Someone on another loop suggested the link below as a fun way to see who you write like. You paste portions of your text from a blog/book and it "analyzes" who you write like.
http://iwl.me/
Dare I "Think Big"? Would I recognize any author names? Weird. What a varied selection I found. Do I really have some of the same "techniques" and "style" these authors have? I was hoping that the same name would pop up for more than one entry, but that never happened. Am I really writing using a combination of styles like all these authors?
From what I sent in from a blog and some books, I received the following results mentioned below.
Margaret Atwood
The writing comparison is for an erotic romance book STRIP POKER FOR TWO. No connection that I can see. Margaret Atwood received an Arthur Clarke award for Handmaid's Tale...a book I've read and enjoyed.
BUT then there's this comparison:
Arthur ClarkeI received a match to him for my nonfiction book, GUILTY SURVIVOR - MEMOIRS OF TAMERLA KENDALL.
So is there a connection between Margaret Atwood, Arthur Clarke, and me?
Raymond Chandler
This comparison is for a time travel, romance book, STREET OF DREAMS. The hero and heroine are detectives. Phillip Marlowe is Chandler's famous detective. Is that a connection? Do our detectives "sound" similar?
PG Wodehouse
This comparison is for a contemporary romance book, GONE TO THE DOGS. Wodehouse is noted for his humor. My book is a humorous romance told in first person. First line: "Your dog ate your underwear."
Do we have a humor "style" connection?
Stephen King
This connection isn't as a result of a paranormal book. It's for one of my mainstream romances, ANYTHING YOU CAN DO...about a daycare director challenging a CEO to spend a week with her and the children. No paranormal elements. Just lots of fun watching the hero deal with babies and toddlers. A quote about Stephen King: "He crafts stylish, mind-bending page-turners that contain profound moral truths–some beautiful, some harrowing–about our inner lives."Okay...so maybe the moral truths, beautiful/harrowing elements about our inner lives/thoughts comes through in my story? Is that the connection?
Anne Rice
This comparison is for a contemporary WIP. I don't see any connection.
James Joyce
This comparison is for a contemporary WIP. I don't see any connection.
David Foster Wallace
A connection for a blog that will be posted here on and about 9/11.
Quote from him:
"...you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't.... The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness."
I guess my blog mirrors his thinking?
Wouldn't it be great to shout these comparisons to the writing world...if for no other reason than to elicit a hardy laugh from everyone? I'm a peon in the field...but getting matched to these great authors put a smile on my face!
Authors...check it out and see whose name(s) YOU are compared to!
http://www.mariannestephens.net
http://www.aprilash.net
Photo: Flickr: m-c's photostream
11 comments:
I'm not sure I would dare to find out! :)
Hmmm, interesting. I'll have to go check it out.
I tried this for In His Arms and got Stephen King - LOL. I'm certain it was only because of the suspense in my book, certainly not the style or content.
I actually think it's a huge mistake to compare your writing to that of any other author. Ultimately, you want your writing voice to be as unique as your fingerprints -- you want to write just like yourself, with a voice that stands out as individual.
I put in two different samples--the upcoming Mutual Fantasy (EC) and Prime Defender (EC, Sept. 2) and was told I write like Margaret Atwood. I've never read her work, so I don't know whether I agree or not--but the samples were quite different, so I can't imagine the content would have been what caught the software's "attention".
It was a fun exercise!
I put in two different samples: one from a YA novel and another from a contemporary romance and I pulled up the same author twice: Cory Doctorow.
I've never heard of him. However, it was interesting to see that no matter what I'm writing, my style never changes. Hopefully, that'll work out for me later when it comes time build a following. :-)
Great post!
This sounds fascinating and I think I have to try it, just for fun. I wish I understood what key elements the software was looking for.
XXOO Kat
Sounds fun but basically unreliable. I'll have to try it out though. Very interesting idea!
Did this about a year or so ago, but can't remember what the results were. Heading back over to try it and will report back later:)
Sure will....but I think "Charles Schultz" would most likely be the one I am compared to. LOL!
Hmmmm....I just plugged in a page of "Out of Her Dreams" and got "Gertrude Stein"? Gertrude's work was described by another peer as "In Gertrude Stein's writing every word lives and, apart from concept, it is so exquisitely rhythmical and cadenced that if we read it aloud and receive it as pure sound, it is like a kind of sensuous music. Just as one may stop, for once, in a way, before a canvas of Picasso, and, letting one's reason sleep for an instant, may exclaim: "It is a fine pattern!" so, listening to Gertrude Steins' words and forgetting to try to understand what they mean, one submits to their gradual charm."
I don't think so. LOL!
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