How did Fitzgerald write The Great Gatsby without Autocrit.
Just curious
Just curious
Autocrit
- Thread starter Garriga
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I you tell me what autocrit is, I might have an opinion--lol
It's text editing software. Not like spell or grammar check, it looks for things like a passive voice, overused words and redundancies.
My only answer to the first question can only be that back in the day, they didn't have all the fancy shmancy technology we have today. They had to rely on hard work and due diligence.
My only answer to the first question can only be that back in the day, they didn't have all the fancy shmancy technology we have today. They had to rely on hard work and due diligence.
Gotcha. I'll stick with my own 'inner ear' and that of a good editor 
...I'm glad somebody defined it, coz as a nurse-it sounded like something from a series of lab orders..."yeah, get me a CBC, Chem 7, PT/INR, an autocrit,
H & H and a UA"...
H & H and a UA"...
RIGHT?! My first mental connection was to an autoclave...actually, that analogy sort of works
It is a useful tool, but I feel the reports are too analytically, especially the sentence variation. Kinda takes the creative out of creative process and leaves just a process (if that makes since)
Yup. After I read your post, I did some research and talked to some writer friends about it (and other writing programs), and the consensus was that if you're trying to learn to write, it can be a useful tool. For the mid-range writer up, it's more of a novelty. I heard a lot of what you noted: it takes the 'music' out of writing, the little quirks that make a writer's style (and I don't mean passing off consistently poor punctuation, sentence structure, etc. as a 'style') uniquely their own.
I get vaguely insulted when I get corrected by a computer, and most of the time the computer is wrong. Not that I'm perfect but these things just aren't for me.
I'll stick with spell check. I keep grammar check on too, but only for consideration. If I like it the way I wrote it, I leave it.
The revision process is difficult for me. I don't always know if I like the way I have written a story. I need a reader. When I first started this, I was able to show anyone. But now, I have several pieces that no one will see. I'd feel exposed.
It is weird, I know
It is weird, I know
Two things:
First, never throw old drafts away. If you're not sure about the new draft, you'll want it to fall back on. Or even if you just want a reminder about some part of your story, you'll be glad you still have it.
Second, you need to be more confident about your writing. Don't depend on a reader to tell you if it's any good or not. Let the story tell you that.
As far as having pieces nobody will ever see, you'll have to get over that. It's an editor's job to read your work. And, hopefully, one day people will pay you for the privilege.
I'll add another: back everything up. TWICE. I once lost two years work when I lost a flash drive--the back up--when my computer crashed--the first up
. I was in revisions at the time, and it set me back 6 months. Thank god a couple of my pre-readers had saved copies, one of the original draft and one of revisions made at that '6 mos earlier' point. The drafts between the original and that one were just lost entirely. Not a fun thing at all.Oh yikes.I'll add another: back everything up. TWICE. I once lost two years work when I lost a flash drive--the back up--when my computer crashed--the first up
I lost a whole draft of a book once. That's why I back everything up onto an external drive. And I email each major draft revision to myself. That way, no matter what happens at my house, there's a draft tucked away in email.
Oh yikes.
I lost a whole draft of a book once. That's why I back everything up onto an external drive. And I email each major draft revision to myself. That way, no matter what happens at my house, there's a draft tucked away in email.
Wise woman! I did learn that--lol. Plus, it establishes provenance, if there's ever a question of plagarism due to timing. An IP lawyer actually suggested that a writer should mail him/herself a printed copy of each draft and not open the envelope. The postmark would establish when the draft was finished. A bit paranoid, I know, but a friend had an entire book stolen and published by another person. She had a hell of a time establishing that it was her own story.
Not paranoid at all. Before the advent of email, a poor man's proof of copyright was to snail mail himself a copy of the book and never open it. That way, the postmark proves when it was sent, to prove that the book was written before that, obviously.
These days, though, a tech can take the information of when something was written right out of the document itself. Somehow, the entire edit history is right there, in the file itself. Depending on what writing program a person uses. It's all there in a Word document for a technical forensic specialist to find. So a writer is protected in all sorts of ways. The more, the better.
Yup. Many problems arise, according the the lawyer, because laws have not kept up with technology. What is tech possible might or might not be covered explicitly in law. If not, you're at the mercy of judges, some of whom are sharp and up on tech, and some who are not. Crazy