WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.220 --> 00:00:27.390
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Hello, everybody! Welcome to our 4th day of Science Fiction writers Week. It is so great to see you all here today and to talk about editing. We're going to get into our session in just a second and before. But before that, just to make sure that everything is working. If you can see and hear me, can you drop your name in the chat and let me know where you are joining from?

2
00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:39.660
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Patrick is joining from Sicily. Amazing

3
00:00:41.060 --> 00:00:47.219
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Jessica! From Berlin door, from Brooklyn, Alexis from Fort Worth, Devin, from the Uk.

4
00:00:47.500 --> 00:00:50.219
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Wonderful looks like everything is

5
00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:57.356
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: working correctly. Netherlands. Venezuela, Boise, Vermont Missouri, amazing. We had a really

6
00:00:58.669 --> 00:01:03.069
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: wide, ranging crew here today. Philippines, Seattle, California. Amazing.

7
00:01:03.481 --> 00:01:23.628
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Well, welcome everyone. It is so great to have you here. And we're gonna get started in just a couple of seconds. I'm just going to run through our housekeeping at the top. If there is anybody who is new to us and apologies. My dog. I just took him on a walk, but he has decided that he's going to be incredibly active today. So if you see him dancing around in the corner? That's knocks

8
00:01:23.890 --> 00:01:48.880
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: and yes, hopefully, he is not too much of a scene stealer anyway. Welcome to our session today on editing just a couple of bits of housekeeping before we get going. So if you would like to access the replays from this session or any of the other sessions, they will be added to the Hub page. Once they're done processing by zoom, we try to do that as quickly as possible, but sometimes it can take a little bit of time. And all of those replays will be added to the prowriting

9
00:01:48.880 --> 00:01:55.349
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Aid Community page by September 20.th If you would like to continue watching them after the hub is closes down.

10
00:01:55.920 --> 00:02:20.789
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Now, today is the very last day of all of our free sessions. So tomorrow's sessions are limited to premium and premium plus prorating aid subscribers. If you would like to join us on those sessions, and you just have a free account right now. You can upgrade your account by tomorrow morning at any plan will do monthly, yearly lifetime, etc. And that will give you access to those sessions? If you already have a premium and premium pro plan, you'll receive access in your email tomorrow

11
00:02:20.790 --> 00:02:44.890
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: morning with the instructions for attending those live sessions. Please keep an eye out on your email, and if you have not received your details by, you know midday ish uk time feel free to send an email to hello@prowritingaid.com, and we will sort you out. We're going to be doing a lot of really great fun stuff. Tomorrow I'm going to be leading a really interactive session on world building. Carrie Savage is having another session. So it's going to be a lot of fun.

12
00:02:44.890 --> 00:02:46.379
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: and I hope to see you there

13
00:02:47.230 --> 00:03:05.470
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: if you haven't upgraded yet, and you're interested in doing so. As a sci-fi writers week participant, you can get up to 15% off yearly premium or premium pro using the code, Sfww, 2,024, and that discount works until September 27.th So find out more details for all of that on the Hub.

14
00:03:05.770 --> 00:03:28.979
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Then if you'd like to continue talking about Science Fiction, you can use our online writing community. Go to community.prowritingaid.com slash, s slash, prowriting, aid, dash live. You can also find that link from the hub. If you can't remember that, URL, which is a bit long, and that will be an opportunity to continue to talk with other participants and keep keep up to date with what's coming next?

15
00:03:29.660 --> 00:03:39.866
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: And then a few reminders for this session. So I am running this session all by myself. So I do try to keep an eye on the chat. But please use the QA. Box if you have questions for me.

16
00:03:40.310 --> 00:04:01.130
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: as you know, it's just me, so it can be a bit hard to keep track of things happening in the chat, so please use the Q. And by QA. Button, it's in the middle of the chat and then you can use the chat if you would like to speak with other speakers. And then the hub URL, which is just there, is for everybody to catch up on the replays. The special offers, the community everything like that.

17
00:04:01.450 --> 00:04:12.196
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay, I think that is all of our housekeeping. So I will just jump in to our presentation here shortly. So today we're going to be talking about

18
00:04:12.580 --> 00:04:37.569
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: editing your way to an Epic science fiction adventure using technology. My name is Haley. I am the director of community at providing aid. I've been at prowriting aid for 6 and a half years at this point, and my job is to put on events like this. So it's my team who's running all of these events. And we get to program both this event we do fantasy Week. We do romance Week, Crime Week. We have an our first, st ever horror writers. Event

19
00:04:37.570 --> 00:05:00.940
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: will be announced very shortly and is coming up in October. So I really just have the absolute, best job in the world, because I get to work with writers and provide all of these free resources for you. I also just wanted to quickly plug. If you've enjoyed this week we will be sending out a survey and putting a survey on the hub for everyone to share your thoughts and feedback. It really really helps us to hear if you've had a good time, because that helps me

20
00:05:00.940 --> 00:05:16.910
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: take it to the higher ups and say that you know we need to keep doing these events and keep offering them for free because then we have the proof that you are enjoying them. So, anyway. Thank you all so much for such a wonderful week. And I'm really excited to talk to you today about editing your novel, your Sci-fi novel using technology?

21
00:05:17.408 --> 00:05:40.199
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So we're gonna cover a couple of different things today. First, st I'm gonna talk about what I mean by editing. In the 1st place, because I think whilst writing is really clear, for a lot of people, editing isn't and the editing process can go on for a really really long time. I'd actually love to hear in the chat. Has anybody been editing a manuscript for a very long time, so something that they've had written.

22
00:05:40.230 --> 00:05:44.510
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: But they have just been continuing to edit doors for so long.

23
00:05:45.005 --> 00:05:56.644
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Duane says in editing hell, lol, 10 years, yeah, embarrassingly. Long time. I've got 1. 0, yes, don't know when to stop 3 years. Yes, nonfiction for almost 2 years.

24
00:05:57.400 --> 00:06:22.309
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: 1st novel decade. Yes, I think this is really really common. And so I'll talk a little bit at the beginning about what the the actual editing process looks like because just as we're seeing in the chat, a lot of people can just keep keep going, keep going for years and years and years. And it's really hard to tell, you know. When is enough? Enough? When do I need to bring somebody else in? When do I need to do something with this manuscript? Whether that is, start to query it.

25
00:06:22.310 --> 00:06:27.454
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: whether that is pup, self, publish it. So we'll talk a little bit about the editing process.

26
00:06:27.840 --> 00:06:52.500
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: 1st of all. So you can kind of see what what I recommend, including at the bare minimum, and then kind of at the the extremes of that process. And then I'm also going to talk a bit about why technology is helpful for editing, regardless of process. So depend regardless of, you know, if you're going to edit for querying. If you are going to edit for self publishing, if you are working on story editing, if you're working on line editing, I believe that technology can support that.

27
00:06:52.640 --> 00:06:55.417
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Then we'll go into detail about

28
00:06:55.940 --> 00:07:17.450
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: about technology to supplement story or developmental editing and technology to support line editing. And I will be showing you at that point how to use some of my favorite pro writing aid features that I use for both story and line editing. At that point. So we will get deep into the kind of pieces of the technology that you can use at that point for those phases of the editing process.

