I've been using grammarly while posting my story on here to help clean up my punctuation and spelling. I was thinking about buying prowriteaid but then I saw that the hemingway editor is free. Does anyone have any experience using it? I liked what I saw when I went to the website but I was wondering how good others found it to be.

I played around with the Hemingway editor a bit just now (I hadn't heard of it).

I can see it being a very strong tool for fast writing, and non-native writers as well. It does a good job, in the short time I spent with it, catching run on sentences and suggesting alternative phrasing.

That said, I would caution using the alternative suggestions it provides 100% of the time. For example, it suggests "use" in place of "utilize" in the default example when you visit their page. In that particular sentence, it makes sense. However, "utilize" carries a visual aesthetic in some cases, and may fit a particular scenario better.

If you're writing a character who speaks a certain way, or affects a certain use of the language, they may well choose "utilize" over "use" when they're speaking.

In the end I think Hemingway seems to be a good tool, but I would keep an eye open to ensure it doesn't become a crutch and hinder your creativity in the process.

'Drew Walker' pid='831989' dateline='1516291525' Wrote: I played around with the Hemingway editor a bit just now (I hadn't heard of it).

I can see it being a very strong tool for fast writing, and non-native writers as well.  It does a good job, in the short time I spent with it, catching run on sentences and suggesting alternative phrasing.

That said, I would caution using the alternative suggestions it provides 100% of the time.  For example, it suggesting "use" in place of "utilize" in the default example when you visit their page.  In that particular sentence, it makes sense.  However, "utilize" carries a visual aesthetic in some cases, and may fit a particular scenario better.

If you're writing a character who speaks a certain way, or affects a certain use of the language, they may well choose "utilize" over "use" when they're speaking.

In the end I think Hemingway seems to be a good tool, but I would keep an eye open to ensure it doesn't become a crutch and hinder your creativity in the process.

I wouldn't use it if I was just a couple pages into a new story, but I'm 200+ pages into my story on here so unless I have an attack of brilliance that makea me get rid of a chunk of old chapters and head in a new direction... I was thinking it would be the sort of thing I'd mess with after I was done with the first draft or maybe on a chapter I was sure I wouldn't be getting rid of.

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Feels like it really helps you zero in on those sentences that sound unprofessionally awkward. And, of course, it's the perfect price. *FREE*

I use Hemingway editor, but only for its reading grade analysis so that I can keep all my writing between grades 5-7. Past that, I find Hemingway an interesting tool, but not a necessarily helpful one. It's suggestions about hard and very hard to read sentences are not always correct and it generally ignores commas. Still, if you want to check out your word count or such the like, it's fine. Just don't write in it. The colored boxes popping up are very offputting

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'chaoxtheory' pid='832025' dateline='1516419627' Wrote: Personally, Hemingway editor is a good tool in term of grade level but not exactly good to trust to edit in long run. Grammarly is a good tool to start off. I used to use editminion some years back. But to be honest, I still trust betareaders and editors for that job.

First time I saw the grade level I thought it was saying that I WRITE like a fourth grader. Thankfully, I figured out that it was actually a good thing. But it's interesting to get such insight into your own writing so quickly. Apparently my adverb usage is really low. It  seems to think that any sentence with three commas in it is 'hard' so I usually let those slide but I like how it puts the really hard sentences in purple. If all it does for me is find sentences so poorly constructed they're difficult to read it's more than worth it for me. That way I can save my beta readers for figuring out plotholes and tone issues. I wish I could afford an editor but I don't have that kind of money.

For $50 a year I've been finding ProWritingAid completely worth it. Powerful and customizable.

Thanks for pointing that out, BrianDHoward!

I intend to throw some of my novel into Hemingway when I finish the first draft, just to see what it does, more for fun and curiosity than anything else. I may also, now, check out ProWritingAid as well.

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Well i 'm of the opinion that it is useful but it should however not be treated as gospel. I will add that having colours pop up doesn't necessarily mean a grammatical error. I think the app is not that useful for fiction writers. It would however be interesting to find out what other people think...