#prowriter

[gwen-tolios]

I originally thought ProWriting adding a few AI editing features would be cool - helping me rephrase chunky sentences and improve my clarity - but I find so many of their rephrase suggestions to just...be awkward.

In this case, the program hates my use of the word 'it's' because it thinks using it 7 times in a 600-word story is just too much. But now it's contorting itself to not use the word.

I'm glad I bought the pro version years ago - if I had seen this stuff in a free trial for the current price, I'm not sure I would have bought it. Even now, I find I use it less and less as I rely on Grammarly more. But that might also just be me getting more confident in my writing and less concerned/able to catch myself many of the things I used to use ProWriting aid reports for.

[rimmherbachoe]

LIFE on earth has spoiled: I, you, we. Therefore I have to fly to the Sun. As always I have to remember --- where the sandals MOM bought. When I shower on the Sun I have to wear sandals so I don't burn my feet.🍆💦👅👄💄🩲👒👠

[ghostwriting-xpert]

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[writingquestionsanswered]

Hi! I'm a beginning writer who have recently started to write in English. I am not satisfied about my works in general, I use to abandoned 4/5 fics before writing another one that could satisfy me. I don't know If you already answered this, but could you please give me some advices for becoming more confident in writing in a foreign language? Could you give also any advice to enrich that language's vocabulary? Sorry for my terrible English and thank you for your reply! Love your blog. ❤️

Tips for Learning to Write in a Second Language

1 - Read books in that language - Reading books is the best way to learn how to write them, and it's also a great way to learn how to write them in a language other than your own. When you immerse yourself in a story being told in that language, you immerse yourself in grammar, vocabulary, writing mechanics, and more.

2 - Watch TV and movies in that language - Watching TV shows and movies in the second language is another great way to immerse yourself in the language. Not only can you get a feel for how the language sounds, but you can also pick up on things like cadence, timing, verbal quirks, and other things that are important to dialogue.

3 - Use a language app to improve your skills - If you're able to, try downloading a language app and use it to help improve your skills. Mastering everyday use of the language can help build a solid foundation for less common use.

4 - Find a language native vritique partner - Writing friends are worth their weight in gold, especially if you're writing in a second language and can find writing friends who are native speakers of the language you want to write in. Not only can you pick things up from them and their writing, you can ask them questions when you're confused about things, and they can read through your writing to point out any inconsistencies and mistakes in your use of the language.

5 - Use an editing program - Language editing apps and programs like Hemingway Editor, ProWriting Aid, Autocrit, Stilus, and others can be helpful in making sure your writing is correct--however I wouldn't rely on a program like that exclusively. Some of these programs cover multiple languages, and then different languages also have their own similar apps and programs.

I hope that helps!

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[secret-third-thing]

Heyyyyy love! If you don't mind me asking, what app do you use for writing?

HEY! I don't mind AT ALL. The bad news is that I am wildly inconsistent but the good news is that if you are looking for options, I have SEVERAL.

90% of the time I draft in google docs and then move around between different software depending on my needs.

The major exception to this is during November for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I've alternated between using Scrivner and LivingWriter from year to year.

Scrivner is more robust and integrates with a lot of other planning software. It's a one time payment, but doesn't store anything on the cloud. You'll have to manually export/re-import and keep version files if you use this.

LivingWriter is on the cloud, is a little more clean-looking and user friendly in terms of use, but is a subscription service. I travel a LOT so I wound up switching to this. It also has story beats outlined for you in a template if that's important to you. I still prefer scrivener but switching between mac/pc was killing me.

If I am getting especially distracted, then I turn to Writing Analytics. This is fantastic if you're really into tracking data for how much you write or want to build a habit and see the little boxes get checked off. I wind up exporting all files to either Scrivner or LW after the fact.

After I have something drafted up, I usually will send to Grammarly or ProWritingAid. I am leaning more towards ProWriting Aid these days since it's geared more towards creative writing than Grammarly. I cannot write in either software however, b/c my brain will want to edit at the same time and that slows me down.

