BAT - Book Analysis Tool for Authors/Editors V 1.2

Overview

The BAT Analyzer tool is an interactive visualization tool for analyzing the structure of novels. It transforms your book's scene data into explorable graphs and charts, helping you understand character relationships, pacing patterns, and location usage at a glance.

Graph View

The Graph View displays your book's structure as an interactive network diagram. Nodes represent characters, scenes, and locations, while edges show the relationships between them.

Node Types

Node	Shape	Color	Description
Character	Circle	Blue	People in your story. POV characters have a purple border.
Scene	Rounded rectangle	Green	Individual scenes, labeled with chapter and scene name.
Location	Diamond	Orange	Places where scenes occur.

Edge Types

Edge	Meaning
Appears In	Connects a character to a scene they appear in.
Located At	Connects a scene to its location.
Next Scene	Shows narrative order (dashed line).
Co-Occurs	Connects two characters who appear in the same scene. Thicker lines = more co-appearances.

Controls

• Load Graph — Fetches data for the selected book and scope
• Re-layout — Reorganizes the graph with a force-directed algorithm
• Reset View — Restores all hidden nodes and edges
• Fit All — Zooms to show the entire graph

Use the checkboxes to show/hide specific node and edge types. Click any node or edge to see its details in the Selection Details panel.

Scene Navigator

The Scene Navigator panel lists all scenes in the current view, sorted by chapter and scene order. It provides a sequential way to step through your narrative and quickly jump to specific scenes in the graph.

Scene Information

Each scene entry displays:

• Scene Label — The name or title of the scene
• Chapter Number — Which chapter the scene belongs to
• Time — Time of day when the scene occurs
• Location — Where the scene takes place
• Summary — A brief description of scene events (if available)

How to Use

• Click any scene to highlight it in the graph and view its full details
• Use it to step through your narrative in order
• The badge at the top shows the total scene count for the current scope

What to Look For

• Missing labels — Scenes with vague or missing names that need cleanup
• Time patterns — Does everything happen at night? Are there too many "morning" scenes in a row?
• Summary gaps — Empty summaries might indicate underdeveloped scenes
• Location repetition — Consecutive scenes in the same place might feel static

Character Importance

The Character Importance panel ranks all characters by their structural significance in the story. It uses graph metrics to quantify how central each character is to the narrative.

Understanding the Metrics

Column	What It Measures	What It Means
Scenes	Number of scenes the character appears in	Raw "screen time" — higher means more presence in the story
Degree	Total graph connections (scenes + co-occurrences)	Overall connectivity — characters who interact widely have higher degree
Top Partner	The character they appear with most often	Key relationship — reveals primary pairings and dynamics

How to Use

• Click column headers to sort by that metric
• Click any row to focus on that character in the graph
• POV characters are marked with a purple "POV" badge

What to Look For

• Protagonist ranking — Your main character should typically rank highest in scenes. If not, consider whether they're getting enough page time.
• High degree, low scenes — These "connector" characters appear briefly but interact with many others. They might be catalysts or ensemble players.
• Top Partner mismatches — Is your love interest actually paired with the protagonist? If the sidekick's top partner is someone other than the hero, that relationship might be underdeveloped.
• Isolated characters — Characters with very low degree or zero co-occurrences might be disconnected from the main story. Consider whether they need more integration or can be cut.
• Unexpected pairings — Sometimes the data reveals relationships you didn't consciously emphasize. These can be opportunities or problems.

Character Arcs

The Character Arcs view shows when each character appears throughout your book using a timeline visualization. This helps identify character introduction patterns, disappearances, and gaps.

Reading the Timeline

Each row represents a character. The horizontal bars show their presence in each chapter:

• High presence (50%+) — Character appears in half or more of the chapter's scenes
• Medium (20-49%) — Moderate presence
• Low (1-19%) — Brief appearance
• Absent — Character doesn't appear

Gap Detection

When "Highlight Gaps" is enabled, chapters where a character is absent between their first and last appearance are highlighted with an orange border. This helps identify characters who disappear mid-story and might need attention.

Pacing Analysis

The Pacing view analyzes chapter density using metrics derived from your scene data. While it doesn't measure word count directly, it uses proxy metrics that correlate with chapter complexity and pacing.

Metrics Explained

Metric	What It Measures	Pacing Signal
Scenes	Number of scenes in the chapter	More scenes = more cuts/transitions = faster perceived pace
Characters	Unique characters appearing	More characters = busier chapter, ensemble dynamics
Locations	Unique locations used	More locations = more movement, visual variety
Complexity	Weighted composite score (0-100%)	Overall chapter density combining all factors

Using Pacing Data

Look for patterns and outliers:

• Consistent heights — Even pacing throughout
• Gradual increase — Building tension toward climax
• Sudden spikes — High-action chapters (battles, reveals)
• Valleys — Quieter, introspective chapters
• Outliers — Chapters that might need rebalancing

Location Heat Map

The Location Heat Map shows where your story takes place across all chapters. Each row is a location, and the cells show how many scenes occur there in each chapter.

Reading the Heat Map

• Bright orange (3+ scenes) — Heavy use in that chapter
• Medium (2 scenes) — Moderate use
• Light (1 scene) — Brief appearance
• Dark — Location not used

Hub Locations

Locations appearing in 5 or more chapters are marked with a HUB badge. These are your story's anchor points — recurring settings that readers will become familiar with.

Sorting Options

• Scene Count — Most-used locations first
• Chapter Spread — Locations appearing in the most chapters
• Character Variety — Locations visited by the most different characters
• Name — Alphabetical order

Tips & Tricks

Scope Selection

Use the Scope dropdown to control how much of the book to analyze:

• Single Chapter — Focus on one chapter's internal structure
• Chapter Range — Analyze a specific section (e.g., Act 2)
• Whole Book — See the complete picture

Finding Story Issues

Issue	Where to Look
Disappearing character	Character Arcs → Sort by Gaps
Pacing problems	Pacing → Look for unexpected spikes/valleys
Overused location	Locations → Sort by Scene Count
Isolated character	Graph View → Character with few Co-Occurs edges
One-note setting	Locations → Filter to Min Scenes = 1

Graph Navigation

• Zoom — Mouse wheel or pinch gesture
• Pan — Click and drag on empty space
• Select — Click a node or edge
• Focus — Click a character in the table or arc view