I write like ... different people

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A friend pointed me in the direction of this little text analyser: I Write Like. Paste a bit of text and voilà, it will tell you which author it thinks you write like.

Mr. Joyce, I presume?
Like looking in a mirror!
Or not.
I don't recall having a 'tache.
Or glasses. Or a hat. Or a bowtie.

Interesting stuff.

Pasting part one of a story gave me Margaret Atwood. Part two, HP Lovecraft. Erm, what sort of a combination is that? Pasting the WHOLE story in one go, however, returned Stephanie Meyer. *bangs head on desk* I resent that. Those characters have plenty of personality, I'll have you know. I borrowed 'em off Charlotte Brontë, after all. Bah!

Other bits of writing it analysed returned Kurt Vonnegut and PG Wodehouse. Some blog posts from here returned Dan Brown (Jane Eyre - the Graphic Novel), James Joyce (The French Dancer's Bastard a.k.a. Thornfield Hall a.k.a. Adèle), Charles Dickens (Mrs. Rochester: The Sequel to Jane Eyre) and Cory Doctorow (http://thesqueee.blogspot.com/2010/06/twilight-saga-new-moon.html). Who the deuce is Cory Doctorow? *Wikis* Ooh, I see. Well, that's all right then. :)

SWEET! I even managed to get Jane Austen (this one AND this one)! :D

And yes, I am trying lots of different bits just to see if I can manage to get one of the Brontës as a result. *cough*

The most common returns seem to be James Joyce, Dan Brown, HP Lovecraft and Jane Austen. With regards to HP Lovecraft - does it mean I write like "something scary's gonna happen, something scary's gonna happen, something scary's going to happen ... nothing scary whatsoever happens"? :] And Dan Brown, really short chapters that piss off the church? (I can live with that.) James Joyce - I haven't the foggiest. But he's Irish and stuff, so I approve. Just chuffed with PG Wodehouse (because of Douglas Adams) and Jane Austen. Score! Then maybe I can forgive it for suggesting the mother of Sparkles, Shirtless and Brainless.

If you do the I Write Like test, who did you come out as? :)

Comments

  1. Mel u19 July 2010 at 12:29

    I tried the test four times with different texts from my blog-one time it said I wrote like James Fennimore Cooper, one time like Charles Dickens and one time like Cory Doctrow and the last time like James Joyce-I think it is just a random match thing pretty much-I did try to trick it by putting the same thing in twice the second time I put the text in it said I wrote like H P Lovekraft-one has to smell scam here!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous19 July 2010 at 15:34

    I tried it twice and got David Foster Wallace and Cory Doctorow.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Traxy19 July 2010 at 15:54

    Hah, maybe Cory Doctorow is really generic then, or we're all just of a similar writing style? :)

    Then again, maybe it is good to get lots of different results - shows that we are our own writers and not just emulating someone else!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Odessa29 July 2010 at 03:57

    It works out a formula based off of sentence structure and word choice, I don't know. My latest short story got Kurt Vonnegut (I adore him) and two blog posts got David Foster Wallace.
    Unfortunately there are only a limited amount of writers in the system, so it just matches you with the closest. I haven't heard of anyone getting a Bronte, I wonder it they're included?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Traxy29 July 2010 at 09:29

    Yeah, that's what I'm assuming too, Odessa. (Not having ANY of the Brontës? I pity the fools!) It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a list of all possible writers you can get, and what makes them distinct. I mean, okay, so we both got Kurt Vonnegut on something - what does that mean? I've never read the man myself (although I have been recommended him because I'm a big fan of Douglas Adams), so I have no idea of his writing style.

    But yeah, I think it's important to just see it as a piece of fun rather than any sort of in-depth analysis. Someone commented on a story I posted at DeviantART, saying it reminded him or her of Terry Pratchett. (Took it as a huge compliment - Pratchett is a genius!) It doesn't mean that I'm trying to emulate him or anything like that, and I don't write in the same style all the time, and if I consciously tried to write like someone else, it normally doesn't turn out very well. (I tried Charlotte Brontë earlier this year and almost gagged in the process.) Just be yourself! It's better that way! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Helen Highwater29 July 2010 at 12:36

    I put some Charlotte and Emily in that thing and didn't get the Brontes at all! Madness! I can only conclude that they don't have them on there.

    although having said that, a chunk of Portrait of the Artist... does yield James Joyce

    ReplyDelete

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