If you want other really cool software for writing (specifically for plotting). I think these are a combo of free, paid, limited free etc.

Lynit - Really great for outlining complex stories that you need to untangle in your brain. I don't think it exports right now, but the devs are really responsive and could probably help you figure out an alternative. (Free for 2 weeks)

Obsidian - If you are the type of person who likes to world build and get lost in the details or want a writing editor that's a bit more bare bones, this is great. And it's free!

Plottr - if you want to plot out your story and see how events visually line up with each other this is for you (and exports into Scrivner). It's one time payment and lives on the cloud.

Miro - where I go to plot out my interactive stories! It's totally free and has so much flexibility in how you use it.

I hope this helps <3

EDIT: If this was about the bar graphs... I just used a random website.

[divinekangaroo]

What i want out of those hemingway/grammarly/prowriter 'assistance' apps is this:

TOPMOST PRIORITY: Tell me when I've used the same word too frequently (eg: the word Still or All or Back in multiple concurrent or nearly concurrent sentences - my biggest post-posting correction action)

USEFUL: Tell me when I've started a sentence with the same thing too many times

SLIGHTLY USEFUL BUT NOT ESSENTIAL: suggest politely if a run-on sentence might need to be broken in half

That's it. Unfortunately the first two are always functions behind a paywall and when testing, don't seem to work as I think they should?

[i-bring-crack]

I just found out you're the one that wrote that insanity good ChulWoo fanfic. And you already wrote an omegaverse hcs (or idk what they're called), and so many more. How do you keep getting more amazing. Your content is like drinking warm soup on a raining day and the soup isn't heavy in your stomach. Am I be your apprentice

Awww thank you so much! I have other chulwoo fics so I have no idea awhich one it might be( kinda sure you are talking bout the Finish What You Never Started since its the most viewed, but i will be surprised either way!) and yeah I do remember writing up some woozhi headcanon (small wip kinda)! unless I did write another chulwoo abo and ive forgotten (╯▽╰ ). Im very glad to feed all the chulwoo fans on a rainy day even if theres still much I must perfect! And the compliment blew me miles away anon! thanks so much, I have no idea how to take in disciples, although I can recomend a few things!

Finish you timeline and dont make get too focused on the character sheet.

re reading chapters helps.

helps to know your own weird lore soyou dont get scrambled between plotholes like i do!

It helps keeping notes on the story or going through the wiki, the more you can add from the canonical content, the easier it is to remember things (at least for me)

dont introduce too many characters (I just learned that the hard way recently.)

Have people critizise your work (even if it hurts. Im surrounded by so many nice people so maybe thats why I havent quit yet despite the shortcomings haha.)

be very careful of plot bunnies

(make many accounts so that the past followers dont know you have dissapeared into another fandom altogether--)

eat and sleep well, i like writting about what i see in dreams so that they can give me more creations on future arcs or stories, I also like to think of how different scenes would go while doing chores.

notebook notebook notebook notebook

for historical fiction I recomend reading novels from famous authors that gre around that time or that wrote about that time, and to use more books rather than short videos or websites. Sure all 3 of them are nice, but academic books feel more grouned and have a lot more things to share that one doesnt think about when it comes to writting in a different time period.

Prowritting Aid (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

If you can have beta readers then all the best to you! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

and of course its very important that you have fun and never see it as something you need to be good at fast, improving at your own pace is the best! (for me it took 3 years of constant writting and 7 years on and off to get to this point :) .)

[scifrey]

I promise I do have more Hob Adherent prompt fills on the way. Dayjob has just been stupid draining, and the prowriting is slowly wriggling its way to the front seat.

[cellythefloshie]

How did you grow your account and get so many followers and any tips for fics?

