Welcome Special Guest, Nina Davies from AutoCrit

Alright, writers, I want a show of hands.  How many of you struggle with repetitious words in your manuscript?  How about phrases? Cliches?  Pacing?  If you even raised an eyebrow at any of this, you need to meet Nina Davies, my guest for today.  She is the creator of AutoCrit.com — an automated editing wizard online.   I’ve used it, and I can’t tell you enough how terrific it is.  Automation doesn’t replace critique partners, and it’s not meant to– it’s meant to be a tool to help improve your writing. (And I enjoy that it helps me figure out the basic editing needs before I give things to my CPs.)  And on a totally embarrassing note, you should have seen the email I sent Nina inviting her to Happy Endings… that needed a run through the AutoCrit! LOL

So enjoy this interview and be sure to read through it to find out how you can win a FREE membership to autocrit, right here, today.  (It’s easy and SO worth it.)

So without further ado, here is Nina.

NINA DAVIES

Hi, I’m Nina Davies — reader, author and founder of AutoCrit.com, an editing website for writers.

Jeannie asked me to blog about AutoCrit, so here’s the scoop on this cool tool in Q&A form. At the end of the blog, you’ll get a chance to win an AutoCrit membership, so keep reading!

Q. What is AutoCrit?

AutoCrit.com is the home of the AutoCrit Editing Wizard.  The Wizard automatically analyzes your manuscript and identifies weaknesses such as repeated words, excessive adverbs, slow pacing, etc.

In all, the Wizard provides over a dozen different reports on your manuscript.

Q.  Wow, does it really work?

It sure does!  One of my members emailed me this week and said…

I am taking a writing course, and my instructor has yet to find a redundancy, un-wanted repetition, overused word, or cliché. Thanks Nina.

(This is Jeannie butting in…it really, really works.  I struggle often with repetition, and this tool catches all of it.  It makes it simple and easy to go through, fix what needs to be fixed and find better ways to say things.)

Q.  Should I use the Wizard?

You should definitely give it a try!  (And you can try it for free –  hint, hint :)).

As you know, when you edit your own writing, it is easy to miss problems. You read what you THINK is on the page, not what is actually there.  Also, you might realize that something is wrong, but not be able to pinpoint the issue.

The Wizard solves these issues by showing you exactly where the problems are.  Another advantage is that you save time because you don’t have to spend as much time reading through your manuscript.

(errr, Jeannie again…your CPs will probably love you for it, too! LOL)

Q. Where did the Wizard come from?

While I was an expat living in Prague, I started writing my first novel. I thought my first draft was amazing…until my wonderful critique partners began pointing out some of the issues.  You know the ones:  passive writing, too many adverbs, too much backstory. Sound familiar?

Well, since I’m a geek at heart, I thought to myself: “I can write a program to find these problems automatically”.  It helped that I also have a PhD in computational linguistics. 🙂  So I took what I knew about analyzing language and applied it to the problem of editing fiction.

I had fun writing the Wizard and I was really surprised (and pleased) when I discovered that other writers liked the Wizard, too.  In fact, I was thrilled when Writer’s Digest gave it their seal of approval by naming it as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers.

Q. What else can I find at the AutoCrit site?

I’m glad you asked!  One of my favorite parts of the site is the Writing Advice Library, which contains hundreds of articles on writing. There are articles on the craft of writing, the business of writing, the writing life, etc.

Whenever I have a problem with some aspect of my writing, I check out the library. I’ve always found something to help me.

The articles are written by award-winning and best-selling authors such as Nicholas Sparks, Carly Phillips, etc , so you know you can trust the information.

I totally recommend you bookmark the Writing Advice library.

Q.  That sounds cool, but I really want to win the AutoCrit Membership that you are giving away. What do I have to do to win it?

I’m going to make you work hard for this…

Think about a problem you are having with your writing right now.  It might be a character problem, a plot problem, a problem with a query letter, or maybe you don’t know how to pitch to an agent.

Submit a comment and tell us about your problem (50 words or less).

Jeannie will pick a winner at random from the entries.  And I’ll make sure that the AutoCrit library has something to help you. If I can’t find anything, I’ll add a relevant article to the library within 2 weeks.  Or, if you have an article that you think might be useful to other writers, contact me.  I love making AutoCrit even better.

Thanks for letting me visit today.  It’s been a pleasure!

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Thanks Nina for being here!  And go ahead — comment away for a terrific membership.  It’s worth the money, but this is an opportunity to get it for FREE!   What is your current writing problem? I’ll choose a winner tomorrow from today’s comments.