Analysis by AI
If you are the analytical type who enjoys evaluating the quality of a work based on data, then this article may be for you.
I submitted Conspiracy Suisse to the scrutiny of the best Beta Reader AI available today, which generated a detailed report comparing the novel to thousands of bestsellers on which it was trained.
Below, I present some of the findings. The AI reported many additional issues but I used those myself to polish the final version of the novel (sorry). đ
Please refer to the gray box on the right / below for explanations of the measurements and further interpretations of the results.
SPOILER ALERT: Do not continue if you haven’t read the book yet, as this article reveals some key moments of the narrative.
Conspiracy Suisse performed exceptionally well. Whether it will achieve commercial success remains to be seen, as this depends more on marketing than on the actual quality of the book. However, the results of the study were very encouraging. It was personally gratifying to see that I’ve created a novel that meets, from an analytical perspective, the expectations of a bestseller. I apologize if I seem less modest than I should be, but… allow me this moment of happiness based on what an AI thought, at least. đ
Plot Structure
Conspiracy Suisse was conceived to adhere to the structure of the 4th Archetype: Rags to Riches. Here is how the plot of Conspiracy Suisse (blue line) was measured, compared with the ideal structure of this archetype (green line):
At first sight, it may look like Conspiracy Suisse does not really follow the ideal plot structure that closely. It does not start in the region of bad fortune (rags) and does not end in the region of good fortune (riches).
This view is deceiving. The AI obviously started the narrative arc where the novel begins in the first chapter, with the Grand Master standing on the balcony overlooking SWB. However, the reader finds out in the story that the troubles of the bank started earlier and the Knights Templar offered to help two months before this scene, which was rejected.
On the other hand, the AI recognized the cautionary tone at the end of the narrative very well. Even though the protagonists were triumphant and rescued SWB (riches), they distanced themselves from it, the book ending with the understanding that the troubles of the bank may not be over. Correcting these discrepancies in the timing of the narrative, we end up with the following graphic:
As can be seen, there is a near perfect match between the plot structure graphs of Conspiracy Suisse and the ideal archetype.
You may know that with few exceptions – based on a theory developed by Kurt Vonnegut – the stories of classic and modern literature can be grouped into 7 archetypes:
Furthermore, these so-called plot structures can be visualized using a narrative arc, which provides a rough snapshot of the story and the main charactersâ journey. Each archetype is characterized by an ideal graph and the closer a novel comes to that, the better it will be perceived.
When the beginning and end of the narrative arc are set correctly, there is a near-perfect match between the plot structure graphs of Conspiracy Suisse and the ideal Archetype #4: Rags to Riches.
It is worth noting here that riches do not literally refer to money but to some type of good fortune and rags to bad fortune. Only time will tell, whether the narrative of Conspiracy Suisse actually ends in rags (as I cautioned) or riches (where the novel finished).
Plot Twists
Similar to the plot structure, plot twists can also be visualized over the narrative time. The valleys and peaks roughly equate to moments of conflict and resolution. The lower the valley or the higher the peak, the greater the emotional intensity. Here is the chart for Conspiracy Suisse:
The graph is not only far from being near the center axis (emotional neutrality), but its most dramatic plot twists occur between halfway through the story and its climax (a positive indicator).
Conspiracy Suisse has often been compared with Dan Brown’s bestseller The Da Vinci Code (including by myself) due mainly to not more than the resemblance of the genre. Therefore, I wanted to compare the plot twists of the two novels:
While both graphs above show roughly the same number of peaks and valleys, they occur at quite different times. In The Da Vinci Code, the main protagonist, Robert Langdon, is cast into an unexpected bad fortune quite early in the narrative but after roughly one-third of the book, the plot develops in the good fortune region. In Conspiracy Suisse on the other hand, major plot twists start occurring after the one-third mark. This is not really surprising as The Da Vinci Code belongs in its structure to Archetype #1: Emergence. It may therefore be more appropriate to compare plot twists in Conspiracy Suisse with another bestseller, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, which is an Archetype #4: Rags to Riches story:
The similarities in the first third of the books are apparent. While The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is definitely a page-turner with 4 major peaks, Conspiracy Suisse appears to be as exciting, considering the deep valley around the middle of the narrative followed by a maximum peak and then another valley.
In addition to the overarching plot structure, the turns in the plotline are very important for readers. Upward slopes in the graph mark moments of conflict resolution where the story takes a hopeful or positive turn, signified by joy, excitement, love, relief, etc. Downward dips show the story taking a darker turn or the introduction of a progressive complication. Importantly, not just the number of plot turns matters but the height of the peaks or depth of the valleys.
