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Vocabulary Richness Ratio: a JavaScript Analyzer for Fiction Texts

August 18, 2020

Programming

javascript, literature, programming, vocabulary, writing

I’ve been reading a lot of Yukio Mishima’s fiction lately. In awe of the richness of his vocabulary, I decided to code a little program that analyzes a novel and tells us how diverse the author’s word choices are. Enter Vocabulary Richness Ratio, my newest JavaScript experiment!

Just like my Fiction Complexity Index attempt, the Vocabulary Richness Ratio is:

  • available to you to try here on this page.
  • a work-in-progress – in other words, take the results with a grain of salt.

I’ve combined my expertise in literature and creative writing together with my interest in coding, and this little program was the result. Again, I must emphasize that it’s only a work-in-progress. It can give you a hint of how rich the vocabulary of your book is, but it’s not exact science.

vocabulary richness ratio
Vocabulary Richness Ratio is a JavaScript program that finds unique words in a text and, together with other factors, estimates how diverse the book’s vocabulary is
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How to Divide Chapters Creatively

July 30, 2020

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

chapters, creativity, fiction, literature, writing

As a fiction author, perhaps you’ve never given much thought to chapter division in your novel. After all, there doesn’t seem to be anything too complex about it – dividing chapters (and parts) is just a matter of organization, right? Well, no. Learn how to divide chapters creatively, and you’ve just acquired another tool of expression.

Remember that literature is more than a sum of its parts. Chapters can be so much more than just a way of grouping scenes together. And that’s precisely what I’ll show you in this post.

We’ll first take a look at ways you can divide your novel – chapters and parts are two basic ways, but there’s more to it than just that. Then, we’ll see how dividing a novel into chapters can be used creatively.

divide chapters
Houses have doors and windows for practical purposes, but also for creative (i.e. aesthetic) purposes. Dividing a book into chapters is a very similar process
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Review of Life, by Lu Yao

July 24, 2020

Book Review, Criticism

book, China, destiny, fate, fiction, literature, love, review

Life, by Lu Yao, is a Chinese novel written – and situated – in the early 1980s. A lot has happened since in China (and globally), though much of the story revolves around timeless issues.

What does it mean to love someone of a different social status? How does one balance between responsibility and personal desire? Should one submit to their fate – here defined not as some ghostly force but as what society prescribed – or not?

Life, by Lu Yao, poses such questions. The problem is that not only does it actually attempt to answer them – there are no real answers to such questions – but that it does so in a narratively naive, uninspiring manner.

review of Life, by Lu Yao
Life, by Lu Yao, basically revolves around matters of “fate” or, in any case, what one construes as such
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