When I started this blog, I didn't go into it thinking I would get the following I have. I had just happened to stumble on another hockey fanfic blog and was like hey, I already write that on AO3, I should post it on here too. Growing a following was never my main focus, and getting the followers I have didn't happen quickly. It took a month to hit my first 50 followers. And I didn't hit 100 until September or October of that year (that's 5-6 months after I started this blog). It can take months to hit milestones, but i never really go out of my way to grow my audience. I am much more interested in having and maintaining a community. With that said, these would be my tips for growing and maintaining a community people want to be apart of:

Be a positive presence on the dashboard and with other blogs in the communities you want to be apart of. Like, reblog and comment on posts. Send in asks, etc.

Become active in community events - many blogs host fix exchanges that are great ways to get to know other people in the community!

Host events on your own blog! Kinkmas, Kinktober are just 2 of the different kinds of things you can do to draw some more attention to your blog.

Use your tags! Take a look at the fics you love, and the tags you love and the kinds of tags they use. My go to tags include the name of the player i'm writing for, #nhl rpf, #nhl imagine, #hockey imagine, etc.

Write for who's popular. Writing for certain players will always give you more traction over certain players. For example, all of my Vince Dunn fics get over 100 notes. I can always count on them to do well. Whereas almost all of my fics or Ross Colton get less than 50.

Now to speak to some points regarding my tips for fic writing:

To completely contradict my last point from the last list - Write who YOU want to write not just who is POPULAR. Writing will always be more enjoyable if you are writing for players you enjoy.

If you are new to writing, start small. Write blurbs, imagines, etc. Not everything needs to be a novel/novella.

Write often. Even if you don't like what you've got on the page, any progress is good progress.

Find a system that works for you. Mine is currently as followed: -Outline ( from beginning to end, right down to the dialogue) -Write -Edit (with the help of Grammarly AND ProWriting Aid -Get a Beta (I don't always get a beta, but I will if I'm really concerned about a fic) -Edit again -Prepare the post in drafts -Edit for a final time -Queue for posting

Post on a schedule. This will give your followers a routine to look forward to. I always try to post on Tuesday and Thursdays. If I don't have anything new prepared, I will reblog something that I feel like deserved more love

Have a masterlist that makes it easy to find your fics (and pin it or keep it in your pinned post). I don't have one right now and I am cursing myself for not having one sooner.

Once again, USE your tags.

Hopefully these are helpful tips for you nonnie!

[hell-much]

Hi! I love your fanfics for a long while now (also commented on them on ao3, so I’m not a complete lurker).. but wow the amount of words you put out there is astonishing. Can you talk a little about your writing process/what motivates you etc.? I’d love to hear about it (if you like, obviously) if not, thanks for creating such lovely works and putting them out there for us to read! 💕

Thanks for all the love ❤️

I have to say I really don’t have much of a firm process for writing. Writing by hand occasionally works well for me. I’ll try again and again doing a mind map, but in the end, never stick to them.  (The first mindmap for RFTA is wild, lol)

At the moment I’m trying what I read in an interview with John Grisham and get up every morning at 5am to write before work. Usually, I would write after work and I'd be so tired and frustrated because all my "productive" hours of the day would go to work and not doing what I loved. So now I've spun that around. Now no matter how tired I am coming home at night, I already put my writing time in for that day. So far that’s working well for me, but those processes change regularly. Anyway, that’s what I mostly do just for getting a first or second draft done.

For editing (which I hate with a flaming passion) I will usually just lock down at home for a weekend or so and do nothing else all day. I'll use One Stop for Writers, to help me flesh out the chapters and work with ProWriting Aid and Grammarly to work on the words and grammar. What helped me lately is to use the immersive reader in Word for my final review of a chapter or story. That has really been great to get a feeling for if everything works.

Motivation in general is difficult, tbh. I mean I enjoy writing, and I enjoy re-reading my own stories (I'm willing to bet money that no one re-reads my own stories as much as I do), but of course I write for comments too. And writing for an almost extinct fandom can make that feel unrewarding at times. But then you know there is that one comment occasionally. The one that's really heartfelt and enthusiastic and quotes bits out of the story. Or the one that is on a chapter from three years ago. Or a reader will leave short comments to every chapter/story they read as they go along. Or a comment analyzing what I did (what I didn't even realize I did!) with the characters. Or friends screaming at me in DMs and text messages as they read.