They say a story that rarely veers from the center axis (the dashed line) of emotional neutrality will not be a bestseller, as good fiction is about hopes raised and hopes dashed. They also say that beginnersâ novels bog down in the middle, from about the one-quarter to three-quarters mark. The graph of Conspiracy Suisse is not only far from being near the center axis (emotional neutrality), its most dramatic plot twists occur between halfway through the story and its climax. It looks like I did manage to get through the so-called “middle muddle” well.
In comparison with The Da Vinci Code, Conspiracy Suisse exhibits a similar number of peaks and valleys. While in the former major plot twists occur early in the narrative, in the latter they are found in the second half of the book, after most issues have already been introduced.
The similarity in the first third of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Conspiracy Suisse is apparent. While the former is definitely a page-turner, considering the deep valleys and high peaks in the latter formidably after the middle of the narrative, I leave it up to readers to decide if Conspiracy Suisse is less than so.
Pacing
The experience readers have as they move through a narrative can be simulated by the pacing graph, which helps one to see where they will be turning pages most quickly (peaks) as well as the slower moments (valleys) of foregrounding and scene setting. Here is the measured result for Conspiracy Suisse:
Here are the explanations for the peaks and the valleys:
- The story starts with a fast pace, with the Grand Master and his disciples visiting the bank and then immediately proceeding to the lawyer’s office, making the reader aware of the urgency of their endeavor.
- After that, the pace is gradually slowed down when the details of the dilemma as well as many of the main characters are introduced. The valley is reached in Chapter 8 when Peter Winzeler meets Lilith Bahti, at almost exactly the 10% mark.
- The pace is then gradually increased through the hearing at Judge Jana Erb’s office, the following conversations between the antagonists, and Elena Lehning being threatened, culminating at her running home scared late at night in Chapter 14, which marks the peak at 20%.
- After the revelations at the CEO’s office by Sebastian Heller, the narrative is moved first to the retelling of the historical context in Italy and then the backstory between Peter Winzeler and Elena Lehning, where the reader can enjoy a slow, romantic break at exactly the 30% mark, in Chapter 22.
- The pace is then immediately increased through the shooting at the Visp station, the dig in Sion, and the rushed journey to Lucerne, where at the 40% mark the four protagonists are on the Chapel Bridge trying to decipher the vault identifier.
- The pace remains fast after this point, with a midway valley at around the 50% mark where the further backstory of Lehning and Winzeler is followed by the lawyer’s preparations for and the subsequent second hearing at the Judge’s office.
- From Chapter 35 all the way until the end of Chapter 45, one action scene follows the other, starting with Andreas Brunner’s attack, continuing with the bank heist, during which, around the 60% mark, the maximum pace is reached, and ending in the car chase in Istanbul.
- The pace is then gradually decreased until the end of the first part of the book, coming to a near stop in Chapter 54 following the General Meeting of SWB and its aftermath.
- After a discussion of monetary issues, followed by rescue scenarios for the bank, starting with the trip of the Grand Master, Elena Lehning, and Peter Winzeler to London, the book’s second part is fast-paced all the way until the end, through the last 20% of the narrative.
Through structuring scenes in an intended sequence, as well as using language effectively, authors can influence how readers will go through a narrative. While active conflicts and action scenes will cause readers to read faster, intense suspense and reflective scenes will help them to slow down and breathe in-between. The pacing graph visualizes this behavior.
They say that the most successful writers can vary the pace of their story to provide variety between the intensity of emotions followed by relief. In bestsellers, this graph contains equally spaced and similarly long peaks and valleys through at least half of the book.
Based on these statements, Conspiracy Suisse boasts an almost ideal pacing flow, considering that the first part of the book concludes at the 73% mark and then continues five years later. I must say, nothing made me more proud in this report than this chart. I couldn’t have done a better job of varying the pacing this uniformly, even with much longer planning.
Dialogue vs. Narrative
Narration and dialogue are both important ingredients of a novel. While narrations tell, dialogues add complexity and nuance to charactersâ relationships to show. The ratio between these is an important indicator of the reading experience provided. Here is what was measured for Conspiracy Suisse:
It is not really surprising that the amount of dialogue in Conspiracy Suisse (40%) is above the common average (35%), because it delves into a number of complex issues, from the history of the Knights Templar in relation to Swiss history to the history of banking, from the injustice of the monetary systems in place to the future of digital currencies, and much more, which all had to be told by dialogues between the different characters.
Compared with the two bestseller examples I used earlier, The Da Vinci Code has a 30% dialogue 70% narrative split, while The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has a 40% dialogue 60% narrative split exactly like Conspiracy Suisse.
Dialogue occurs when characters are talking to one another, while narrative is the running commentary and storyline that tells the reader what is happening. While every novel differs in the amount of interaction between characters, depending on the type and the requirements of the story being told, it turns out that bestsellers are on average split between 35% dialogue and 65% narrative.
