelped, Shrieked, Stammered.

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

Check out the rest of Quillology with Haya; a blog dedicated to writing and publishing tips for authors!

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