29
00:07:17.450 --> 00:07:33.109
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: If you have any questions about providing aid about what I'm covering today, please feel free to put them in the chat, and I'll make sure to leave plenty of time for questions at the end. Okay, let's dive in. So what even is the editing process? What happens during the editing process?

30
00:07:33.370 --> 00:07:52.180
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: I want us to. All think about editing is really where your story comes to life. It's your best opportunity to take that idea that you've had in your head and make it live up to what's had what was in your head for a lot of us. That 1st draft is just like we've just got to get it done, and a really good goal for the 1st draft is literally

31
00:07:52.180 --> 00:08:14.679
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: just to get to the words. The end, however, editing is where you can actually polish that draft and make it again live up to that picture that's in your brain. So during the editing process, you're really going to examine every single aspect of your story. You're going to look at your plot. You're going to look at your characters. You're going to look at your setting your word choice your structure, and more all during this pot part of the process. And there's

32
00:08:14.690 --> 00:08:37.170
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: almost infinite scope to change your story during the editing process as well, also I apologize. Yes, my dog is behind me now. My cat has joined as well, so there might be a fur fur child smackdown in a in a second. So I apologize, and if you see me kicking some, or like not kicking, but shaking something on my leg, it's because my cat has decided to sit right under me.

33
00:08:37.490 --> 00:09:02.449
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: anyway. So during editing, you're going to examine every single aspect of your your process, plot, character, story, etc. Word, choice structure. All of that is up for grabs, and all of that can be changed, and all of that likely will be changed during the editing process. It's not uncommon to create entirely new plots during the editing process, or to decide that a character isn't working for you or to completely change how you're setting up your sentence.

34
00:09:02.450 --> 00:09:12.796
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: All of that is up for grabs during the editing process, which is a beautiful and a challenging thing, because it's beautiful because it gives you that opportunity to create that really

35
00:09:13.170 --> 00:09:28.799
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: amazing version of your story that you've been dreaming about. But at the same time it means that you don't know what to expect, and it's as we've seen in the chat very hard to understand when this can end. You could just be editing forever. And that is not what we want to do.

36
00:09:29.310 --> 00:09:49.769
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay, so let's look at what I would recommend as kind of the bare minimum linear editing journey. So if you were to finish your 1st draft and want to get to what you call a final draft, so to speak, I would recommend going these going through these steps at a bare minimum one each. The 1st is to finish your 1st draft.

37
00:09:49.910 --> 00:09:55.849
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: the second is to do a story edit, and I'll talk a little bit more about what's included in a story edit. In just a second

38
00:09:55.890 --> 00:10:10.380
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: after you've completed your story edit, you want to send to a couple beta critique partners for feedback. Then you would go into line editing, and again I'll talk about what line editing is in just a second. Then you might want to send the whole thing to a professional editor, and then you're at your final draft.

39
00:10:10.380 --> 00:10:26.329
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Now, that is a very, very linear, very simple process where you go through each of these steps one time, and you come out at the end with the final draft, whilst that is the very bare minimum of what I recommend. I recommend every draft go through at least these steps.

40
00:10:26.330 --> 00:10:47.420
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: For most people. The process is going to look like this a lot more with a bunch more squiggle lines going between different different places, so you might finish your 1st draft and then go through 4 or 5 rounds of story editing, which again, I'll talk about in just a second yourself. You might go to send it to Beta critique partners, then get their feedback and then do another story. Edit. You might do that.

41
00:10:47.420 --> 00:11:04.226
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: That process, you know. 10 times you could go from story editing to line editing, and then go back to sending to a beta and critique partner, and then go back to story editing. You could skip all of that, and just go from 1st draft to professional editor because you don't want to deal with any of it. All of those are valid, and all of those

42
00:11:04.580 --> 00:11:28.179
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: are kind of effective and realistic editing journeys. What makes a good editing process is really up to you. So some people prefer to go through one of those stages at every single time before they engage a professional editor before they consider their draft done. Some people like to go through multiple versions of that process. Some people like to go through multiple versions of one part or multiple versions of all the parts.

43
00:11:28.210 --> 00:11:57.889
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Some people prefer to work by themselves the entire time, so they don't want to have anyone read their manuscript until they're at that final draft stage. Some people like to work with others the entire time, so they find that they are just not really able to effectively critique their own work. So they want to bring in additional voices. Some people really like to use technology as part of that process. Some people really don't like to use technology as part of that process. Some people go through just one round of revisions, and some people like we've seen in the chat, go through

44
00:11:57.980 --> 00:12:01.820
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: rounds and rounds and rounds of revisions for all time.

45
00:12:01.940 --> 00:12:17.159
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: All of that is okay. Again, what makes a good editing process is up to you. The 2 things I would encourage are, 1st go through at least one round of every single type of edits, because that will make your story more effective. And then, second

46
00:12:17.350 --> 00:12:25.460
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: at a certain point, if you are stuck, consider the story either done, or bring in a professional help to help you figure out what comes next.

47
00:12:25.900 --> 00:12:28.269
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Now let's look in depth about

48
00:12:28.530 --> 00:12:31.860
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: kind of what happens at each of these stages of editing as well.

49
00:12:31.910 --> 00:12:48.090
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So the 1st stage of editing that I recommend doing is story editing or developmental editing story and developmental editing is big picture editing. And it's where you're looking at big picture pieces of your manuscript like your plot, your characters, and your world.

50
00:12:48.090 --> 00:13:13.039
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: At this stage you might be asking yourself questions like, Do I have enough plot is. It is my plot too simple. Conversely, do I have too much plot? Maybe I have second and 3rd plots that are just distracting from the main story, and I need to take those away same thing with characters. You might say. You know what my villain is not well rounded enough, I need to add some more backstory or you might conversely say, this secondary character

51
00:13:13.040 --> 00:13:37.870
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: is distracting from my main character the main story I need to just totally take them out. You might look at your world and decide. I've done a really great job of introducing this world or in Science fiction, you might say. Actually, my world is really thin, and it's not really affecting my characters, and it doesn't feel like sci-fi fiction. So I need to add in a bunch more detail. But you're looking at those kind of big picture pieces, and you do that before you go into line. Editing

52
00:13:38.100 --> 00:14:05.799
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: line. Editing is. Then, when you look zoom in and look page by page, and line by line, to make sure your language is conveying your story accurately. Now I recommend doing story editing 1st and then line editing second. So that way, you have a complete set of ideas before you start to look at the language you're using to convey those ideas. It's really tempting to want to jump into line editing first, st because oftentimes

53
00:14:05.800 --> 00:14:30.789
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: line editing is where you might get some easier wins, you might be able to go in and fix grammar mistakes or spelling mistakes, or tighten up some sentences. But ultimately your draft could significantly change during the story editing phase. So being able to make those changes before you go into line editing ensures that you're not gonna waste your time changing. Changing, you know, dialogue for a character that you're just going to end up cutting. So it makes a lot of sense to do your story

54
00:14:30.790 --> 00:14:38.999
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: edit 1st or several rounds of story editing before you jump into line editing. So again that you're not wasting time polishing text. That's just going to change later.

