- Joined
- Jun 13, 2006
- Messages
- 6,381
I have started rummaging through my drawers, digging through centuries (this might be an exaggeration) worth of manuscripts, short stories, dust and spiders. It is quite incredible how much material has built up over the years, and I need to start trying to do something with it.
There are many, many things that need to be looked at (and probably a lot more threads to follow). To start with though I need to think about going through it, editing it - some will really need it - and there is a lot of material.
So I'm after something, software that might be able to help.
Now old MS Word can offer help with spelling and a little bit of grammar but obviously I'm going to need something a little bit better than that.
So any recommendations for Editing software?
I've come across a couple, and am currently looking at the trial version of SmartEdit. Basically it takes a manuscript - short story or other and examines it then gives a list of all things discovered including:
The number of repeated adverbs (and where they all are in the manuscript) - for example in the 184 page manuscript I've looked at I've used 'only' 161 times!
It finds repeated phrases - I've used the phrase He Who Walks 379 times (It's a name)
Then repeated words ('Could' 697 times), Possible misused words, cliches used, redundancies all the way down to any swearing you might have included.
It also checks punctuation - how many times you have used curly quotes for example.
All in all it seems to be quite useful.
It also comes in two versions, standalone - a program in its own right, and an extension that integrates really nicely with the more recent versions of MSWord. Of course you have to pay for it...
So is there anything else out there, similar, that has been used/is used, free, cheap, super expensive, rubbish?
There are many, many things that need to be looked at (and probably a lot more threads to follow). To start with though I need to think about going through it, editing it - some will really need it - and there is a lot of material.
So I'm after something, software that might be able to help.
Now old MS Word can offer help with spelling and a little bit of grammar but obviously I'm going to need something a little bit better than that.
So any recommendations for Editing software?
I've come across a couple, and am currently looking at the trial version of SmartEdit. Basically it takes a manuscript - short story or other and examines it then gives a list of all things discovered including:
The number of repeated adverbs (and where they all are in the manuscript) - for example in the 184 page manuscript I've looked at I've used 'only' 161 times!
It finds repeated phrases - I've used the phrase He Who Walks 379 times (It's a name)
Then repeated words ('Could' 697 times), Possible misused words, cliches used, redundancies all the way down to any swearing you might have included.
It also checks punctuation - how many times you have used curly quotes for example.
All in all it seems to be quite useful.
It also comes in two versions, standalone - a program in its own right, and an extension that integrates really nicely with the more recent versions of MSWord. Of course you have to pay for it...
So is there anything else out there, similar, that has been used/is used, free, cheap, super expensive, rubbish?
