It's a noisy channel problem - how do I transmit information in a way such that the user receives it with an appropriate level of ambiguity (loss)? Different authors have treated the transmission of their idea (the story) in drastically different ways, from their usage of perspective, what 'rules' they bend and break, all the way to how they describe things.
These prose tools are trying to conform the 'how' we write to some arbitrary shape, and it's suppose to make 'what' we write 'better'.Īt the end of the day, when you are writing, you are communicating an idea. Readability metrics that rely on parts-of-speech and vocabulary rarity sometimes get integrated into these things, and sometimes they're useful, sometimes they're not. We keep hearing shit like, 'Don't write adverbs' and 'Use said exclusively to describe vocal interaction', but you pick up any book, classic or modern, and you're going to find gratuitous violations of those rules. Apparently iceberg, iceberg, iceberg, which is ironic, because as someone else noted, Hemingway wouldn't do well on his own app that uses him as a heuristic. Apparently writing like a 19th century stoic. But that just begs the question, 'what is better?'. The value proposition seems clear - help writers write 'better'. What exactly is the point of Hemingway app? I've thought about this alot, and while I've stopped working on the app for nearly a year now, it's something that still sits on my mind. As long as you know WHY you're using the language you're using - as long as it has a real, solid reason to exist - you can take the Hemingway app with a grain of salt. He had a personal point of view on what he wanted language to achieve in his work, and developed a style deliberately based around that. Hemingway used his signature style for a reason. But in fiction it's as much about how the character communicates as much as it is about what's being communicated. Nobody should be cramming in a million unnecessary words just for the hell of it, and if you CAN cut something down, I personally think you should. That said, you aren't forced to use functional brevity as your writing style. Any tool that helps you think about functional brevity is definitely useful. People in commercial fields are on deadlines of course so the Hemingway app is a huge time-saver, but fiction writers can benefit as well. As both a writer and an editor I can say that one of the hardest things for writers at all levels is to see through the meaning of a sentence or paragraph and understand which words aren't necessary to get it across. You can't possibly follow a bastardization of his style if you don't know how it works for you as a reader.Ĭreative agencies use it a lot for presentations etc. Make sure you've actually read Hemingway as well. If you ARE going to use the app, I suggest using it only as a guide (and often a blind guide if we're to be frank). If you're going to learn, learn from one of the best authors alive, not a computer program. I personally recommend as a guidebook to improve your writing. Just don't be surprised when your writing loses its sound if you follow its mandates too closely. Feed it some Faulkner, Conrad or Nabokov and watch it tear it to shreds. According to the rules of a program with no regard for the context of the writing, its purpose, its emotional structure (let's ignore altogether the insulting implication that your reader is incapable of comprehending anything other than direct, simple prose).
A prohibition against passive voice? I suppose Ursula Guin doesn't know what she's saying when she states this is nonsense. Why are you attempting to imitate a simplistic imitation of his style? If you read widely, you'll notice most of the supposed rules of the app are rubbish and often broken by distinguished writers. Not surprising then that much of it sounds the same. Of the stuff I've read on this subreddit, 90% of it seems to adhere strictly to some minimalist guidebook, as if writing is a paint-by-the-numbers activity. I honestly think apps like this only stunt your writing and lead to stylistic conformity. And it's funny that it's called the "Hemingway" app-much of his writing would be flagged by the app as overdone. Useless for anyone who knows basic grammatical rules and has half an ear for the sound of language.
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