[OB] Oathbringer Word Counts

[OrangeJedi he/him]

For all of you who are saying the first three chapters and prologue of Oathbringer seemed short, I did some word counts:

(FYI: the average chapter length in WoK is 4,386 and in WoR it is 3,954)

Prologues

WoK (Szeth): 6132

WoR (Jasnah): 5214

OB (Eshonai): 2805

(the most common word in all the prologues is "the"; WoK: 520, WoR: 326, OB: 173)

Chapter One

WoK (Cenn): 4557

WoR (Shallan): 7871

OB (Dalinar): 2293

(the most common word is "the"; WoK: 258 , WoR: 425 , OB: 177)

Chapter Two

WoK (Kaladin): 5051

WoR (Kaladin): 5485

OB (Adolin/Dalinar): 3278

(the most common word is "the"; WoK: 304, WoR: 229 , OB: 214)

Chapter Three

WoK (Shallan): 5308

WoR (Shallan): 2863

OB (Dalinar - flashback): 3988

(the most common word is "the"; WoK: 305, WoR: 186 , OB: 283)

Bonus

WoK Prelude (Kalak): 1298

("the" occurs 82 times)

 

So we were all right, all the Oathbringer chapters are under 4,000 pages and only one is above the average chapter count in WoR (chapter 3). I would say that the Oathbringer's chapters are shorter than the other two books. On the other hand, Tor said they were putting out 32 sample chapters or all of part one. WoK had 11 chapter in part one and WoR has 12. So I would expect the other chapter to be short as well. Any other thoughts?

[Calderis he/him]

Just means more PoV changes. Overall word count has OB longer. So faster shifts, but still more book. 

[JoyBlu she/her]

Wow!  This is great.  Thanks @OrangeJedi for posting the word counts. Very interesting. I feel somewhat validated in feeling that something was missing!  (It was half the length I was accustomed to)

 

@vividox , @ElephantEarwax , @frozndevl , @Knotai , @narkis , @Toaster Retribution

@ICanDream

@Necessary Eagle

@Jaconis

@Nymeros

 

Wanted to make sure you guys saw this word count post.  Perhaps the shorter word count is the reason some of the writing seems a bit off, or simple, or easy, or a Young Adult Fiction feel. Maybe it isn't just because we are reading it on a computer screen or getting it a few pieces at a time. The chapters really are shorter.  @Calderis, I like your observation that we will get more PoVs this way. 

Edited September 1, 2017 by JoyBlu

[+ElephantEarwax he/him]

36 minutes ago, JoyBlu said:

Wow!  This is great.  Thanks @OrangeJedi for posting the word counts. Very interesting. I feel somewhat validated in feeling that something was missing!  (It was half the length I was accustomed to)

 

@vividox , @ElephantEarwax , @frozndevl , @Knotai , @narkis , @Toaster Retribution

Wanted to make sure you guys saw this word count post.  Perhaps the shorter word count is the reason some of the writing seems a bit off, or simple, or easy, or a Young Adult Fiction feel. Maybe it isn't just because we are reading it on a computer screen or getting it a few pieces at a time. The chapters really are shorter.  @Calderis, I like your observation that we will get more PoVs this way. 

That makes sense. I'm going to reread and see if that fits.

[+eveorjoy she/her]

Part One may be shorter than the rest of the book. Part one is normally set up and there is less to set up here. This may be why Tor allowed the whole of part one to be released. It's all good. I will take what I can get.

[OrangeJedi he/him]

25 minutes ago, eveorjoy said:

Part One may be shorter than the rest of the book. Part one is normally set up and there is less to set up here. This may be why Tor allowed the whole of part one to be released. It's all good. I will take what I can get.

Quote

Part One is a fantastic taste of the overall product. Long ago, Brandon said he plotted Oathbringer as a trilogy. That is, that there are three distinct sections of Oathbringer. In Words of Radiance, he also did this, where the first "book" in Words of Radiance was Parts One and Two, the second "book" is Part Three, and the third "book" is Parts Four and Five. And if you have read Words of Radiance recently, you know that each of those "books" has a pretty big climax. Well, for Oathbringer, you can see in that Reddit link, Part One of Oathbringer is its first "book". Get hyped. 

I think that part one will have more content, as indicated by the number of chapters.

 

[+eveorjoy she/her]

19 minutes ago, OrangeJedi said:

I think that part one will have more content, as indicated by the number of chapters.

 

I hope so.

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

Great job @OrangeJedi! I don't mind the chapter lenghts much, and I agree with @JoyBlu in that this might be the reason for the wierd feel of the chapters. 

And I am definitely in for more POVs.

[Nymeros]

I'm my opinion, the shorter word count served the Prologue quite well.....I really enjoyed it. It was concise without feeling rushed.

I'm sure Szeths prologue would have been as short if not for all the crazy action descriptions.It was really Jasnahs chapter that was needlessly packed with unrelated events (she hired a hitman, was tested and slipped into Shadesmar, ran into 2 heralds, and witnessed her dads death in the space of an hour?.....right).

 

As for the next 2.....I'm not sure how to feel. I would rather quality over quantity (in terms of point of views). Give me substantial chapters told through fewer viewpoints if need be.

Edited September 3, 2017 by Nymeros

[OrangeJedi he/him]

Here are the word counts for the next 3 chapters:

Chapter Four

WoK (Kaladin): 4141

WoR (Dalinar): 4278

OB (Dalinar): 4896

(the most common word is "the"; WoK: 256 , WoR: 250 , OB: 270)

Chapter Five

WoK (Shallan): 4035

WoR (Dalinar): 8438

OB (Kaladin): 2278

(the most common word is "the"; WoK: 205, WoR: 456  , OB: 143)

Chapter Six

WoK (Kaladin): 7217

WoR (Shallan): 4352

OB (Kaladin): 2422

(the most common word is "the"; WoK: 477, WoR: 239 , OB: 126)

[frozndevl]

Continuing the trend of more bite sized chapters, but the voice was good. Also, has there ever been a chapter where the most common word wasn't "the"? Might not be necessary to show.

[OrangeJedi he/him]

@frozndevl, that's why I am showing the occurrence, I am waiting for a chapter that has another most common word. (the software I use/made also reads out the most common word and how many times it occurs) It also give a fun indicator of density and size and help when comparing chapters. But you are right, it is not entirety necessary.

[frozndevl]

Mad props for building your own analysis tool! By all means, i thought you were doing some sort of manual count, which would suck, so keep reporting it. However, I doubt that we'll ever find another most common word.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_common_words_in_English

Edited September 6, 2017 by frozndevl