Who do you write like?

What a fun website! I pasted chapter 1 of my novel into their form, and I apparently write like Stephenie Meyer, which is funny, since I haven't read any of her books, lol! I have a big "Need To Read" list for 2011, so I'd better add her titles.

I tried three different short stories of mine and got:

• Annie Rice
• Isaac Asimov
• Ernest Hemingway

Now I'm wondering. If any of those three authors (if they hadn't already croaked) dropped one of their stories into this web page, would it have burped and told them that they write like me?

Oh, and the funny thing ... or not ... that last story I put in was entitled Hemingway's Ashtray and it came up with the great man himself.

On the positive side, at least two of them wrote some wonderful short stories.

I also pasted in a draft novel chapter and got:

• Raymond Chandler

How about that? Most of the people I write like have been pushing up daisies for years. Maybe I need to inject more life into my writing?

That novel chapter, I'm going to come back and try it again when it's been edited and revised, if it makes the cut.

Stephen King. So I'm Getrude Stein (from the other one) mixed with Stephen King That's a combo!

backslashbaby said:

Stephen King. So I'm Getrude Stein (from the other one) mixed with Stephen King That's a combo!

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Stein died before King was born, so we can probably rule out your being their secret love child, given up for adoption at birth. But if they'd had one ...

It's not even close to being an accurate gauge of your work Read this.

I'd love to see a blog post from one of the authors used as a result on this thing saying what results they got if they put in an unpublished snip. I'd bet neither JK Rowling nor Neil Gaiman get themselves as their match.

Charles Baxter

(I wish...hehe)

An editor once told me one of my short stories reminded him of H.P. Lovecraft.

"Annie" Rice and Arthur Clarke. Intersting, however I wasn't planning to put any stock in this even before seeing BigWords post, why would I? It's Anne Rice, fool.



I put in the first page of a business plan and got H.P. Lovecraft...oh the horrors, the horrors...What was I thinking?

Though, I must say, these things can be fun...

I got tagged with Mario Puzo, Stephen King and H.G. Wells.
If this is thing is accurate, why aren't I famous?
Many years ago an archbishop told me he thought I was going places. Oddly, he didn't say in which direction!
C

Didn't we just do a long thread about this site?

BigWords said:

It's not even close to being an accurate gauge of your work Read this.

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Oh, that's a shame. I'd better phone my mother back.

I tried with the first page, a middle page and the most recent page of my current rough draft.

I got Margette Mitchell on all three. Interesting.

... wonder if any writers have made mention, when sub'ing to publishers?
"Dear Editor: You should publish my novel. According to a website I write like Stephen King!"

Jane Austen

(I wish!)

I pasted my published flash and my second place-winning entry in an "On the Premises" mini-contest and got Cory Doctorow for both of them. I'm not sure how many different results are possible, but two hits on the same author is just plain weird.

Another unpublished short story yielded Chuck Palahniuk as the result. The opening paragraphs of a historical mystery WIP resulted in Shakespeare.

I've never read Palahniuk, but if the comments I heard about are anything to go by, I like these results. I also wonder if I'll get another Doctorow judgement if I finish and polish those unpublished manuscripts.

I pasted in some of my erotica and got Stephen King.

I got Arthur Clarke for the three chapters of my rough draft I put in.

I put in my secret santa SF short story and it said Jane Austen.

I pasted in a published short story and it said Cory Doctorow.

I decided to enter my horror WIP into the box:

I got Annie Rice (I guess that's what people call Anne rice after a few drinks. "Hey Annie!") for the first part of my WIP.

I got Kurt Vonnegut for the second part.

And I got Rudyard Kipling for both parts combined, and for the whole WIP.

BigWords said:

It's not even close to being an accurate gauge of your work Read this.

Click to expand...

I wasn't aware anyone took that site seriously. I tried it for S&G (s**ts and giggles), knowing that I write like the authors I read and admire the most.

Jim's rundown of the site in your link is helpful. "Follow the money" is as true today as it was in Watergate's time.

Yes, it is a fun little site. We work so hard, we deserve some amusement every now and then.

Chris P said:

I wasn't aware anyone took that site seriously.

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Most people will approach something like that with the right mindset, though there are always those who would accept, without question, the results they are given. It's better to explicitly make people aware of the deficiencies of something such as Who Do You Write Like than hope for common sense to be employed across all users.

Some poor sap, at this very moment, will be under the illusion that they are in possession of the greatest manuscript on the last decade thanks to the way the site encourages participants to view their work. I was erring on the side of caution by bringing the motivation of the site's creators to light.

I'm schizoid. Who I write like depends on the various passages I've submitted. I don't think any two were alike. At least, I think I'm original.