this is a SHAXPIR project
how does it work?

A Time to Kill

  by John Grisham

(about 651 pages)
162,647
total words
95th PERCENTILE
of all the books in our library
71.63%
vividness
28th PERCENTILE
of all the books in our library
7.83%
passive voice
43rd PERCENTILE
of all the books in our library
2.75%
all adverbs
37th PERCENTILE
of all the books in our library
1.07%
ly-adverbs
58th PERCENTILE
of all the books in our library
1.68%
non-ly-adverbs
23rd PERCENTILE
of all the books in our library

clippings from this book

We’ve analyzed hundreds of millions of words, from thousands of different authors, training our linguistic models to recognize the most vivid words in the English language… the words that create the most intense sensory experiences: colors, textures, sounds, flavors, and aromas.

Based on our analysis, we’ve scanned through the pages of this book to find the two pages at the extremes, both the most-passive and the most-vivid pages, so that you can compare them side-by-side and see the difference:

MOST PASSIVE PAGE
MOST VIVID PAGE
the jury will be white. So a black father and a white father would not have equal chances with the jury. Do you follow me?” “I think so.” “The jury is all important. Guilt versus innocence. Freedom versus prison. Life versus death. All to be determined by the jury. It’s a fragile system, this trusting of lives to twelve average, ordinary people who do not understand the law and are intimidated by the process.” “Yes, suh.” “Your acquittal by a white jury for the killings of two white men will do more for the black folk of Mississippi than any event since we integrated the schools. And it’s not just Mississippi; it’s black folk everywhere. Yours is a most famous case, and it’s being watched carefully by many people.” “I just did what I had to do.” “Precisely. You did what you thought was right. It was right; although it was brutal and ugly, it was right. And most folks, black and white, believe that. But will you be treated as though you were white? That’s the question.” “And if I’m convicted?” “Your conviction would be another slap at us; a symbol of deep-seated racism; of old prejudices, old hatreds. It would be a disaster. You must not be convicted.” “I’m doin’ all I can do.” “Are you? Let’s talk about your attorney, if we may.” Carl Lee nodded. “Have you met him?” “No.” Carl Lee lowered his head and rubbed his eyes. “Have you?” “Yes, I have.” “You have the roadbeds and hung like Spanish moss from the trees. It cooled the scorched pavement and created a sticky fog that rose three feet above the highway. The red baked gullies absorbed the water, and when full began to carry tiny streams downward to the larger field drains and road ditches. The rains drenched the cotton and soybeans, and pounded the crop rows until small puddles formed between the stalks. Remarkably, the windshield wipers worked. They slapped back and forth furiously and removed the mud and insect collection. The storm grew. Harry Rex increased the volume of the stereo. The blacks with their cane poles and straw hats camped under the bridges and waited for the storm to blow over. Below them, the still creeks came to life. Muddy water from the fields and gullies rushed downward and stirred the small streams and brooks. The water rose and moved forward. The blacks ate bologna and crackers and told fishing stories. Harry Rex was hungry. He stopped at Treadway’s Grocery near the lake, and bought more beer, two catfish dinners, and a large bag of Cajun-spiced red-hot barbecue pork skins. He threw them at Jake. They crossed the dam in a blinding downpour. Harry Rex parked next to a small pavilion over a picnic area. They sat on the concrete table and watched the rain batter Lake Chatulla. Jake drank beer while Harry Rex ate the catfish dinners. “When you gonna tell Carla?” he asked, slurping beer. The tin roof roared

emotional story arc

Click anywhere on the chart to see the most significant emotional words — both positive & negative — from the corresponding section of the text…
This chart visualizes the the shifting emotional balance for the arc of this story, based on the emotional strength of the words in the prose, using techniques pioneered by the UVM Computational Story Lab. To create this story arc, we divided the complete manuscript text into 50 equal-sized chunks, each with 3252.94 words, and then we scored each section by counting the number of strongly-emotional words, both positive and negative. The bars in the chart move downward whenever there’s conflict and sadness, and they move upward when conflicts are resolved, or when the characters are happy and content. The size of each bar represents the positive or negative word-count of that section.

similar books by different authors

other books by John Grisham

something missing?

Our library is always growing, so check back often…

If you’re an author or a publisher,
contact us at submissions@prosecraft.io to help grow the library.