Goliath Word Cloud

Posted on by scott

Back in 2009 I blogged a word cloud of Leviathan as a NaNoWriMo tip.

Word clouds (made easy by the lovely and clever people at Wordle) are graphic representations of which words appear, and how often, in your novel, blog, or whatever. The words are sized, of course, in relation to how many times they pop up.

Word clouds great for spotting words that a writer uses too often, like my terrible habit of people frowning before they say something, or my once-rampant obsession with the word “effulgent.”

They’re also kind of fun for creating quasi-spoilery anticipation. And with that goal in mind, I offer you the Goliath word cloud five months before the book comes out!


Click here to see the full-size version. You know you want to.

Your sharp young eyes will no doubt note that I had to remove one word from the results. It was just too spoilerizing, and rather big as you can see. But the rest remains unaltered.

Of course, certain words that are missing (or quite small) can be just as spoilery as the ones that are there. So don’t look too close unless you want to suffer from S3krit Knowledge You Cannot Forgetz.

For my own purposes, I’m glad to see that “frowned” is very wee, and “effulgent” nowhere to be found. Sadly, “barking” is smaller than I thought it would be, and “perspicacious” totally missing! (But don’t worry, “Bovril” is happily medium sized.)

Best of all, the dreaded “just” is either not there or too tiny to see, so that’s another bad habit of mine expunged. Yay.

If you’re a writer, this old NaNoWriMo post of mine will give you a few more hints how to use word clouds in your own work.

See you on Fan Art Friday!

167 thoughts on “Goliath Word Cloud”

  1. @Cambelle The cover for Goliath is out (well, Scott Westerfeld showed the US cover anyway). You can see it here

  2. Why would you guys want to know what the censored word is? I wouldn’t mind a excerpt, but just a word takes all the style and substance away from the product. If the word is something like “died” or “marriage” or something, I’d like to know about it, but not without a whole story. That’s like taking a picture and cutting out one thing and saying you’ve seen the painting. Knowing it would ignite such worry and possibly online conflict, now wouldn’t it? I vote nay!

    But an excerpt would be, as they say, “scrumtralessent”!

  3. I can’t see the censored word being an action, because then they’d be doing an awful lot of said action. No one kisses or dies that much. My money is on it being a title or name. Or something that’ll mean nothing to us unless we’ve read the book.

  7. Merry Easter y’all!

    So, checkin out the word cloud while trying to trade Tropius for a Turtwig. It seems as though there really isn’t much too see here.

    The spoiler word? BETRAYAL.
    Then again, it could be wedding, or death, or anything.

    For whoever mentioned Hitalia, all I say to you is this: France.Looks.Better. But not as good as Howl (yet that’s a different story).

    Scott-la, hope you let us peek inside your book a bit early. I know that Amazon sometimes does it for the first 50 pages of some books.

    Also, just finished this excellent book series called BLOOD OF KINGS., which involved an heir, cross-dressing, and magical/romantic action. Sounds like Leviathan.

    Now, off you go to behead your chocolate bunnies/peeps/whatever y’all eat!

    -TheWordMaster

  8. Whoa, thank you so much TheWordMaster! I looked up Blood of Kings, and I have to admit, it just looks amazingly awesome. (This is perfect for me, as I’ve recently run out of books to read, and need to find some new ones!) Anyways, I think you’ve seriously just made my day. ^^ Just from a brief explanation of the book series, I’m already officially hooked. Can’t wait to get started on it!

  9. i see Dylan is rather small indead, and yeah i realize wen theyre not in their chapter their name is barely used, and in her chapter she says Deryn….. just hopin that it mite have sumftin to do with the fact that they find out rather quickly 😀

  12. I had the worst nightmare yesterday. I dreamed that in the April Fools day reveal Lilit was angry at Deryn for fooling her and her actually being a woman. So she stabbed her and Deryn died before she could tell Alek she was a lady!!!!!!!! Made me sad…..

    And the other day inmy Earth Science class we where doing some research on global warming and it effect on glaciers and junk, lets just call my friend John shall we? Heres our conversation and I quote,

    John: Look at that picture of a iceberg! We should use that!

    Alice: *pfffft* Its a glacier Newkirk

    John: Who’s Newkirk!!!????

    Alice: Nevermind…\

    @ WordMaster a Turtwig for a Tropius??? Somebodies getting jipped

  13. My guessing’s: a four maybe five letter word.
    Scott. you’re going to get sued for torturing all this people.

  14. When I first saw the word bank thing, I thought Spoiler Removed was a word xD

    BTW I do see “Just”, it’s actually pretty big, It’s a bit smaller than “Bovril”.

    In my opinion, Alek’s Name is a font size larger than Deryn’s.
    And I hope that after Goliath comes out, you’ll post a version without the “Spoiler removed”

  16. @Fox Scarlen- Glad I could be of help! I actually have the same problem (only for me, I finish books waaay too fast, and then have nothing left to read), but it seems as though some decent books are coming out this month.

