Try this for fun (our class had to do it for an assignment): copy a few paragraphs from your blog or some other writing that you've done--fiction is best--into the dialog box at the following web site:
www.iwl.me
Click on the ANALYZE button, and presto! the program will analyze your writing and tell you who you write like.
As you can see, I've been analyzed.
I write like Kurt Vonnegut, famous and influential 20th century American writer. This didn't sound too bad, though I admit I had never read anything by him. So a few clicks on the keyboard and I brought up a few excerpts.
Hmm. What if I don't want to write like Kurt Vonnegut? I read some weird futuristic stuff, some stuff that was obviously influenced by his World War Two military service, and some stuff I just didn't get.
Maybe another piece of my writing would bring up another name. I found a story I had written back in my feminist awakening days and plugged it into the Analyzer at iwl.me. This time a new name that I had never heard before: Chuck Palahniuk. Okay, check him out. Wow, hmm, ooh, lots of police stories, prostitutes, drugs, awful things happening, blood, violence, etc., etc. Certainly not my first pick for curling up on the couch on a winter's eve for an engrossing read.
Anyway, today I went to the public library and took out three of Palahniuk's novels. The dust jacket of one of his books tells me that his books are "generation-defining" (another Douglas Coupland?) and that he's sold more than three million copies of his novels. Okay, maybe I should reconsider. Who wouldn't like that to be said about his or her writing?
I also took out Vonnegut's Bagombo Snuff Box. It's a collection of his uncollected short fiction (that means previously unpublished in book form). I've sat here for the last hour reading four short stories, totally engrossed in the author's craft. Now I see why he's counted as one of the recent American greats.
I've changed my mind. I'll wear the Kurt Vonnegut badge.
Maybe I should give Palahniuk another chance. I think I'll check out his non-fiction.
Oh, and if you want to do the rest of the assignment from our class: write a 750 word essay comparing and contrasting your writing with that of your doppelganger,* using the four elements of the craft (point of view, characterization, setting, and imagery) as a starting point.
*doppelganger: (from German, literally, double-walker) a ghostly counterpart of a living person. Similar to an alter-ego.
SO interesting! and i'll bet doing the 'compare and contrast' essay will prove fascinating and insightful. curious to see who i write like, but as i don't ever write fiction, i have no appropriate samples to submit : (
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing!
It's okay to post non-fiction. I scooped some passages from my other blog at www.the-sheepcote.blogspot.com and the analysis came up with Chuck Palahniuk and also Edgar Allen Poe. I was hoping for someone like Margaret Atwood, as she is one of my favourite authors, or Ernest Hemingway, another favourite. But I guess I should be happy with Vonnegut. After all, he is famous and he sold a lot of his work!
ReplyDeletedid it! i entered in three selections: twice i came out as DAN BROWN and once as H.P. LOVECRAFT - interesting reveal!
ReplyDelete