55
00:14:40.130 --> 00:15:00.480
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay. Now, here's why I recommend that you can go through each of these processes with technology and why technology could be a really supportive part of those processes. The 1st is that technology can help you save time and money. So editing is really challenging. And it can be really hard and expensive to find resources. Technology can help you in a number of different ways.

56
00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:26.989
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: The 1st thing is that can help provide you instant feedback. And so anyone who's tried to work with. An editor knows that it's not an instant process. Obviously they're people. They they take time to read your manuscript and present findings to you, and they might have a backlog of services. The editor that you want to work with might not be available. Technology is there, and it can provide that instant feedback for you. Where again you can just get you can get feedback right away. And you're not having to wait.

57
00:15:27.030 --> 00:15:42.209
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Technology is also a really really great partner for working with a human editor. And that's because you can actually polish your work and fix a lot of the errors before you have the human editor. I was actually earlier this week at an In person conference here in the Uk.

58
00:15:42.440 --> 00:16:07.419
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Talking to a bunch of editors and all, almost all of the ones that I spoke to recommend that their clients utilize technology before they come in and work with the editor. And that's because you can clean up your manuscript a lot before working with the human editor, so that ensures that the human editor is really there to help you understand what works and what doesn't, and make those kind of bigger picture edits on like, is this good? Is this making an emotional

59
00:16:07.420 --> 00:16:32.369
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: connection? Am I, you know? Am I feeling really connected to these characters. The human editor can help you find and fix those types of things in your manuscript and utilizing technology before you get to that stage can make sure that the editor is not distracted by grammar mistakes, by style, mistakes by, you know, big plot holes or things like that, so they can kind of help. The technology can help you do that polish. So then you're really utilizing the human

60
00:16:32.370 --> 00:16:37.620
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: editor's expertise as effectively as possible. And then, finally.

61
00:16:38.155 --> 00:16:55.240
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: the technology can also help you share difficult to find information. So information on things like, you know repeated words, echoes, etc, all of which are you know, very, very useful and very, very difficult for a human to find whether that's a human editor or not.

62
00:16:56.230 --> 00:17:14.240
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay. Now, where you use technology to edit is a spectrum. So some of you will be like, I don't want to use technology at all. I'd like to work with myself or with Beta readers or human editors in the process. So you'll fall further on the this end of never using technology at all. And that is a perfectly valid place to be.

63
00:17:14.270 --> 00:17:39.259
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Some people will utilize technology to rewrite full pages. So that's kind of the other end of the spectrum where you are comfortable utilizing tools, like generative AI to rewrite individual sentences or paragraphs, or things like that. That is another end of the spectrum. Most of us are going to fall somewhere in the middle. And all of the technology I will show you today will again fall along the spectrum. Some of that spectrum will be just utilizing technology

64
00:17:39.260 --> 00:17:45.960
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: to identify errors, and some in some instances you can also utilize technology to rewrite your work for you.

65
00:17:45.960 --> 00:18:08.269
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Now, the caveat that I will give you is that where you fall along the spectrum should depend depend on a couple of things. First, st it needs to depend on your comfort level with technology and your comfort level, specifically using generative AI and things like that. So if you are not comfortable, utilizing generative AI, you do not have to. But you can still use technology for your process. And I'll talk specifically in providing aid

66
00:18:08.558 --> 00:18:16.361
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: about how that works. I'll also talk to you about what you should look out for if you're utilizing technology, that's not prowriting aid, and you're not

67
00:18:16.750 --> 00:18:41.309
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: comfortable with Gen. AI, so you can completely use technology whilst not using generative AI to manipulate touch your text in any way you could also still on use generative AI without touching your text or rewriting anything at all, and it can support you in things like understanding plot holes or things like that. So there's again a a real spectrum on where you fall, kind of when it within text

68
00:18:41.310 --> 00:19:05.649
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: technology, from just utilizing technology to identify potential errors. And then you're kind of doing the work of fixing them. And then there's the possibility to utilize technology, to rewrite full sentences or paragraphs. But again, you need to understand what you are comfortable with, and then you also need to understand the requirements of what what you're trying to do with the text. So depending on where you're trying to publish what you're trying to submit

69
00:19:05.670 --> 00:19:34.499
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: who you're trying to submit to. You need to familiarize yourself with the requirements, the disclosure requirements of that particular organization, or that particular publication before you're deciding what type of technology you use and to what extent you use it. If you are publishing somewhere that does not allow any use of generative AI, you can still use technology. And you can just use technology to identify potential errors and then make the changes yourself. You can. Also, you know, if you're working with something like Amazon that

70
00:19:34.750 --> 00:19:45.940
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: allows you to self publish. If you've used generative A AI, but you have to use certain disclosures, then you could do that. So again, familiarize yourself with the with the

71
00:19:46.290 --> 00:20:08.705
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: requirements of the publication that you're working with, so that you make sure that you are falling within their guidelines. There is not a 1 size fits all guideline and right now you if you know, with using technology particularly generative. AI, we're all kind of very closely following court cases to understand what's going to be decided, and then what the potential impacts of that will be. But there is not right now, one

72
00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:26.959
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: one set definition of what? What is legal, what is not legal, what you know, what can, what's considered generative? AI or not, so that, caveat being said, all of us can follow along the spectrum and depending on your comfort level, you can utilize technology in different ways. And I'm again, going to show you how to scale that up and down throughout providing aid.

73
00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:32.000
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay, so let's talk about 1st utilizing technology for story editing.

74
00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:57.139
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So as I mentioned. The story editing phase is that big picture phase of your document. So story editing is where you're going to evaluate your manuscript and story you're telling. And you're looking, taking a really big, substantive look at the structure and development of your story or your argument. So you're saying, am I doing a good job telling this story? Do I have a strong plot that carries through? Do my characters have arcs where they start

75
00:20:57.140 --> 00:21:13.929
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: in one place and then go through a transformation and end at another at the end of the story. Is my world immersive? Is it real? And leaping off the pages? All of this is what's going to happen in that story edit, and some of the things you'll be looking for at this phase of the process are, first, st

76
00:21:13.930 --> 00:21:38.379
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: does your setting have an engaging location that not only uses just place, but it has a sense of time of date. It has objects and sensory pieces. That kind of make it really come alive. You'll also want to look for at this point. Do your characters have clear goals and recognizable point of views? It doesn't matter if you change? You know, point of view speaking characters throughout. But do your care. Is it clear

77
00:21:38.380 --> 00:22:03.729
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: what your characters motivations are, even if they're there's only one narrator throughout. Can you tell why one character is doing something, and why another is doing something else? Is it clear why they are arguing with each other, or why they are working together or working in opposite towards opposite goals. Right? You need to make sure that your characters have those clear goals, and your audience can understand that same thing, and that is expressed in both their actions and their dialogue.

78
00:22:03.970 --> 00:22:25.650
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: You also want to make sure you have effective arcs across your scenes, across your chapters and across the entire story as well. So again, story editing, developmental editing is that really, really big picture where you're looking at. Does the story work or not? Do my characters work or not? Do my settings work or not? And thus that big picture and technology can support you with that.

79
00:22:25.750 --> 00:22:40.669
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So so technology can help you do everything from analyze character arcs to improve sensory details. And again, utilizing technology, you can scale it up or down, depending on your comfort, level with AI, and then also with AI supporting your text.

