programs – Jean's Writing

“I think I can, I think I can.”

That’s been my mantra for so long and yet I feel as though I’m writing in circles.

One of my WIP, the story that started it all, is going nowhere. I have so many starts, middles and endings, I can’t make heads or tails of it.

But this little vixen won’t leave my mind. So one day I’m gonna have to wrestle her to the page and get control of her story. Sigh.

Today I read an interesting article. If you know anything at all about me, you know I’m a techie. So this new program caught my eye.

A critic’s second thoughts on robo-writing by Chris Berdik

I use several programs for grammar, spelling, formatting, and reading aloud. But this one has a bit of a different take on editing. WriteLab. After selecting the free trial button, always a go to when trying a new program, I uploaded a selection of my aggravating WIP.

The results were very thought-provoking. For instance WriteLab pointed this out about a couple of words in one sentence.

Coherence

This is an unusual phrase. What relation does innocent have to rhyme? How familiar are readers with this relation? Will they be informed or confused by it? robot-36984_1280

In addition to Coherence, the program checks for Cohesion, Logic, concision, Emphasis, and Elegance.

I don’t any program, no matter how smart will ever replace the imagination and talent of the individual writer.

However, after running this program on a small section, my mind is spinning. Sometimes a fresh, unbiased, logical evaluation can get us unstuck. I think I’m ready to take a crack at this elusive story one more time. Wish me luck.

How about you? Are you struggling with a WIP?

Have you found something to help with that struggle?

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Thank you!
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