Wordle Word Clouds

I discovered Wordle on a recent blog carnival: it generates word clouds, or collages, using text you enter. (The program chooses words based on frequency; the most frequently used words get the biggest font.) The blogger who theorized that writers could use it to discover themes in their work or note over-used adjectives. When I mentioned this to one of my more cynical friends, he scoffed, and then added, "But it does make a pretty picture." I think the truth is somewhere in between. I entered text from a story of mine and did find it interesting to see what portrait emerged of the story, in the way that having your fortune told is interesting. But you can judge for yourself, based on my collage of a chapter from a popular Jane Austen novel, or by heading over to the site yourself.