80
00:22:40.840 --> 00:22:50.719
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So let's look@firstst the utilization of the Critique Report. So the Critique report in prowriting aid. Which I'll show you in just a second is a report that gives you

81
00:22:50.800 --> 00:23:11.117
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: an instant kind of high level feedback analysis of a scene or a chapter. At this point the Critique report does not give a full manuscript feedback. We're working on getting that to be able to process an entire manuscript at once. But right now it'll process an entire scene or an entire chapter at once, and it'll give you that instant.

82
00:23:11.660 --> 00:23:23.190
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: that instant look at the developmental editing side of your work. So let's see. So Chris, can you just drop that question into QA. So I make sure that I answer it later.

83
00:23:24.395 --> 00:23:45.340
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So it's gonna take a second, because I'm running zoom at the same time. But basically, the Critique report goes through and it gives you a high level developmental edit of your story. So first, st you'll understand your kind of strengths within the the story. It's the the selection of the story itself. Then you'll understand your plot. So it'll talk about how the narrative arc is progressing.

84
00:23:45.340 --> 00:24:10.280
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: How the if the events are logically connected. If you have a climax, if you don't have a climax, it'll give you some ideas of the characters themselves. You'll understand tension point of view. If there are any inconsistencies in point of view, if the setting is effective or not effective, you'll look at your kind of use of description, mood, pacing, etc. But then you'll also here at the set at the end, get suggestions for potential improvements in

85
00:24:10.280 --> 00:24:18.060
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: that you can make the story more engaging at this developmental level. Now, this is an example of technology that just

86
00:24:18.060 --> 00:24:38.199
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: is giving you information. It is not manipulating your text in any way. So this is just giving you instant feedback on your writing which you can agree with or disagree with, but it gives you instant feedback on your writing, and then you can kind of understand at the developmental level what's working in this chapter or scene, or what's not working. And what could I could potentially improve?

87
00:24:38.200 --> 00:24:48.750
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So this is a great example of utilizing technology to get that kind of instant feedback, to have some suggestions for what you can improve, and then you have to go off and make those improvements yourself. It's not something

88
00:24:49.030 --> 00:24:50.630
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: that you can improve

89
00:24:50.670 --> 00:25:13.075
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: by clicking any buttons in here again. It's just kind of giving you that feedback overall. Now, I find this type of reporting really really helpful for a couple of reasons. First, st even though I have been writing fiction and writing professionally for over a decade, I I am very scared to give my drafts to humans first.st So this is something that that

90
00:25:13.450 --> 00:25:20.770
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: just it gives me a good sense how I missed anything big. Right? Here's a second set of eyes on technology eyes on it.

91
00:25:20.930 --> 00:25:49.099
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Have I missed anything big? The other thing is that it gives me opportunities for thinking about things in different ways. A lot of times. I see technology as an idea generator. I might not agree with all of those ideas just the same way. I might not agree with all humans ideas, but it gives me that just sense of am I on the right track? Is what I'm trying to get across coming across here, or actually, is this picking up on something that I didn't intend, and and I should either remove that or does that give me more ideas? So again.

92
00:25:49.260 --> 00:25:52.989
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: critique is a great example of just technology giving you information.

93
00:25:53.170 --> 00:26:08.820
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: You can choose to take that and move. And you know, edit your text in whatever way you want. Or you can say, actually, I disagree with this, and I think it's fine. Either one of those is valid. But again, it gives you that instant set of feedback, so you can feel kind of confident before you're sharing your story with a beta reader or critique partner.

94
00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:12.770
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So that's 1 example on the developmental editing side.

95
00:26:12.930 --> 00:26:18.579
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Another example is the sensory language, and this is a great example of something that you can scale up or down.

96
00:26:18.580 --> 00:26:43.570
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So, as I was mentioning during the story editing phase of your document or of your editing process. You're going to want to understand? Am I using technology effectively? And am I using technology? Not? Am I using technology effectively? Am I using setting effectively? Am I creating a an immersive world, particularly in Science Fiction, in Science Fiction, setting that world up and making it feel

97
00:26:43.570 --> 00:27:08.750
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: like alive and real to your readers. It's really, really important. That is why people come to read the genre. So you need to create a world that is incredibly immersive for your readers. Now the sensory report is how you're going to make that happen. So the sensory report looks at the ratio of words within your document that are associated with each of the 5 senses, and I access that by going here to more, excuse me to more reports and then clicking sensory.

98
00:27:09.060 --> 00:27:33.069
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Now this is another great example of a report that can be scaled up or down depending on your level of comfort with technology at its very, very basic level. All it's doing is counting your sense words in your document. So it's counting all your sight words, your sound words, your touch, your taste, your smell. So that's at the very, very basic level you will want during the developmental editing section

99
00:27:33.070 --> 00:27:52.349
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: to understand whether or not you're doing a good job of creating an immersive setting. An immersive setting is one that utilizes all 5 senses and utilizes them in a pretty appropriate ratio. So it's not all sight and sound. But you're utilizing all. And again, that ratio is fairly even. That tells you you've created an immersive world.

100
00:27:52.710 --> 00:27:53.580
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Now.

101
00:27:54.690 --> 00:28:18.850
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: at this very basic level. All it does is count those sense words and tell you you know what? Looking at this, I'm completely missing smell. I've only used one taste word so I need to go back through and think about. Can I? Can I add some more in into this into this section, or into a longer excerpt. The sensory check will work on a longer piece of text than the critique report, so you might see it through your whole

102
00:28:18.850 --> 00:28:27.259
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: through. You could in theory see it through your whole document and understand your utilization of senses, or you could do it for larger excerpts, so you can see it within.

103
00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:47.050
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: like a larger set of the settings. So you can see. Okay, have I? For instance, if you're introducing a new setting to the New world they're coming to have. I done a good job of including all of these pieces. And we can kind of see that in the sci-fi that we love right? So in dune, for instance, you can easily kind of think about the world, Arrakis, and how they're

104
00:28:47.050 --> 00:29:03.419
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: we can think about how Arrakis feels. You can kind of think about the feel of the sand and the feel of that oppressive heat. You can hear the kind of sounds of the thumping of the sand worm coming right? You can see this like you could picture the sights of everything going. You know.

105
00:29:03.690 --> 00:29:11.480
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: really, really, far, right? So we can. That world comes alive because it they've done herbert's done a great job. Excuse me

106
00:29:11.560 --> 00:29:23.589
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: of creating an immersive world. So at a very, very basic level. The sensory check just counts your sense words. And then gives you a sense of, yeah, have I done a good job of this or not what you can also then do

107
00:29:23.850 --> 00:29:51.816
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: if you're more comfortable with generative AI is highlight any individual sentence that does not have sense words and suggest free phrases that incorporate sensory language. Again, this is up to you is not something that you need to do, but is something that you can do in a couple of different ways. So 1st it will. It will give you suggestions around all of the senses, so you can see there's hearing senses. There's

108
00:29:52.180 --> 00:30:00.369
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: taste, smell, touch, etc. So any of the sentences it highlights will give you ideas for how to incorporate each of those sense words into it

109
00:30:00.370 --> 00:30:18.560
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: again. Your level of comfort with that is up to you. You can use that. Some people like to use that as just an idea generator. So they're like, oh, I'm not really sure how I can incorporate smell into this. Let me just highlight and see what it could do. And then they say, oh, actually, okay, this gives me another idea. I I'm just gonna go write something else.

