How to Stop Time 📖

How to Stop Time

Haig, Matt
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literary fiction historical fantasy past tense first POV ~356 pp high worldbuilding

Vibe

melancholic existential atmospheric

A literary fiction. Expect rich worldbuilding, dense, literary prose, epic scope. Deeply introspective. Contains notable violence, romance.

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Style Fingerprint

Prose density 75
sparsedense
Pacing 40
slow burnpropulsive
Emotional tone 30
darkhopeful
Worldbuilding 85
minimalmaximal
Char / plot 60
character-drivenplot-driven
Interiority 80
externalintrospective
Ending 40
unresolvedcathartic
Stakes 90
intimateepic

Content

Violence 60%
noneextreme
Sexual content 20%
noneexplicit
Humor 30%
seriouscomedic
Romance 70%
nonecentral
Speculative hardness soft/vibes → hard sci-fi / rigorous magic

Structure & Cast

Structure
Word count89,011
Page count~356 pp
Prologue
Epilogue
Tensepast
Cast & World
POVfirst