And then what happens is that I go back, re-read my own writing and end up thinking: Huh, it’s really kind of good isn’t it?

That’s the most rewarding thing ever and that keeps me drawing in again and again.

Hope that answers your question? Thanks for giving me a chance to ramble a little about my process!

[snowbatmakesstuff]

💖 🤗 🤩 ✅ for the fanfic writing ask!

💖 okay so I discovered fanfiction completely by accident (while searching up fanart for Class of the Titans actually) and I was pretty much hooked from the start. I was like 12 and my brain just latched on like “wait this is a thing?? I have ideas for things I love! I want in!” 14 years later and I’m still at it so I guess it stayed stuck!

🤗 I know it’s probably the most basic of advice but the best advice I got for starting is just to start. Your first drafts are always going to be crap and the best stuff will come from rewrites and editing and being able to pick out the best nuggets in your rough.

That being said outlines are a great tool for longer fics - even if it’s just super broad. Every time I go into a multi chap fic without an outline I end up regretting it at least somewhat.

And here are the two online editors I use that I adore: Grammarly and ProWritingAid (the latter gives you access to almost all premium tools for the first 500 words of a doc. So for my cleans I go 500 words at a time into ProWrite and then cut and paste it to grammarly and keep everything there)

🤩 it’s Julie. She’s my babe and I love her so much and it’s so easy to just go on and on either in her perspective or another character (coughcoughMikecoughcough) about her.

✅ for some reason I have a pattern of seriously or permanently injuring Mike??? If you’re up on my fics you already know about the current ones (ie. him having permanent damage from getting shot in my Captain and Lady series) but even in fics I’ve scrapped or half formed ideas in my head, I look back at the outline and I just fuck Mike up bad??? Apparently I just like putting that boy through physical pain…

[seraphtrevs]

Thanks for looking out for me ProWriting Aid, but I spelled TwaüghtHammër correctly

[autumnslance]

Moon: Where the Skies are Safe, how did you think others would react? Also, what was the process as this was (for me at least) very emotional.

Thank you, as I feel like so many folks kinda overlook/don't care about the child version backstory WoL writing the times I've done them, and it was meant to be cute but also a bit angsty. 💟

I'll add the Tumblr link cuz lol linking out of this hellsite, but the Ao3 is on that post too.

While I expected to get a few standard nice comments from mutuals/friends out of perfunctory response to writing I post, I didn't really expect much interaction with the story itself from most folks. It's not got a wide interest in fandom spaces, where NPCs and spice get the most views and interactions; who wants to read gen kid fic?

(Besides me and my genfic loving, formally studied Kid/YA Lit in uni self)

I got a few comments on the cute aspects, like 5 year old Aeryn, and at least one about the inherent tragedy of looking back and seeing how close the siblings were, what they meant to one another, and what it's meant for Aeryn to have lost him.

So about what I expected, really.

As far as process, it built from another prompt; the Sea Change flash fiction word prompt I realized could be a much longer, more difficult story, so I got one part of the idea out and then went back and used it as my springboard for the rest.

Kid and pet POV is a thing I enjoy writing; it's an interesting way to look at things and people in a new way, and keep things (deceptively) simple but also poke at truths in ways adult POVs won't or even can't. So Zaine ended up the POV again, at 10 this time, where as in a previous story he was 5 himself. So, how much had he changed, how was he the same, and how much was he straining given the horrible situation?

It was still short enough to not need an outline or detailed summary/workup, but I did keep some quick, short notes for myself, especially if I had to pause. I knew eventually even Zaine's infamous patience would wear out--he was only 10, his father violently dead, uprooted from his home, his sister (that he's expected to take care of) silenced by traumatic mutism, and his mother's stress and grief weighing on him, and now a new place and more changes and natural fears and frustrations hitting him. So I knew I wanted the scene by the shore, and I knew I wanted him to snap (luckily for me, 5 year old Aeryn was a bit of a gremlin to push him over). The rest was just touristing around Yedlihmad through the eyes of a child and how Emelia, Aeryn, and Zaine would react to the place from their different perspectives.