110
00:30:18.829 --> 00:30:35.810
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: You could also say, I really like this sentence, and I'm just going to insert it into my document again. Whether you choose to insert it into your document or not depends on your level of comfort with that type of AI and the publication standards of what you're looking for or where you're trying to publish or submit to be published. So

111
00:30:35.810 --> 00:30:42.029
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: all of that being said, you can scale up or down in many, many different ways without actually having it.

112
00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:58.139
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: manipulate your text and Linda Sensory report does mention cell smell. This one does not, because there's no smell words in it so that's a good indication that I'm totally totally missing one. It would it would mention smell. But because it's not here

113
00:30:58.200 --> 00:31:04.059
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: that tells me I really need to really need to add smell, because it's 0% right now.

114
00:31:04.476 --> 00:31:12.309
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So that is again within sensory. A good example. They base, base level. It just counts all of the information for you.

115
00:31:12.330 --> 00:31:18.399
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Scale that up to use AI for more ideas for what you can utilize.

116
00:31:18.420 --> 00:31:30.330
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: You could even use the AI to insert a single single sentence into your or replace the single sentence. Not the whole document, but replace a single sentence if you would like to. And if you're comfortable, but you do not have to do that.

117
00:31:30.810 --> 00:31:31.780
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay.

118
00:31:33.561 --> 00:31:41.679
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: you can also get suggestions for improving your details. So again, looking at the looking at the

119
00:31:42.250 --> 00:32:07.969
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: ways to improve details, if we come back into our real time report. You can add details in a number of different ways. So this is again, ways that you can utilize technology to come up with different details. So if you're saying you know what the emotions for this character are really not coming through. I could look click on sparks for emotion details, and it can give me some ideas for what might happen at this point, for what might come.

120
00:32:08.233 --> 00:32:37.246
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: This again, is something that you can scale up or down, depending on your comfort level, you could decide. Actually, this is too much. I don't want to do this. It doesn't really work for my purpose. I'm not going to use it. You could also decide. This is just an idea. I'm gonna take this. And I'm going to write my own text based on this, or you could go in and you could insert it into your text. It is totally up to you, and totally up to your level of comfort and what you would like to do. I do want to create

121
00:32:37.630 --> 00:32:59.970
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Pause here and say that one of the ways that providing aid differs from other technology that utilizes AI couple of things. First, st our technology does not ever access yours. So our tech, your documents are completely safe. We do not access them to train our algorithms. They are completely private, and our team cannot access them at all.

122
00:32:59.970 --> 00:33:24.950
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: And so your documents are never used and never have been used to train our algorithms or anything like that. You retain full access to them, and we have no access to the the documents themselves. So that's 1 thing, I think that's a big differentiator. And if you are going to use technology, for any types of ideation, a couple like definitely look out for that. So look out for the privacy policy of the technology tool, and that goes for anything, whether it's an editing tool.

123
00:33:24.950 --> 00:33:45.490
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: There's anything that utilizes any type of AI. Right now, please please go out and look at their privacy policy and see if they use their documents to to train your AI. A lot of them do, and by utilizing a lot of them you opt into that you opt into that. So please check and look out for their privacy policies, and if it's not clear, ask their customer support. So that's the 1st thing

124
00:33:46.870 --> 00:33:59.119
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: look out for that. The second, is that the way that we the way that we use AI is only to give you ideas for editing or continuing on a specific sentence.

125
00:33:59.120 --> 00:34:24.080
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: providing aid does not allow you to generate text from nothing. So it we've drawn a I think, a very strong line in the sand that we think that technology should only support human creativity, it should not replace human creativity. And so if you are going to be utilizing technology, and you're comfortable with the generative AI features. The only things that it can do is suggest rerates for individual sentences or continuations of sentences

126
00:34:24.080 --> 00:34:40.810
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: that already exist. And again, you can use those as just ideas, or you can insert them to your text. But it doesn't create something out of nothing. So we are not trying to create a full document. It's not like the prompting where you can come in and say, Oh, I want to write a sci-fi novel about this this and this press.

127
00:34:40.810 --> 00:35:05.709
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: you press the button, and then you get 40,000 words. It is not that. It does not create something out of nothing is me. Specifically meant to be a tool for you to use, to get new ideas, and to think again how you could edit specific individual sentences. But you have to have something there for it to work. So again, depending on your level of comfort with AI, it's another thing to keep an eye out for. Is this a tool that's going to rewrite something instantly with a

128
00:35:05.710 --> 00:35:10.979
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: press of a button, or create something out of nothing? Or is it something that's a much more kind of limited scope.

129
00:35:10.980 --> 00:35:26.064
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: I'm not saying one is right or wrong. It's totally up to you and your decisions on what you want to make but again, just things to look out for. When you're evaluating tools, keep an eye out for the privacy policies, and then also keep an eye out for what's kind of the philosophy behind the product?

130
00:35:26.360 --> 00:35:36.519
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: and and does it agree with what I'm trying to do? Are you trying to generate something from nothing? Or are you trying to edit? And then again, depending on what you're looking for, you to find the tools that work best for that?

131
00:35:37.735 --> 00:35:53.949
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay, so now let's talk a little bit more about line editing. So line editing is when you're zooming in. So after you've done your story edit, you have your clear sense of the plot characters, world setting line editing you zoom in, and you look page by page, and sentence by sentence

132
00:35:53.950 --> 00:36:18.830
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: to figure out how you're utilizing language to tell a clear and engaging story. So this is the point when you're looking again with a microscope at each Mini movie, each sentence in your document, and you're assessing your word choice, your readability, your style, sentence by sentence, your overall goal. Here is clarity. You want to make your work as clear as possible. Again, if you think about each sentence is like a mini movie

133
00:36:18.830 --> 00:36:21.300
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: that the reader is playing in their heads.

134
00:36:21.350 --> 00:36:43.019
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: This is the time when you're like, is every single mini movie as clear as it can possibly be, so that when my readers are closing their eyes they're picturing Arrakis as a sand planet and not one that's built up with a bunch of technology. Right? You're trying to create the clearest picture that's the most accurate as possible to the vision that you've created. So that's what's happening during line editing

135
00:36:43.570 --> 00:36:58.440
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: at this stage, you're going to be looking for things like, are your subjects and verbs, the stars of your sentences, you know. Have you utilized over utilized, passive voice? Have you created overly long sentences? You'll also be looking at? Is your writing readable for your particular audience.

136
00:36:58.729 --> 00:37:14.350
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Oftentimes writers make their work actually too difficult and too the readability level is too high, so you'll want to go through and look. Is this readable both at the macro level within within pages, and then sentence by sentence. And then you're also going to be looking at your specific word choice.

137
00:37:14.350 --> 00:37:23.129
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Am I choosing the most vivid verbs? Let's say what I'm going to trying to say. You know. Am I describing a character as beautiful when

138
00:37:23.130 --> 00:37:47.079
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: beautiful, could really mean something totally different to different people. So I should actually be describing the, you know, the burnished gold of her hair, and the, you know, turquoise glint of her eyes, or something right like that. Right? So you're trying to make sure that you are finding the exact words and phrases that say specifically what you want to say, so that your readers are not creating a movie in their heads. They're they're viewing the movie that you've been telling

139
00:37:47.080 --> 00:37:53.469
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: them to do, and that again is what you look at at the line editing phase. When you go sentence by sentence.

