Ernest Hemingway on Hemingway App

Or why you don’t need to get discouraged on writing 

Hemingway App came out this week. It attracted some attention from the interwebs like this, this, and this.

So, just like everybody else, I put the app to work. I copied and pasted one of my blog posts. And, probably just like everybody else, I was disappointed by what I saw in the results — too many adverbs, too many passive voice, too many sentences that are hard to read.

If any one wants to improve on his writing skills, the Hemingway App definitely helps.

I would not stop there, though.

I ran another “test”. I copied the first 200 words of chapter one of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises”.

(No copyright infringement intended. Source.)

Here’s what I found out:

Test Scope: First 200 words of Chapter 1, “The Sun Also Rises” by Earnest Hemingway.

3 of 13 sentences are hard to read

1 of 13 sentences are very hard to read

9 adverbs. Aim for 0 or fewer

3 words or phrases can be simpler

1 uses of passive voice. Aim for 3 or fewer

That results is definitely way better than my results — no comparison there. But, hey, even Hemingway himself isn’t perfect.

Don’t get discouraged. Continue on improving your craft.

In case you’re wondering what’s the grade of this post on the Hemingway App:

Again, I am not comparing this to that of Hemingway’s novel :-)