Thursday, March 1, 2012

Word Cloud

There are websites like Tagxedo and Wordle which will generate a "word cloud" from any text the user provides. I copied in the complete text from DAUGHTER OF THE MOON and here's what came out:




























There is also a neat feature where you can fit your word cloud into different shapes, like a handprint:




The size of each word is proportional to the number of times it appears in the text. It's a new way of looking at my manuscript and being visually confronted with potentially overused words and the mood the most commonly used words convey. Overall, I'm happy with my word cloud and excited to plug in some more of my WiPs :)

I challenge you to try it too! And let me know if you are surprised by the results (or not).

11 comments:

  1. I absolutely adore using Wordle, it's so useful to help me see if I am overusing words!

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    1. I love how visual it is - it's much better (for me) than highlighting common words in the text as some other programs do :)

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  2. Wordle is brilliant. It's such a creative tool. I need to print one out and frame it.

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    1. I've thought about that too :) The word clouds might also make interesting book covers or promotional material.

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  3. I love Wordle, but it can be addicting. I find 'back' and 'eyes' seem to be common in most novels I've ran through. (Even some of the published ones) (Shhh - Don't tell anyone)

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    1. "eyes" really does seem to come up often in YA and I hadn't realized that my MS was full of "eyes" too until I plugged it into Wordle, haha.

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    2. It's because we doo a lot of 'looking' 'glancing' and 'gazing' all with our eyes. And, of course, all those broody, teenage love moments. :D

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    3. ...who could resist the LI's dreamy eyes? :D

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  4. Interesting! Wonder what would happen if you put in books like the bible for example.

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  5. I wish I could do this with every word I've ever spoken.

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