140
00:37:53.790 --> 00:38:18.119
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: you also want to look for things like, have you kept up the pacing so on? You know, you'll look at pacing from the developmental perspective. But during line editing. You're going to look at things like, Am I going too slowly like, do I have far too many long sentences back to back to back here? And can I change up the cadence to make this this scene work better? You'll also look at things like, have I? Echoed myself. Have I repeated myself.

141
00:38:18.388 --> 00:38:24.290
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: A ton. And all of these types of things, again, are where when you zoom in, once, you have that story set.

142
00:38:25.340 --> 00:38:42.950
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay? Just as I was saying with developmental and story editing technology can also support with line editing can do everything from helping you simplify individual sentences to identifying places where you can repeat yourself. And just like with story editing, you can scale up or down, depending on your level of comfort with technology.

143
00:38:43.130 --> 00:39:00.280
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Alright. So let's 1st look at a really great example. Of a of a tool that has no use of generative AI, but is incredibly incredibly useful for line editing, and that's repeats and echoes. So I access those by going to repeats and echoes on my prowriting. A toolbar here

144
00:39:01.140 --> 00:39:15.380
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: repeats just simply finds all of the repeated sentence, all the repeated phrases in your document, so you can see that I have repeated the phrase at the edge of twice within this 2,000 word chapter

145
00:39:15.691 --> 00:39:41.509
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Depending on where that is, it might be too much. Yeah, maybe that's a pretty long phrase. It might set off that kind of echo in the reader's head of like, hey? Didn't they? Didn't they? Just say that? Let's see what else? Yep, edge of the Alia could feel that her eyes keep scanning the, you know, anyway, a couple different places where I'm saying the same exact thing over and over. Right? So that is something that might not.

146
00:39:41.680 --> 00:40:08.909
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: you know when I'm looking in line editing, I might want to change some of those, or, to be honest, I could be repeating them for narrative or rhetorical effect, but it really depends and repeats again, doesn't pass judgment in on it. It just finds all the repeated phrases. Repeating yourself is something that's really easy to do as a writer when you're drafting, because you're just trying to get the words out on the page. And this tool is incredibly incredibly helpful for finding things that you could, you could just

147
00:40:10.720 --> 00:40:21.409
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: You could just change yourself again. You can then come in here and rephrase that if you would like to, but at the very, very basic level. The report just gives you that information now echoes

148
00:40:22.294 --> 00:40:50.609
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: not only finds, repeats, but it finds close, repeats. So it finds places where you've repeated yourself within a certain number of character limits, and you can actually customize that character limit to make it smaller or to make it larger, depending on what you're looking for. So we can see here that we've got some close repeats with day after day and week after week. But that's actually, again, probably a narrative choice within here. But it gives you that sense of where am I? Where am I repeating myself too closely?

149
00:40:50.610 --> 00:41:18.869
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: We've got the anomaly here twice. Maybe I don't want to have that. Maybe it's too too close. So again it gives you not just all of the repeats within a document. But all of the places that you repeated yourself within a very, very close proximity, that proximity of what you can change. So again, a great example of technology, just giving you information that in particular information is really difficult for any human to find. It get gives it to you with a touch of the button, and then you can change it yourself. Depending on what your goals are.

150
00:41:19.200 --> 00:41:21.809
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: You can also do things like measure your readability.

151
00:41:22.070 --> 00:41:43.900
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So the reboot readability check which I come up found by coming up here. Gives you an overall sense of your documents, easy to read, whether it's easier to read or not, and then it also gives you a sense of what your difficult or very difficult to read. Paragraphs are. If you want to change any of those. And then if we actually come in here to the real time report, I'm gonna change this to science fiction.

152
00:41:46.300 --> 00:42:01.330
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: the real time report will also give you a sense of your readability grade, as it relates to the the goals for your particular document. So I've been showing you individual reports up here, you can also access real time, which gives you feedback in real time.

153
00:42:01.890 --> 00:42:03.629
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: at at this.

154
00:42:03.770 --> 00:42:15.630
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: like, as you're making edits your text. So you'll see these things changing a lot, and for real time you can change your document type. And then that gives you the most important reports for that particular document type.

155
00:42:15.630 --> 00:42:42.909
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: and then you can see where you fall within the range for that, the recommended range for that document type. So you'll see, for instance, grammar and spelling have a recommended range of 80 to 100. You'll notice it's not 100, because in almost every instance there might be some intentional grammar errors, or some intentional spelling errors or things like that. So it's always a range that you can kind of see where you fall within the range. So there are. There are.

156
00:42:42.910 --> 00:42:49.300
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Yeah, there is basically a range here. And then the tick mark shows where you fall in or without out of that range.

157
00:42:49.720 --> 00:42:50.970
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay.

158
00:42:51.500 --> 00:42:52.680
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: now.

159
00:42:52.880 --> 00:43:21.039
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: let's see what else we can do. We can also look at overly wordy sentences. So our sticky sentences report, which is a really really popular report. Is one that looks at sentences that have a high glue index. Now, a high glue index is a place where you are utilizing too many words over. Basically it's where a sentence that tends to be filled up with a lot of conjunctions or prepositions basically, articles, extra words that don't really add anything to the meaning of the sentence

160
00:43:21.110 --> 00:43:30.120
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: you could reduce, remove, or replace those words, to to change the the meaning of the sentence, so you can highlight a sentence

161
00:43:30.220 --> 00:43:32.199
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: you can find again.

162
00:43:32.390 --> 00:43:47.080
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: depending on the scaling level of your comfort with technology. You can 1st find sentences. You can understand where those sentences you can understand which sentences are sticky. They're overly stuffed.

163
00:43:47.080 --> 00:44:05.120
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: which are semi sticky. So they're close to, overly stuffed and then depending on your level of comfort, of technology. You can either 1st just see what those extra words are that you could reduce, remove, or replace, or, if you'd like, you can suggest rephrases, so suggest ways that it can rewrite the sentence for you. If you're getting stuck. It really depends on your level of comfort.

164
00:44:06.800 --> 00:44:28.890
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay, you can also get suggestions for rephrasing. So just as I've said in our real time report like we looked at previously, there are a number of different ways that you can rephrase individual sentences to again make them shorter, make them longer, add in more sensory detail, add in more emotion, detail. Again, looking at the individual sentence and changing that, depending on what you're looking for.

165
00:44:29.660 --> 00:44:47.516
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay, we've got about 14 min for questions. So just in quick summary editing is really difficult and really time consuming. And technology can really speed up your process and make it more effective. I think the biggest thing with technology is that it's an inexhaustible resource to support your journey.

