Want to waste a lot of time? Want to feel like you are an iconic literary figure? Want to have a good laugh?
The Rap Sheet (see Blogroll), on July 14, had a link to I WRITE LIKE. Enter a few paragraphs of something you have written, hit analyze, and faster than the speed of light, you will learn in whose steps your words are falling.
I went to the MURDER IS EVERYWHERE blog for June and July, and randomly chose comments I had made on posts from each of the authors. I took two or three paragraphs from my comment on their post, pasted into the box, hit “analyze” and discovered that…
In the comment I posted on Michael Sears’ (Michael Stanley, A CARRION DEATH, THE SECOND DEATH OF GOODLUCK TINABU) post, “Condoms for Elephants”, July 18, I wrote like Jane Austen (not good).
The computer compared my comment on Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s (LAST RITUALS, MY SOUL TO TAKE) post “Of Few Words”, July 14, to Mario Puzo (???)
Cara Black (the Aimee Leduc series) wrote a post entitled “WWII Reckoning, Occupation”, July 13. My response to that comment was compared to the writing of Stephen King. The horror of the occupation of France was in a league far beyond the horror of which King writes.
Leighton Gage (BLOOD OF THE WICKED, BURIED STRANGERS, DYING GASP) wrote “The Last Football (Soccer)Post, July 12. My comment on that post got me compared to Dan Brown. There is nothing I wish to say about that.
Timothy Hallinan (NAIL THROUGH THE HEART, THE FOURTH WATCHER, BREATHING WATER, QUEEN OF PATPONG, coming August 17) wrote a post entitled “Flop Sweat”, July 14. My response to this found my writing just like that of Vladimir Nabokov. That one is beyond me.
Dan Waddell (BLOOD ATONEMENT, BLOOD DETECTIVE) wrote a post entitled, “There’ll Always Be An…”, June 13. My comment elicited a comparison to David Foster Wallace. That won me some points with my children; it erased the Dan Brown business.
In that I don’t write, let alone write like a writer, the comparisons are not going to convince me that I should be looking for a publisher. But it is very hot so playing with a literary computer game at least sounds productive.
MURDER by TYPE 
I entered four different samples and received four different answers:
1. Dan Brown – oh dear
2. David Foster Wallace – of whom I hadn’t heard
3. Stephen King – okay, more interesting
4. Charles Dickens – time to quit as that’s a comparison of which I can be pleased.
No, I’m not about to start looking for a publisher.
David Foster Wallace is one of my children’s favorite author. He was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, frequently referred to as a genius award. His most famous work INFINTE JEST made Time Magazine’s list of 100 greatest novels written between 1923 and 2006. Like so many gifted artists, he was severely depressive and committed suicide in 2008.
Hi Beth,
My emails to your regular yahoo account keep getting bounced back.
Do you have another one?
If so, can you send it.
Thanks,
I sent you two suggestions.
I loved this and you’re right, you can’t do just one. I sampled several of my blogs and three of four came back Jonathan Swift. The fourth was James Joyce (I must have been writing stream of consciousness that day.) I did the same for some fiction and got one Dan Brown (gack) and three David Foster Wallace. I guess I must be fairly consistent.
Cea, I’m glad you’re having fun with it. It seems everyone gets accused of writing like Dan Brown.
I don’t believe this.
I have sent the message to all three.
And all three bounced back.
(“Permanent Fatal Errors)
It’s never happened before.
I can only conclude that the problem lies between me and the Yahoo folks.
Because all of those addresses are from Yahoo.
So how about opening a Gmail account, or a Hotmail account?
It won’t cost you anything, and I can tell you what I wanted to tell you.
I did it once, using the opening of the novel I had just written. I got David Foster Wallace, to which I said, “meh.”
I can imagine that an author wouldn’t want to be compared to another. Your creativity is what makes you unique.
Beth–
These are the results you get when you go looking for validation from an inanimate object.
–Lenny
True, Lenny, but when some of us save some of our best writing (clear, concise, constructive) for notes we have to email to adult children, even validation from an inanimate object is important.