Learning Project: Update 3: Fresh Eyes, New Edits

As a quick recap, here is the schedule I set for myself in my original learning project post…

WEEKS 3-4: Develop Writing Skills and Structure

Focus: Storytelling techniques, structure, and drafting format

Tasks and Resources:

1. Write!
2. ProWritingAid: The Storyteller’s Toolkit (Editing Tool): Online writing assistant site (initially free) that helps with grammar, readability, and finding your writing style.
3. Reedsy’s Writing Course: Continue working on the lessons sent to me by email; focus on plot structure, characterization, and creating conflict.
4. Continue looking for and testing out other resources for this section.
5. Start a writing journal (with good ol’ pen and paper).

Fresh Eyes

This week, I maintained steady progress on my children’s picture book manuscript, David’s Perfectly Imperfect Creations. My main focus was reworking the story I wrote a few years ago in an online writing course (long since gathering digital dust). After stepping away from my manuscript for a few years, I was able to see it with a fresh perspective and renewed energy. Using the free online ProWritingAid site allowed me to identify weak sections, awkward phrasing, and strengthen the overall flow.

ProWritingAid: The Storyteller’s Toolkit

Inspired by the unpublished work of his grandfather, Chris Banks created ProWritingAid.com in 2013. Something about its origin touches my heart; so many stories left untold for a myriad of reasons. My stories left untold…

I’ve used the online writing assistant before with my high school students but have largely forgotten about it with my middle year’s crew (something I’ll be rectifying in our upcoming ELA narrative writing unit).

The free version of this online tool allows you to write or upload your manuscript to receive grammar suggestions, readability insights, and style recommendations.

Main Takeaways

I used David’s Perfectly Imperfect Creations as a reference point to evaluate ProWritingAid’s pros and cons, testing how it could further help me refine my writing.

Pros

Critique Feature

The free version of the site provides users one chapter critique per day, with the following disclaimer:

“This critique has been generated by an AI model that has been guided by a human editor. The content is not intended as a replacement for a human beta reader or editor. It may contain errors or inaccuracies” (source).

While some features remain behind a premium paywall, the free version provided a critique of my story’s strengths, plot, characters, and pacing, as well as a list of potential improvements. All in all, this was a nice place to start, offering enough fuel to keep me going on my writing journey.

I have taken the potential improvements into consideration and began reworking slightly. Children’s storybooks are short and sweet, so David, his mother, and his artistic creations are not as developmentally fleshed out as they would be in a chapter book. I agree with the suggestion for illustrations. My story centres on David’s art and – if it gets to the illustration stage – the artwork will be pivotal in bringing the story to life. I can picture it in my mind… we’re just not there yet.

Summary Report

As well as a critique, ProWritingAid (free version) provides a summary report in 10–15 seconds (no paywall)! You can’t get a coffee from Starbucks that fast! The report provides detailed scales, graphs, and charts covering:

• Grammar
• Writing style
• Sentence length
• Readability
• Sticky sentences
• Sentence structure
• Pacing
• Consistency
• Repeats
• Dialogue Tags

Young writers (or any writer, actually) would still need a firm sense of their writing style to determine what feedback to use and what to overlook. It’s not a perfect system, but it is incredibly detailed (for free) and an amazing starting point.

From a marketing perspective, it’s satisfying to see that my reader age is on target. A picture book should be a unique combination of simple words and deep meaning. Seeing my solid score on “showing, not telling” was also helpful. Writing a picture book that currently has no pictures (except in my head) is difficult. It’s easy to stray into over-explaining the story my illustrations will wordlessly tell.

Okay, I’m not sure how useful the summary’s “most used words” art is, but it provides a fun general overview of my story, if nothing else. When I think of my students, many of them struggle to summarize their work in a paragraph, let alone individual words.

Cons

Grammar Police

Anyone who has used Grammarly or similar AI grammar assistance, knows the strengths and weaknesses of those digital red squiggly lines. My spelling mistake score is high; too high to publish? Am I a terrible speller? Well, yes… but I’m generally aware of what I cannot spell. Have I failed to proofread? Of course not. Any spelling error in my story is intentional. Words like “tooooooo” are used in repetitive dialogue to emphasize David’s youthful hyperbolized speech patterns. Words like “prrresumably” and “cawwwlearly” are simply me playing with language in relation to the character speaking. As a reader, even a young reader, do you instinctively know which animals might cite these invented onomatopoeias? If you guessed a cat and crow, congratulations!  All this is to say, take any grammar check with a grain of salt!

Paywall Protected

Nothing comes for free these days. I understand; Chris (ProWritingAid creator) and team have to pay the bills somehow. The price of eggs is only going up! Still, looking at the critique features hidden from me, “I can’t help but wonder,” are the extra features worth the price? I have to pay for eggs, too.

 

Final Thoughts

In summary of ProWritingAid.com’s free online writing assistant…

Pros: Critique and summary report, especially readability analysis and sentence structure/variety, further editing and publishing features (to be explored at a later date)

Cons: Grammar/spelling suggestions (helpfulness level varies), word limit check (would be frustrating with a longer manuscript), somewhat rigid structure (not always ideal for creative writing), paywall protection (worth it?)

Like I said before, it’s not perfect, but ProWritingAid.com does exactly what its creator intended it for – to help writers get the words down, refine their work, and polish their writing.

At the end of another long post and longer week, I know the most important part of writing is writing. Shocker! Like I endlessly preach to students (but don’t always practice), conquer your self-doubt, ignore your tireless inner critic (during drafting), and just… write! Taking my own advice has been great…ha!

Stay tuned for next week. I’ll be continuing to refine my manuscript, explore more editing tools, and take that most drastic step into the publishing process! Thank you for reading and please leave your feedback in the comments.