Chris McElligott Park's Manuscript Analyizer (Online)

Chris McElligott Park

Founder and Lead Designer at Arcen Games, LLC.

Manuscript Analyzer Online: This program is freeware, written by programmer/author Chris McElligott Park to analyze repetitive word usage in manuscripts. Suggestions and feedback are welcome.

This tool does not transmit your manuscript across the Internet. All processing is done by your own computer using JavaScript. If you are on a dialup connection, feel free to disconnect from the Internet after loading this page -- you'll still be able to use it like anyone else. For more information on this subject, click here. If you prefer to use the Windows version of the tool, click here.

Click here for browser compatibility information.
Click here for usage tips.

Your Manuscript Goes Here:

Please paste the text of your manuscript above, and then hit analyze.

Analysis Results:

Word/Phrase	Count	% Total	Frequent Offender?	Adverb?	Common?	Type	Large?	# Characters
---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

Sort By: Common Word Inclusion: Show:
Filter (optional):

To make the most of this tool, use the various sorts and filters above to manipulate the results as you desire. Please note that the program will have to recalculate the display after each change, which may take some time (depending on the speed of your computer).

Sort By allows you to adjust the order of the items in the results.
Common Word Inclusion allows you to omit common words, or just common words that aren't frequent offenders.
Show Count allows you to omit words that are used less than a certain number of times in the manuscript (the default is 2).
Filter allows you to search within the results for a word, partial word, word ending, or word beginning.

Advanced: If you would like to extend the list of words/phrases to use, please just add your extra words/phrases to the appropriate dictionaries below. All entries must be made one per line without punctuation. Use a forward slash (/) to separate word pairs you would like to have grouped together (see below for examples). Once you have made changes, hit the "Analyze" button to see them reflected in the analysis results. Note that if you refresh or leave this page, your additions will have to be re-entered.

Frequent Offenders Dictionary:

Common Words Dictionary:

Phrases Dictionary:

and then
have you ever wondered
as you know
took a breath
deep breath
wiped away a tear
ran a hand through
frown creased
nodded and smiled/nodded smiling
looked at/looked out
old as the hills
kiss of death
first and foremost
cast a pall
blink of an eye
proof positive
wet behind the ears
heard it once
rotten apple
over backwards
in the foot
tried and true
needless to say
last but not least
hard and fast
rule of thumb
like the plague
shook his head/shook her head
he sighed/i sighed
he shrugged/i shrugged
nodding in agreement/nodded in agreement
he frowned
stood up
sat down
then it happened
took a seat
walked to
looked out
he paused
stopped to
was silent
better late than never
in over her head/in over his head
serious problems/serious issues/has issues/had issues
home issues
in all directions
doesnt know who to turn to
who to turn to
willing to deal with
more than she bargained for/more than he bargained for/more than they/bargained for/bargained for
stunning revelation
checkered past
explosive ending
on top of everything
to complicate matters
life love and redemption
life turned upside down
in the worst way
recurring nightmares
as a dog
chosen one
incredible journey
to the bitter end
trials and tribulations
and learns a little something along the way
has it all
put the pieces back together
all comes crashing down
demons from his past/demons from her past
haunted by
porcelain god/porcelain goddess/porcelain idol
came to realize/comes to release
gave up her career/gave up his career
forbidden love
impossible love
overcoming all odds
all is lost
forced to choose between
shaken to the core/shook to the core
at stake
at risk
little did he know/little did she know/little did they know
dangerous race
race to save
haunted by his past/haunted by her past
more than meets the eye
brink of disaster
light of day
coming of age/came of age/of age

Suggestions?
All suggestions are welcome, but here are some specific areas in which feedback is particularly needed:

Ideas for new "metrics" (columns) to analyze word usage.

Additions to the dictionaries.

Bug reports!

Send all suggestions to

Browser Compatibility
This tool has been tested with the following internet browsers. Other/older browsers may work, but have not been tested.

Internet Explorer 7, 5.5 SP2 (Windows only)

Firefox 2 (should be identical on every OS)

Netscape 8.1 (should be identical on every OS)

Safari 3 Beta (tested on Windows, presumably works the same on the Mac)

Usage Tips
A Few Terms:

"Total Words" is the total number of words found in the manuscript.

"Distinct Words" is the number of different words found.

"Frequent Offenders" are words that are commonly misused/overused in manuscripts.

"Phrases" are also counted as Frequent Offenders.

Using The Analysis Results:

Use the sorts and filters to hone your results.

Use "Sort to Large Words" to help you find larger words that you might be repeating more than you should (that's obviously your call).

Bear in mind that just because a word is small or even common, doesn't mean it is something that should be used repeatedly.

Use "Sort to Frequent Offenders" to bring commonly overused words to the forefront. High repetition of these words means you might need to do some further analysis on your manuscript.

Please note that the "Adverbs" column (and count) only identifies words that end in -ly. These are often words that are overused or should be evaluated for cutting.

A Note On Word Count:
Please bear in mind that the word count reported in this program (like the word count reported in your word processor of choice) is NOT the word count that you should be sending out to agents and editors. Please see Estimated vs. Actual Word Count for information on how to correctly calculate the word count that most agents and editors want.