In Conspiracy Suisse, the measured split between dialogue and narration was 40% to 60%. The distribution over the narrative time more or less corresponds to the pacing.
The main difficulty with the project, to turn a non-fiction manuscript into a fiction book, seems to have been overcome (and maybe even overdone).
Primary Emotions
The distribution of primary emotions in Conspiracy Suisse were measured as follows:
Here is a comparison of the primary emotions in Conspiracy Suisse with those in the two bestsellers I’ve used earlier as examples:
As can be seen, in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo the components “Anger”, “Disgust”, “Fear”, and “Sadness” dominate, making it a rather negative or darker novel (which I’m sure you will immediately agree to if you’ve read the book). The Da Vinci Code is distinguished by the “Anticipation”, “Disgust”, and “Fear” components which may explain its popularity among action thrillers, with especially the hateful antagonists that Dan Brown created. Conspiracy Suisse, on the other hand, appears as a novel with more positive emotions where the protagonists dominate in character development and the negative traits of antagonists have been less exaggerated (with the main antagonist Duke Robert William Burnthouse having been portrayed even as an amiable character in his youth).
Based on a theory developed by Robert Plutchik, there are eight primary emotions: anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy. Like in daily social interactions, these can also be observed in interactions between characters of a novel.
The highest values for primary emotions in Conspiracy Suisse were measured both with 21% for “Joy” (ecstasy, love, serenity) and “Trust” (friendship, sharing, understanding). Thus the romance scenes and scenes showcasing the brotherly connections among the Templars that I injected, seem to have a large impact. On the other hand, I must admit that the two components measured at the low end, 5% for “Anticipation” (uncertainty, suspense, apprehension) and 7% for “Disgust” (distrust, rejection, revulsion) could have been slightly higher.
Overall, Conspiracy Suisse appears as a novel with positive emotions. It was my intention to create realistic characters, protagonists as well as antagonists, not following the Hollywood clichĂ© of “the perfectly good” and “the absolutely bad”. I seem to have achieved this to a great extent.
Readability
Conspiracy Suisse contains 10,421 sentences and 145,670 words. The average length of a sentence is 14 words. Across five metrics, it recorded a reading grade level of 8.58 and an average complexity score of 2.83. The histogram below shows the distribution of sentence lengths (where the orange rectangle shows the region of sentences that are easiest to read and the green curve the ideal histogram for bestsellers):
Below table summarizes these values for Conspiracy Suisse (CS), The Da Vinci Code (TDVC), and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (TGWTDT):
| CS | TDVC | TGWTDT | |
| Sentence Count | 10k | 13k | 14k |
| Word Count | 146k | 147k | 175k |
| Average Sentence Length | 14 | 11 | 13 |
| Reading Level | 8.6 | 7.4 | 7.3 |
| Complexity Score | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.7 |
Considering that the average American reads at the 7th- to 8th-grade level, Conspiracy Suisse is not an easy read. While the word count is around the same as The Da Vinci Code, it has fewer sentences with a correspondingly higher average sentence length. The complexity score of the writing is higher than The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
On the other hand, the topics that Conspiracy Suisse deals with require a high intellectual capacity from readers (beyond the 8th-grade), more than both bestsellers that it is being compared with here. Accepting that it wasn’t written for mass audiences, therefore, I did not try to simplify the text but hoped that readers would be receptive to my writing style.
Similarities with Bestsellers
While I used the two bestsellers The Da Vinci Code (because it is the most popular conspiracy thriller) and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (because it has the same plot structure archetype) for comparisons throughout this analysis, the AI found out that Conspiracy Suisse was similar to other bestsellers (from among thousands that it was trained on) depending on what trait was being considered. I have summarized these below:
Thematical Comparison:
- “Zoo” by James Patterson
- “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman
- “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell
Linguistic Style Comparison:
- “The Shack” by William P. Young
- “The Alice Network” by Kate Quinn
- “Mr. Churchill’s Secretary” by Susan Elia MacNeal
- “Still Life” by Louise Penny
- “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins
Comparison of Agency:
- “The Price of Time” by Tim Tigner
Comparison of Mood:
- “The Three-Body Problem” by Cixin Liu
While no book exists with the same (or even similar) subject matter as Conspiracy Suisse, in a thematical comparison, the AI found three books that were similar. The selection of “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell made me very proud as I consider this book to contain one of the narratives with the highest philosophical depth.
In linguistic style comparison, I was again proud to see “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins listed. The AI may be spot on with this as I’ve read the book many times and was probably influenced by the writing style.
Agency denotes the way the characters in a novel act and behave. The AI thought “The Price of Time” by Tim Tigner was similar.
Mood means the feelings or emotional experiences that are evoked in a novel. The AI thought the currently popular book “The Three-Body Problem” by Cixin Liu was similar.