I (allegedly) Write Like...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Following a link from elsewhere, I found the site I Write Like, which purportedly peruses a piece of prose and tells you which well-known author your style resembles. After pasting various chunks of my posts here into its mysterious analytical engine, I have been informed that I write like Jack London, Arthur Conan Doyle, Leo Tolstoy, and Ursula K. LeGuin.

I suppose it depends on my mood.

Of course, I also posted a quote from Jack London into that enigmatic blank, and was informed that he also wrote like Arthur Conan Doyle, so perhaps there is some underlying similarity that eludes those less perceptive than the all-knowing I Write Like.

So, which–and perhaps more to the point, how many–authors do you Write Like?

2

Using the OP from [thread=477963] My day was like a horror movie [/thread] I write like David Foster Wallace.

But in [thread=528372] Anarchy and the delivery of complex services [/thread] I apparently write like Dan Brown -:frowning:

[Thread=505174]How I set my testicles on fire [/thread]earned me another David Foster Wallace.

It’s at least partly content-based, as [thread=41056]*What do you have in your paranormal defense kit *[/thread] got me a Bram Stoker

Finally [thread=480276]* A Quest Fulfilled - Hot Glass and Ray Guns* [/thread] yielded another David Foster Wallace.

So, 3 out of 5 is pretty consistent. I’ve got to check out this guy.

3

Chuck Palahniuk, who I have never heard of.
David Foster Wallace, who I have also never heard of.
Jack London, who I’ve heard of, but never read.
… Stephanie Meyer. Oh god. Just kill me now. I’m almost crying now. Ok, maybe it’s because that particular story is really overwrought. Ok, let’s try something completely different.

Arthur C. Clarke. Okay… and that particular story I was writing in-character as a vaguely Japanese cat-girl. Something in that is just not right.
Dan Brown. Again, just kill me.

Okay, time for recent stuff.

HP Lovecraft. I don’t get that one. At all.
Stephen King. Ummm,
Dan Brown again. I kinda get it that time (I haven’t read Dan Brown, but uh, that particular story is… special. Melodramatic.)
William Gibson. Isn’t he the one who wrote Neuromancer? Yes. And that was a porn story. I’m confused.
George Orwell. I can kinda see that.

Let’s try a BIG sample.

Agatha Christie. I was not aware that she wrote porn.

Different series.

Mark Twain. Oookay.
Douglas Adams. I can actually see that, although I can’t claim to be nearly as funny.
William Gibson again.
David Foster Wallace again.
Neil Gaiman! YES! And I can see that one.
Neil Gaiman again. Same series, same tone, so yeah.
Douglas Adams again. I really can’t see it for that story.
JK Rowling. Um, okay. Sure.
Stephanie Meyer again. I haven’t read her stuff, but I can actually sort of see it for that one.
Douglas Adams again. I don’t get that one, but sure.
Chuck Palahniuk again. Oh. He wrote Fight Club, which I haven’t read. Okay, whatever.

And now for something completely different - livejournal entries.
Chuck Palahniuk again. Huh.
David Foster Wallace again. I may need to read his stuff.
Ray Bradbury. ?!!

Okay, that’s probably far more than I needed to do.

4

I pasted in a short story I wrote and it said I write like Margaret Atwood… I can see that.

5

I wonder how many authors are in here. I took three different chunks from a single paper and got the following:

  1. Dan Brown (you bastards!)
  2. David Foster Wallace
  3. H. P. Lovecraft

Wow.

With three different chunks from the same speech –

  1. Stephen King
  2. Margaret Atwood
  3. David Foster Wallace again
6

The intro to a story I’m working on earned me Dan Brown.

The About Me section of my cheapo website earned me David Foster Wallace.

7

I apparently write a little like Lovecraft, a little like Joyce, and a little like Palahniuk. It appears my muse has multiple personalities.

8

My Lebanese Civil War Reenactment Society post got me Kurt Vonnegut.

9

Woo! Scored Stephen King for my forgetting a female thread.

10

Okay, in fairness, I went back and posted a much larger sample–the entirety of my “Curious Parcel” epistolary story (minus the responses from other Dopers, of course). The first installment of the story is what elicited the original London result, and the next-to-last was labeled as LeGuin.

With the entire story, it came up with Edgar Allen Poe. I can’t really argue with that.

Does anyone have the full text of a NaNoWriMo attempt to jam into the works?

11

David Foster Wallace - for exerpts from three different pieces. Another exerpt rated a Kurt Vonnegut. I’m going to have to check out Wallace.

12

I got a Jane Austen, a Stephen King, an Isaac Asimov, a David Foster Wallace, and a William Gibson. I must be awesome.

13

First it said I write like Ursula K. LeGuin, so I added the phrase “Wank. Balls. Walrus magnet.” to the end and it said I was like David Foster Wallace. I guess we know the difference between those two authors now.

14

Is that site sponsored by David Foster Wallace or something? I’ve never heard of the dude before this.

15

Try pasting this into the box:

My entries keep scoring as King, Lovecraft, Brown, or Atwood.

16

Me too, but at least Lovecraft and Stephen King wrote in the same genre. I’m not sure what to make of James Joyce, though.

17

Yup, I’m pretty bemused by all of this. Especially because my writing style owes a hell of a lot to Vonnegut, who didn’t even make an appearance.

18

David Foster Wallace
Raymond Chandler
James Joyce
HP Lovecraft

19

Apparently the words to Anarchy in the UK (I don’t write at all, so I have nothing to contribute) come up with some Will Gibson, some guy that writes science fiction. I smell reality.

20

I pasted about half a novel in and got Agatha Christie.