166
00:44:47.870 --> 00:44:58.780
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: if you have the resources I highly highly recommend utilizing human editors, I do not in any way recommend utilizing technology to replace human editors. I

167
00:44:58.890 --> 00:45:21.642
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: 1st don't believe technology can or should replace human writers. And I don't believe technology can or should replace human editors, either. That being said, I recognize that for a lot of people human editors are expensive, so utilizing technology can help you save some of that time and money first, st it can help you just clean up your manuscript. So if you're working with a human editor, you're paying them for the

168
00:45:22.650 --> 00:45:44.420
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: the biggest bang for their buck, so to speak. You're getting them to focus on the things that matter what works, what doesn't work in your manuscript while cleaning up a lot of easier errors yourself. It can also, you know, be a good support if you're working with free editors or friends and family who are helping you. It's just another. It's another suite in your toolkit, basically to get your manuscript as effective as possible.

169
00:45:44.760 --> 00:46:00.769
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay, thank you so much. Please feel free to drop any questions in the Q. And a. I'll try to get to as many of them as possible, if you have any. That I did not answer. Please feel free to go to hello@prowritingaid.com, and I will try to answer those there.

170
00:46:00.900 --> 00:46:01.485
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay.

171
00:46:02.200 --> 00:46:11.729
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Devin's 1st question was, using prowriting aid? Does that count? As AI? I've noticed publishers saying, No. AI novels. Yes, okay. So this is again

172
00:46:11.860 --> 00:46:32.979
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: what I was mentioning with your comfort level. If you are working with a publisher, or an editor, or something like that, that says no AI at all. Then at the baseline all I would do are do things like the repeats report, and then basically never use rephrase and never use sparks. And you can actually turn that off by coming in here

173
00:46:33.210 --> 00:46:37.059
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: and turning this on and off. So I had rephrase turned off.

174
00:46:37.140 --> 00:46:40.379
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Now I've turned it back on, and I can see it, but if I turn it off

175
00:46:40.990 --> 00:46:46.939
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: now, I don't see it at all. So if you are working with a publisher or something like that, that does not

176
00:46:47.540 --> 00:46:57.143
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: sit that says No. AI, I I would just turn that off, and you don't have to worry about it, and then you can still use every single there's like 25 plus reports that you can still use.

177
00:46:57.717 --> 00:47:21.609
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: So that's the 1st thing. The second thing is that to your question, Devin, it's a bit of a tricky question, because, to be honest, every piece of technology uses AI. So even spelling mistakes are AI technically. And typically so again, just clarify with your publisher what they mean by generative AI or bet by AI. In almost every instance. When they say AI, they mean generative AI, which means like

178
00:47:21.640 --> 00:47:32.179
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: coming in and utilizing rephrase to write an individual sentence. It's again like a bit of a moral gray area. If you utilize rephrase for ideas, but don't insert it into your text.

179
00:47:32.370 --> 00:47:43.750
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Work with your publisher. See what they're going to say. If you're very, very nervous about it, just turn those features off, and you can still use every single other piece. Spelling and grammar checkers are in almost every instance

180
00:47:43.860 --> 00:48:07.918
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: totally fine, even though they technically are AI. They're just not the newer kind of AI. But again, with the caveat there's like so many caveats with the use of AI, because it's such a new thing. All of this is changing right? Like there. There are court cases out that we're waiting to see what happens with them. So much of this is going to keep changing. So I feel like at next sci-fi week. Some of this might have even changed, depending on the outcome of different cases.

181
00:48:08.210 --> 00:48:13.569
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: and just different precedents, and how the technology evolves. So try to stay up to date and keep yourself informed as well.

182
00:48:14.174 --> 00:48:21.105
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay. Who does each of the editing services. Are there certifications that you can check? Yes, there are.

183
00:48:22.190 --> 00:48:46.570
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: yes, so oftentimes, editors. If you're speaking about human editors, there are human editors who specialize in developmental editing. There are human editors who specialize in line editing. There are ones who specialize in proofreading. There are a number of different certifications for each of them, and a lot of editors will also offer a test edit as much as possible. I would recommend meeting the editor

184
00:48:46.880 --> 00:49:02.069
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: looking for testimonials, and then, if they offer a test edit, do a sample edit with them, because that can help you make sure that they match with you. There are also a number of different certifications. A lot of times. Editors will belong to governing bodies.

185
00:49:02.440 --> 00:49:19.190
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: depending on like your location. And what you're looking for. So look at all of those certifications. But I would say, more important than anything is that sample edit and that meeting with them because you really want to find an editor who's not just accredited, but understands your project and your goals, and is going to support you in making that happen.

186
00:49:20.585 --> 00:49:25.599
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay, how much of the prowriting aid process is AI driven? Again.

187
00:49:26.360 --> 00:49:40.410
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: in theory, all of it. Because in theory everything at like Google is AI driven. Everything's AI driven. If it's technology depending on your definition of AI, if you're very specifically talking about generative AI, there are 4 features that utilize generative AI

188
00:49:40.410 --> 00:49:57.533
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Critique report and inspiration report are built on generative AI. But they don't touch your text in any way, so it utilizes generative AI to do analysis, but it doesn't manipulate your text at all. So if you don't want to use those, just don't click the critique button or the inspiration button, and don't worry. You won't have to see them

189
00:49:58.090 --> 00:50:06.750
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: rephrase and sparks you can come to. So if you come to menu and then show rephrase toolbar and show sparks Toolbar. You can toggle this on and off.

190
00:50:07.956 --> 00:50:08.963
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: And

191
00:50:10.760 --> 00:50:38.389
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: And those are those are the only 4 that are generative. AI. Again, critique inspiration are are reports. They do not touch your text at all. They just analyze it. If you don't want to use them, just don't press the button. If you want to turn off sparks and rephrase, just turn those off. Those are the only 4 generative AI. There's like 30 others that are not generative. AI at all. But they are AI, if that makes sense, so or some of them, yeah, it's a different type of AI different type of technology.

192
00:50:38.800 --> 00:50:43.439
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: And yes, if you want an uncomfortable generative, I can. You can just turn that off.

193
00:50:44.595 --> 00:50:55.114
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: What? Techno? Oh, yes, I think, Steve said. Don't read that question. Word, count limitation and critique tool. Chris is 4,000 words. We're trying to

194
00:50:55.570 --> 00:51:19.100
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: expand that. But right now it's 4,000, Linda. Yes, it does include smell. The reason it didn't is because that there were no smells in there. Linda says, does prowriting aid live on my computer, or am I uploading my story to your servers? Good question. There are multiple ways that you can utilize prowriting aid. So I am showing you the web editor, which is accessed@prowritingaid.com.

195
00:51:19.100 --> 00:51:31.774
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: To do this, then you would have to upload your pro your story to to prowriting aid. But we also have integrations. So it plugs into word, and it plugs into scrivener. And it plugs into Google docs.

196
00:51:32.120 --> 00:51:59.360
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: so that way, you could just access your your tool? You're providing a tool within each of those environments. And that's all included in your subscription. So you can just buy one subscription and get access to the online version or any of those integrations. Just depends on what you like. I'm a weirdo. And I like to actually use the online tool, because I like to like, think about scrivener as the place where the writing happened and providing aid as the place where the editing happens, but that's abnormal. A lot of people just edit in scrivener.

