Back when I published my first novel, Burning Embers, I wrote a post in which I analysed how the manuscript broke down in terms of word and phrase frequency. I was keen to do the same for my new novel, The Echoes of Love, to see how the two compare.

As I did for Burning Embers, I ran a phrase frequency check on The Echoes of Love – searching for the most used three-word phrases. Two of the book’s themes shine through:

• Eyes as a window to the soul: In his eyes; closed her eyes; looking at her; his eyes were; looked at him
• Mirage and mystery: seemed to be; in the air;  the memory of; in the dark
• Feelings: in love with; made her feel; the feel of
• Passion: I want you; into his arms

Then I checked for word frequency. Topping the list are words of little interest, like the, and, of and her, so I scanned down until I reached Venetia, the name of my heroine. Venetia appears 1,385 times in the manuscript; Paolo, the hero’s name, 992 times. It is fitting that they should appear so highly in the frequency list, for they really are the focus of the story.

Next, I looked for words that are meaningful to the story. All of the following are key words in the book (listed in order of frequency): eyes, man, face, love, felt, looked, thought, heart, never, life, hand, woman, night, body, voice, moment, cara, blue, beautiful, mouth, light, smile, morning, sea, lips, sun, sky, past, fingers, breath, skin, together, soft, lost, home, golden, memory, desire, passion, green, fire, kiss, dream, amore, emotion, sweet, moon. Taken together, they encapsulate the heart of the book.

One can sort these most popular key words into categories that convey various aspects of the love story:

• Body – eyes, face, heart, hand, body, voice, mouth, smile, lips, fingers, breath, skin, kiss
• Connection – looked, together
• Inner world – thought, home, memory, lost, past, dream
• Impressions – sweet, soft, beautiful
• Emotion – love, felt, heart, cara, emotion, passion, desire, fire, amore
• Moments – night, moment, morning
• Surroundings – sea, light, sun, sky, blue, golden, green, moon

In Burning Embers, eyes is the most commonly used noun, and I was intrigued to see that the same in the case in The Echoes of Love: eyes appears 396 times in the novel. This reflects my own belief that a person’s true self shines through in their eyes – for me, romance is all about eye contact.  Interestingly, face features prominently in the book too (201): those of you who have read the book will understand why Paolo’s face, in particular, is a very important aspect of the story.

Again, as in Burning Embers, man (239) is more prevalent than woman  (137) – this is a story, after all, told largely through a woman’s perspective.

Finally, the most-used colour by far in the book is blue, with 106 mentions. This really reflects the skies and waters of the Italian setting, and the eyes of Paolo, which are vivid and beautiful and, for Venetia, somehow familiar…