Hemingway App
- Robyn Weightman
- Dec 12, 2018
- 2 min read
Need I say more than what's written in the above photo? ;)
The Hemingway App is perfect for editing your own work before passing it along to your Critique Partners, Beta's and, eventually, professional Editor. My own routine involves reading through my own work twice and then I use Hemingway.
When you open the Hemingway App the above sentences will be on the screen. Delete these sentences, then copy and paste your story. (I advise editing one chapter at a time, unless you want Hemingway to have a fit.) Hemingway will then highlight adverbs, passive voice, simpler alternative phrases, hard to read sentences and very hard to read sentences.
Adverbs
An adverb is a word or phrase that modifies the meaning of an adverb or verb expressing manner, place, time or degree. For example; slowly. (Pretty much if you have 'ly' on the end, unless it's a name, then it's an adverb.) Hemingway highlights these adverbs in blue and tells you how many it would recommend for the amount of words you've written. In general, you don't want too many adverbs as their are so many better ways to write the same thing.
I.e. He slowly walked across the room
He crept across the room.
She ran quickly.
She sprinted.
Passive Voice
Passive voice is a form or set of forms in which the subject undergoes the action of the verb.
I.e. 'They were killed'
as opposed to the active form
'He killed him.'
Hemingway will highlight your passive words in green and suggest how many would be acceptable for the amount of words written.
Using Passive voice can slow the writing down and make the reader disinterested. However, sometimes it is required to make dialogue natural. Like the adverbs, you just don't want too many in your work.
Simpler Alternative
The Simpler Alternative refers to words that Hemingway would suggest a shorter, or one word instead of a phrase, alternative. In the above picture, they would suggest changing 'utilize' to 'use.' Hemingway will highlight these in purple.
You don't always have to follow this advise if your chosen word works better. But it gives you another option if your original doesn't suite.
Hard to Read
Hard to Read is exactly what it says on the tin. Hemingway will highlight these sentences in yellow. It does not offer ways to fix these sentences but you can generally see the problem upon reading it back.
And finally
Very Hard to Read
Again, this is exactly what the title suggests. Hemingway will highlight sentences which are very hard to read in red. It will not offer alternatives, but you can generally see the problem once it is highlighted.
Review
I love the Hemingway App. It's free, quick and easy to use. It highlights a lot of the problems in your work and, ultimately, a little help is better than none.
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