Grammarly Can Be Useful

A few weeks ago, I finished writing a 50k novella, a murder mystery set in 1894 Baltimore. For the first time in the past twenty years, I have been thinking about finding a small or indie publisher that isn’t afraid to back novella-length works. With that thought in mind, I wanted to give my finished novella some polish and have it checked for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and readability. I asked GROK because I have a premium ‘X’ account, and it pointed me towards Grammarly.

I knew a little about Grammarly, as I had checked it out several years ago and used it a few times to review some short magazine articles I had written. Recently, however, I gave it a full crack at a handful of the chapters of my new novella. I have to admit, I was impressed by some of the things it caught that my brain just glossed over time and time again while doing personal edits. Everyone who writes knows that you miss things when reading your own work – it is what it is.

Grammarly was great at catching spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. However, I also noted that it wanted to change some grammar that would have pulled my 1894 prose into a more modern setting.

I will certainly be keeping my premium Grammarly subscription, as it is useful. But all writers beware… don’t let AI change your narrative.