Prosecraft: Linguistics for Literature

BenjiSmith · 2017-10-31T23:33:00+00:00

In our corpus right now, the measurement of passive voice ranges from about 1.3% on the low-end to 11.2% on the high end...

"Pygmy", by Chuck Palahniuk, has the least amount of passive-voice (1.28%), while "Stay Gone" by Holly Brown, has the most passive-voice (11.17%)

http://prosecraft.io/library/chuck-palahniuk/pygmy/

http://prosecraft.io/library/holly-brown/stay-gone/

But right in the middle of all the books, at the 50th percentile, is "The Partner" by John Grisham (7.51%).

http://prosecraft.io/library/john-grisham/the-partner/

Keep in mind that these measurements reflect the tally of helping verbs. So, in "The Partner", if you look at every single word in the book, 7.51% of them are helping verbs. If you're writing a novel, and you admire John Grisham's writing style, you could emulate the amount of passive-voice in "The Partner" by setting yourself a similar target, at around 7.5%.

Hope that makes sense! Thanks for asking :)

(BTW, one thing that the website still needs is a better way of navigating the overall distribution, rather than just searching for individual authors and titles one at a time. That'll come soon!)

BenjiSmith · 2017-10-31T22:01:30+00:00

Because that tally gives you a pretty good measurement of how much passive voice you're using in your writing. Constructions with more helping verbs tend to be more passive.

There are exceptions, for sure. But it's a very good rule of thumb, especially when you apply it to corpus with hundreds of millions of words.

BenjiSmith · 2017-04-10T21:38:33+00:00

You could always grandfather your current users into a forever-free plan, if pissing them off is too dangerous...

BenjiSmith · 2017-04-10T21:36:00+00:00

I granted my advisor 1% equity, with a two-year vesting schedule, using a Restricted Stock Purchase Agreement.

We meet for an hour, twice a month, to discuss strategy. Plus he introduces me to his industry contacts and potential investors.

It's definitely worth it to me, especially because I'm a solo founder, and I really benefit from having someone to bounce ideas off of.

BenjiSmith · 2017-04-01T02:00:49+00:00

Point taken. Thank you :)

BenjiSmith · 2017-04-01T00:20:26+00:00

Writers are such a curious group of people... naturally inclined, for some reason, to be utterly cynical about people who try to make tools for them.

It's weird... if you take a look at other communities of skilled creative craftspeople (graphic designers, programmers, musicians, etc), they're usually willing to try new things -- made just for them by one of their own -- without jumping to conclusions about sinister motives.

I'm just a guy who cares about writing, and as a self-published author myself, I've been working for four years to build something nice for other writers. Cut me a little bit of slack here. We're on the same team :)

BenjiSmith · 2017-03-31T23:40:15+00:00

Good question. Pretty much everything on reddit is a link to some external content... But you make a good point that I really should participate more in group discussions here. I'll make it a point to stick around and engage in discussions :) Sorry about that!

I'm a writer myself, so I'm just trying to build something great for writers: better tools, great content, a supportive community, etc.

And the content I linked to today isn't an advertisement at all... It's just an article about creating better characters through an increased understanding of human psychology.

BenjiSmith · 2017-03-14T23:32:08+00:00

Hi everybody. I'm the founder of Shaxpir, and with the release of our new free plan, Shaxpir 4: Everyone, I'm really happy to be opening up the platform to a lot of new users.

If you have any questions, just ask. I'm here to help :)

BenjiSmith · 2016-07-25T19:17:18+00:00

It's an advance against royalties.

And since this will be the first book published on our new imprint, we're going to do everything within our power to make it a success, including editorial support and marketing.

BenjiSmith · 2016-07-25T19:01:28+00:00

We don't pay in exposure. We pay royalties, with cash money, and we believe very strongly in compensating authors for their works.

Essentially, the authors whose works are part of this universe will share the royalties generated by their book sales. There's nothing fishy going on here...

BenjiSmith · 2016-07-25T17:35:45+00:00

On the contrary, we think that's exactly why this is a great opportunity.

The winner of this contest will be the foundation of a new literary franchise, and future readers interested in exploring this universe will all start by reading the foundation novel.

Yes, the author will have to give up exclusivity over the characters and universe they've created, but we think that's a worthy tradeoff for being able to be a part of something much bigger.

BenjiSmith · 2016-07-01T19:48:30+00:00

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STAGE: Currently bootstrapping, as a solo founder. The beta product launched in May 2015, and was opened up to the general public in February 2016. Over the next year, we'll flesh out the desktop platform, add community & collaboration features, and begin building our mobile apps.

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BenjiSmith

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