Just for fun: Check out I Write Like

I'm sure someplace on here someone has posted this already, so sorry if I'm being redundant.

There's a fun little website I was introduced to a few weeks ago called I Write Like: http://iwl.me/

You plug in a sample of your work and this statistical analysis tool analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares it with those of the famous writers. It was created by Russian software programmer Dmitry Chestnykh.

The hysterical thing is that famous writers (who are actually IN the system) have plugged their work into it, only to find out they write like someone else. lol.

I did it four times using different sections of my NaNo novel. They all said I write like Chuck Palahniuk. Which I find hysterical because he's the last person I would have guessed.

(out of curiosity, I plugged in several sections of my middle grade fantasy novel and it said that one was written like Neil Gaiman)

Harmless fun when you're taking a break.

David Foster Wallace.

I wonder what metrics it keys on. Word/sentence/paragraph length? Quote frequency? Number of unique words?

I tried it with a couple of paragraphs of mine from the start of a chapter. "I write like Arthur Clarke", it tells me. I'm rather impressed by that! :D

I then tried a couple of paragraphs from the end of the same chapter. Now "I write like Margaret Atwood".

Ha! Neil Gaiman!!! I love it!!!

David Foster Wallace
If only I could be so talented.

Hmm, tried three decent sized sections (500+ words) that I have written in the last two days. It came back with:

Cory Doctorow
Gertrude Stein
Dan Brown

So, evidently my writing is all over the place, and I still need to find my voice.

I got Gertrude Stein. I did this once before and got David Foster Wallace. Nothing I'm writing currently reflects my general style, though.

I'd just be happy if I could write like Keillor or Wodehouse.

This year my characters all talk too much and are being kind of stupid.

Hm. I tried two different passages I actually like and find witty, and they both came up Agatha Christie...

I tried the same bit of work four times, somehow, it thinks I write like four different writers with the exact bits of work? fun to check out anyway...

WAIT! I just put in... "I hate my tweeker neighbors"... and it told me I write like William Shakespeare. there is something wrong with this site.... don't trust it.

I got four different results. All of them are awesome. Since I'm writing from five different POVs, apparently I'm shifting voice appropriately?

1. James Joyce
2. Jane Austen (wtf?)
3. The Bard
4. Stephen King (on a non-nano, parody-like selection)

This amuses me.

So far, I've tried putting in different paragraphs from different manuscripts. I've gotten Margaret Atwood (three times), Margaret Mitchell and Anne Rice.

Oddly enough, my NaNoWriMo novel keeps getting Margaret Atwood, while a different one got the other two.

I admit it, I'm easily amused.

I put in a few different ones (a couple of chunks from my NaNo novel, followed by a couple of chunks from movie reviews I wrote) and got Chuck Palahniuk, Cory Doctorow , James Joyce, then David Foster Wallace. At least I've heard of all of them, even if Palahniuk is the only author in that bunch that I've actually read.

I got Ernest Hemingway. I can live with that. Fun game. :)

My NaNo: David Foster Wallace. I don't even know who he is.

My current non-NaNo huge project? Chuck Palahniuk. Awesome.

I did this on something else I was working on and I got Stephen King. Can't complain there.

I tried with two different chapter excerpts from my NaNo novel and got David Foster Wallace and Cory Doctorow.

If only...

Not complaining though.

Arthur C. Clarke! *Phew*. I really thought I was going to get Stephanie Meyer with all the gushing teenagers I seem to have.

Damn my first two goes turned out to be Dan Brown, and J.K. Rowling. I should give up now I think, although a slice of their royalties wouldn't go amiss!!

"You write like François Rabelais."

Never heard of her.

-Shem

Apparently I write like Kurt Vonnegut. I like this result very much.