    @alice: You think that’s weird? Here’s how all my trades went down YESTERDAY ALONE:
    Tropius-> Torchic
    Torchic->Charmander
    Clefable->Wailord (I passed up Dialga for this one)
    Some skeletal-lizard-thing->Tropius

    So I ended up with three good pokemon….and another tropius.

  18. Gaahhh. Scott! You torture me so! @0@ *sighs* While I keep my hopes up for the spoiler to be something like Love or something like that, I’m sure it’s probably something we’d never understand until reading the book. Thank you for the word cloud though it gives me things to work from >.>

    Oh yeah, and fan art? D<

    One more thing, Scott; "Just." It's pretty big.

  21. @TheWordMaster: I used to read books way too fast, but now, school has been sort of bogging me down in that respect. (Did you know that you actually have to pay attention in high school, rather than just read through the entire class? xP) Yeah, there are definitely some good releases coming out around this time. I’m kinda disappointed, though, as my school library doesn’t have Blood of Kings. Darn. I’ll probably hit the public library this weekend in search of it. 😉

    Also, why pass up a Dialga with a Wailord? Don’t get me wrong, Wailords are awesome, but unless you have Diamond version, why pass it up? (Which version are you playing?) As for the rest, good trades (well, three of them)! I love Charmander…^^

    @all: I agree with Nicola somewhere up there in the comments-give Scott a break! After all, he could be working on a draft of Goliath, and may deem it slightly more important than our Fan Art Fridays. 😉

  24. Tesla? I’m not sure if that would be the spoilery word because the fans would have no idea what to make of it if it hadn’t been censored!

  27. Somebody else probably pointed this out already, but I love how inside “Deryn” is “came” & “first”. Deryn came first. 😀 And it’s true! amazing how that worked out, eh?

  28. It’s late at night on a Monday. The fanart…>:( You’d better have a good excuse, like ‘you were playing Portal 2.’ C’mon, guys, let’s chant and bang our desks like bratty toddlers! FAN-ART, FAN-ART!

  29. Muaha, why do I get the feeling that Scott-la is going to post it /this/ Friday, and say ‘Ta-da! Here’s your Fan Art Friday! Now now, I didn’t specify /which/ Friday I was posting it on, did I?’…I honestly wouldn’t be too terribly surprised…^^; Ah well, don’t worry too much about it, Scott-la! We can wait…though in return, it must be a megasuperawesomelyepic blog post! Understood? ;P

  30. I think the spoiler word is Tesla, too. It gives you an idea of where the plot could be going.

  31. Yo, alice! You didn’t notice at the end of Behemoth after Lillit kisses Deryn she says, “I know you better than you think, MR. Sharp.”?! She KNOWS Deryn’s a girl! That’s what the emphasis on the “Mr.” means. Then she even turns to Alek and says “You don’t know what a friend you have in Dylan”! She’s a lesbian, dummkopf! That’s one of the many layers in the “love triangle” that’s going on throughout Behemoth. Shit, I wonder how many other people didn’t get that.

  33. @Fox scarlen- r u the same one on fanfiction who wrote today? Just wondering…

    Hmmmm this mystery word is just puzzling…

  34. @ The Joker-la: Duh she’s a lesbian!!!!! or she figured it out when they where kissing….. I said I dream that. I have to admit my subconscious is strange when it comes to these kinds of things.

    @ Fox Scarlen: Yes I have to agree with the fact Wailord is very awesome, but my personal favorite is Magikarp… even if it is useless..

  35. btw TheWordMaster: Thanks for saying something about that Blood of Kings book, three pages in and I’m already addicted

  36. Have just discovered PuppyCam. 🙂

    @Fox: My teachers don’t care if I read in class, just as long as I get the work done (and I have an excuse for Pre-AP Bio: we all have to read Leviathan). I happen to have Pokemon Black (my very first pokemon game, believe it or not. I chose Snivy.), aaaand I traded my tropius for a Zorua yesterday, so my method has to be working…somewhat. I passed up the Dialga because…well, what kind of person would give away a lvl.100 Dialga?! There must be a catch….

    @alice: There’s just something about Wailord’s expression that I love. My favorite though has to be Lucario (he eats chocolate!), but Milotic is pretty nice too.

    I’m glad you’re liking Blood of Kings so far. It’s kind of like a mix between the Seven Realms series and Leviathan, which I like. Just enough magic…just enough romance…a little bit of deeper meaning…it’s like all good points in a novel rolled into one series.

  37. I just read the spoilery synopsises (is that how you pluralize it? w/e) and can not stop fangirling over it. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I agree, I think the word must be Tesla.

    And yes, I want my fan-art/fan-fic. Meh, who knows, maybe he got a lot of submissions and is still sorting through them.

    EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  38. Has anyone noticed that the ship name for Deryn/Alek is Dalek? How can a Whovian like myself not resist?

  40. P.s Seeing as how Bovril’s name is bigger than Volger’s and Barrlow’s I’m going to assume that it is Bovril who spills the beans about Deryn being a girl, somehow! haha 😀

    That would be awesome and very funny in my opinion. =D

  42. Hmm. But “Dalek” is mostly “Alek”. :/ What about “Derek?” XP

    Also – is everything all right, Scott? I’m fairly new to this blog, so I dunno if it’s business as usual to miss a post by more than a few days or if we ought to be worried, but here’s hoping you’re fine and just busy with more important stuff than catering to a bunch of impatient fans. <3

  43. @ Random Pie Girl: Haha, yeah, I’m one and the same, the amateur writer of Today. ^^ (‘Course, there aren’t too many other Fox Scarlens out there, are there? xP)

    @ alice: Magikarp? Haha, goodness, well, I understand Gyrados being awesome, but Magikarp? It may look cool, but, as you said, it really is useless…No offense, though! I really don’t dislike any Pokemon (except a few, but, you know, who doesn’t?) and I can’t say I’m too sure as to what I would say my favorite is. I like so many!

    @ TheWordMaster: Your teachers let you read in class? A couple of mine do, but I’ve learned it really is better to take notes…or zone out. ^^; As for Pokemon, I’ve got Black too! (It rocks.) Snivy’s cool, a good starter there. (Though I really wouldn’t know- I’m the proud owner of a Samurott.) And now I understand why you passed up the Dialga…likely, that person had Action Replay, and just leveled up that way, rather than through training. Still…they might have /desperately/ wanted that Clefable. xP Nice job on the Tropius for Zorua!

    Also-your Biology class is making you read Leviathan? (Where do you go to school so I may transfer?! xP) That’s awesome! Though, uh…why read Leviathan? I understand, you know, the Darwinist stuff, but really, I’m not sure the book qualifies as a completely educational book on biology. (I honestly found it more helpful towards World History!)

    If Blood of Kings is like a cross between Leviathan and the Seven Realms series, what’s the Seven Realms series about? (Well, medieval, magic, I’m guessing that, but, you know, more detail-y stuff. ;D) I’m excited because I got my school library to order Blood of Kings! (It helps being on great terms with the librarian. ;P)

    @Raibean: Haha, I guess it really is (almost) officially Dalek, isn’t it? It’s a good name, though, and catchy. ^^

  45. Guys, I’m doubtful about the legitimacy of the synopsis (which, by the way, took ages of Google-searching to track down.) It just seems suspicious because they don’t call Deryn by her real name, they always call her Dylan in it. In the ones for the two previous books, they always called her by her real name. Now is it just me, or does this seem a little strange? Am I the only one who noticed this? I mean, it would be good if it was real, because Goliath sounds like the best one yet judging from this. But it left me wondering if it was the actual summary of the book. Also, it seemed a bit too revealing, which leads to further suspicion. I sure hope I’m wrong.

  46. @nanogirl101 – The site that the synopsis originally appeared on is pretty gosh-darn reputable. I don’t know where you found yours, however.

  47. @TheWordMaster & Fox Scarlen: I do love them Seven Realm novels. I have Black version as well! White always seemed to be the more popular choice…….. I am also have a Snivy, though its expression reminds me of a very stuck up sort of person but I just found that fire type weird.

  48. @ alice: (I’ll start with you since I can see your post w/o scrolling up)
    I thought the same thing about Snivy. Then it evolved into Serperior…luv it to death. It makes me want to cuddle a huggable plush version….ahhh…

    @Fox: Yeah, my teachers are pretty cool when it comes to reading (and sadly, I cannot disclose my school for fear that some creep may track me down and steal away my excellent novel ideas. 🙂 ). My Bio teacher has made us read The Hunger Games (yay!), Life as We Knew It (meh.), My Sister’s Keeper (ugh!), and now Leviathan (W00t!), whcih is odd, but gives me n excuse to bring a book to class.

    The Seven Realms novels are a series (there are 2 out right now) of fantasy books by Cinda Williams Chima. Basically, it’s about a land filled with wizards who coexist with the Queen and her people after a horrible war, but the wizards are plotting their revenge to take over the land. It also has some nice romances (although it get kinda blush-inducing at times, but nothing too bad occurs), and does a nice job of not keeping things predictable. Not as good as, say, Leviathan or The Mysterious Benedict Society (no book is better than TMBS. No.Book.At.All.), but a decent series.

  49. @ Fox Scarlen- Ah, I thought it was u! Yeah, I was thinking that too… Btw, I’m the unknown reviewer, pony! Yay!

    I tried lookin 4 dis on wordke, bit I didn’t find it….

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