197
00:51:59.683 --> 00:52:14.256
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: I think some people were talking previously about doing like naming or editing drafts, and I would definitely recommend doing that. So like have always have a master copy. Of your. You know your your most recent draft. Just so you don't

198
00:52:14.860 --> 00:52:16.360
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: so you don't

199
00:52:17.710 --> 00:52:41.069
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: accidentally delete anything, whether that's with prowriting it or or not. Just I always recommend with editing, trying to save things. That being said regardless of whether you use the integration or the web editor, it does require an Internet connection to work. We have a page called our trust center. That explains a little bit more about how the data is processed and talks about how we don't retain your document and our privacy commitment. So if you're interested, you can see that.

200
00:52:42.361 --> 00:52:58.080
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Okay. Anonymous asks. I'm not sure if this was mentioned already. But how is the AI of providing a trained, what material is used? Great question. And the 1st thing to know about this is that none of your material is used. We have never, never have and never will, access user material.

201
00:52:58.220 --> 00:52:59.250
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: We have.

202
00:52:59.440 --> 00:53:12.970
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: depend. The like specifics on how the reports are trained depends on the report itself. So if you have particular questions about something. You can email, Hello, upper writing aid. But the large

203
00:53:13.560 --> 00:53:22.184
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: categories are those 4. The 4 generative AI tools that I mentioned are utilizing

204
00:53:23.110 --> 00:53:52.950
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: one of the Gpt models I'm blanking on exactly which one, though we have worked out an agreement with them where again, they don't have access to your text, and they don't utilize it. To return like to. We basically utilize like the Api of it. So your your text is still safe with us. But again, if you're not comfortable with that you can opt out of all 4 of those features, all of the ones that we have trained are utilizing works in the public domain, so the rest of them are on like public domain. Or, to be honest, a lot of them is like

205
00:53:53.538 --> 00:54:07.229
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: our Nlp programmers are doing. They'll do things like for grammar like, look at all the grammar rule books and like code, code, the actual grammar rule book. So there's a lot of kind of specificity. And like the comma rules, there's like

206
00:54:07.250 --> 00:54:15.710
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: thousands of comma rules that they've all specifically built in. So it really, just kind of depends on the report. If you have specific questions you can ask hello or prowriting it. Com.

207
00:54:18.380 --> 00:54:47.180
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: yes. Okay, providing it does only support in English. Right now. Our plan is English. We would love to support more. But it's not in the immediate future. Right now. We're trying to make the best tool that we can. In in English. First, st we have lots of plans to expand. What we offer and not just not just with generative AI with tons of different tools like, we're looking at Pomodoro timers and ways. You can integrate music into your your writing process. And all these other fun things to just make

208
00:54:47.180 --> 00:54:52.718
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: writing more effective. So hopefully, once we get to a point where we're really, really solid with the

209
00:54:53.130 --> 00:54:57.519
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: the the tools that we have for creative writers in English, then we can expand it as well.

210
00:54:59.043 --> 00:55:01.059
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Do, do, do do do

211
00:55:03.010 --> 00:55:21.975
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: If your manuscript has a sprinkling of other language. Is there a way for providing aid to learn spelling exceptions? Yes, you can hand. You can find a you can like highlight a specific word. I don't know if I have a spelling mistaken here. But you can highlight a word and add it to your dictionary. The only caveat with that is that it needs to

212
00:55:22.270 --> 00:55:24.200
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: It needs to.

213
00:55:24.720 --> 00:55:34.339
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: You might need to add it multiple times. If there's like a plural version and a possessive plural version. So you might see it come up a lot of times, because you'll have to add it in each of those instances.

214
00:55:35.208 --> 00:55:43.400
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Where do you turn off the AI again? You go to menu and then toggle on. If it's on, it's like the darker color, and if it's off. It's this grayed out color.

215
00:55:44.700 --> 00:56:05.012
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Best overall report to run to get the most out of prowriting aid. I would say the summary report, or the real time with the goals on the side which we were just showing. The summary gives you your key scores. Actually, I'll take that back, I think summary for line editing and critique for developmental summary gives you all your key scores,

216
00:56:05.520 --> 00:56:27.254
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: and all of the kind of most important areas for your document type. You can also see those in the goals. It's just kind of 2 ways of explaining the same information. And then Critique gives the same feedback for developmental editing. But again, critique is built on generative AI. So if you're not comfortable using generative AI, then don't use critique. But summary is not summary, and goals are not built on that. So if you don't, if you're happy to

217
00:56:27.863 --> 00:56:45.729
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: use, or if you're not wanting to use generative AI summary, and goals are not built on generative AI, and give you a really good comprehensive look. At all of the areas. And I say that because it gives you basically a score for all of the key areas. And you can click into any individual area and make changes from there.

218
00:56:47.910 --> 00:57:06.369
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: yes, prowriting aid. Does someone saying it hangs if you try to generate reports on 95,000 words. Yes, it does. We are working very hard to try to get it, to work on longer manuscripts. And in theory it can work that long. It depends on your Internet connection right now. But we're working to try to make it better.

219
00:57:08.420 --> 00:57:16.159
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Brad asked a great question, which is, is pro writing aid best used throughout writing, or just during the editing phase, ie. How do most people use it?

220
00:57:16.780 --> 00:57:35.921
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: This is going to be very different for each person. I use it differently, depending on what I'm writing. So when I'm writing fiction, I am very precious about my fiction, and I cannot get distracted by grammar or spelling, and so I do not use prowriting aid until I am until I am

221
00:57:37.260 --> 00:57:42.470
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: like ready to edit. But if I'm working on a blog or an email, then I use it. During the writing process.

222
00:57:42.580 --> 00:57:54.640
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: I would say, for fiction, I typically recommend you getting to a point where your draft is complete or you're complete with a section before you do any editing, just because you don't want to kill your momentum. But that being said.

223
00:57:54.790 --> 00:57:55.799
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: as I said

224
00:57:55.900 --> 00:58:01.600
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: with editing, there isn't a right or wrong. It just depends on you, and how easily distracted you are.

225
00:58:02.150 --> 00:58:05.090
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: or how you like to confirm it, until I was thinking about your work.

226
00:58:06.355 --> 00:58:12.984
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: At Linda? Asks I. This, I think, is the last one I'll have time for how the add in feature, so the add in feature,

227
00:58:13.620 --> 00:58:36.949
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Linda. The add in feature installs into word or scrivener, but it does still require an Internet connection. It's a little bit confusing, but basically it installs into word or scrivener. But when you press the button to run any report. It still requires an Internet connection to do that. So it adds in. So basically, that means you don't need to upload your manuscript. But you do still need to have an Internet connection to for it to run those reports.

228
00:58:38.290 --> 00:58:59.630
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: Great. Okay, I think with a minute to spare. We have got all of the questions answered, so thank you all so much for coming and being such a lovely audience, and learning about editing and technology with me, it's been really, really great to chat with you all. If you have any further questions, please feel free to email Hello, at providing 8.com

229
00:59:00.040 --> 00:59:29.760
Hayley @ ProWritingAid: and then again, as I mentioned not just for this session, but for all the sessions. When we send out our survey, please please reach review, subscribe. If you've had a good time, please tell us so. Those comments really, really help us continue to do these these sessions. Not just my session, but everybody's sessions. And and bring these types of weeks to you. So thank you all so much. I will see you back in a little bit later I'll be co hosting another session, but I hope you enjoy the rest of your Thursday, and thanks so much. Everyone.