Then I sat on it for a day, reread it, revised it, passed it through ProWriting Aid to check for some of my weak points that are hard to see, reread it again (outloud), revised a little more, realized I was dithering, figured out a title, and posted it. I honestly forget if I got a beta for it, but I think no; I only do that on occasion, though perhaps should more often.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hello!! I wanted to ask a question about editing out repeated phrases.

Particularly if I focus on facial expressions too much. I know that I can describe body language and tone of voice, ect, but I found that I focus on the face a lot. Example like “they looked surprised” “Their face looked horrified” “they kept their expression neutral” (simple examples) Do you or anyone have any examples of what can be said instead?

But I have problems with other repeated phrases as well. One of the problems being how to find them in my chapters. Like, how to find out what you’re repeating more than once if you don’t know already. Do you know how I could do that?

(If you answer can you please tag me as “cupid” ? Thank you so much!!)

Facial Expressions; Finding Repeated Phrases

Describing Facial Expressions

There are two issues with your examples:

-- "They looked surprised." -- "Their face looked horrified." -- "They kept their expression neutral."

Issue #1 - "They looked surprised" is not a facial expression. It's a a statement of emotion.

Issue #2 - When you state a character's emotion, you're telling the reader how the character feels, not showing them with facial expressions.

Let's try these examples again, only this time using facial expressions to show the emotion rather than stating it directly:

-- "Their jaw dropped and their eyes opened wide." -- "They placed a trembling hand over their mouth and backed away." -- "Their straight-lined lips and impassive eyes gave nothing away."

Those are facial expressions, and those are descriptions rather than statements. Which isn't to say you can never just say "They kept their expression neutral." In practice, that probably sounds better than "their straight-lined lips and impassive eyes gave nothing away..." But the point is you cut down on the repetition of "they looked this" and "they kept their face that" by showing when you can, and telling when it just sounds better.

If you need help knowing what facial expression, body language, and internal cues go with different emotions, I highly recommend getting yourself a copy of The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. You may also be able to borrow it from your local library.

Finding Repeated Phrases in Your Writing

Option #1 - Read, Find, Zap

Read your first three chapters in one sitting and pay close attention. Keep an eye out for phrases and uncommon words that seem to be popping up a lot. Highlight them, then make a list when you're done. Now you can do a "find" search for those words and phrases in your WIP and replace them with other things.

Option #2 - There's an App for That

Editing software like ProWriting Aid, Grammarly, Hemingway App, and others will go through your writing and search out repeated words/phrases and cliche phrases.

Option #3 - Alpha, Beta, Crit

Alpha readers, beta readers, and critique partners are a way to get other eyes on your writing, and part of what they can do is let you know what words and phrases you overuse.

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I've been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I've learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[tallulahchanel]

19. Stephen King once said that his muse is a man who lives in the basement. Do you have a muse? 20. Describe your perfect writing conditions. 21. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

Here's another example of me liking asks, but doesn't answer them for weeks. I plan on getting better at this

19. This is gonna sound weird, but I guess you can say Lovie Simone in a sense because some of my latest projects have been inspired by this want to see her in better roles because she deserves so much more than she's getting

20. Literally an off-work day. Why? Because I don't have to drop my projects for a capitalist job (even if I love my capitalist job)

21. It feels like five, but my process is let the draft sit for a while, read a hard copy while marking with a red pen, let Grammarly and/or ProWriting Aid catch some things I miss, then I listen to an audio program read it while so I can catch for word flow and missing words

[writeturnlove]

The Mate Chapter 4 is finished!!!

I have to read it one more time for editing purposes, then I will post it here and on AO3.

Sorry for the delay. I hope it was worth the wait.

(I used ProWriting Aid for the initial editing, so I’m blaming them if I missed anything. LOL.)