Which author does your writing most resemble?
Today, I went over to the “I Write Like” site, entered a few paragraphs of my work into the analyzer, clicked the button, and – PRESTO! – learned that my writing resembles that of David Foster Wallace. Poor man. I wish he hadn’t offed himself. I love his work. I also would have been happy with Zadie Smith or Mark Twain.
Check it out, and see whom your writing resembles. Enter a few different samples to see if the author changes at all. How does it strike you? Are you a fan of the author(s) chosen?
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43 Answers
James Joyce, on both occasions.
I got Dan Brown. That was.. surprising.
I know that my poetry resembles e.e. cummings… who became my favorite poet after I realized that.
I got David Foster Wallace as well.
Maybe everyone’s writing is like David Foster Wallace’s?
How odd! I also got David Foster Wallace. I wonder if this is some kind of subtle marketing campaign. I don’t even recognize the name.
Margaret Atwood (Canadian to boot!)
Accuracy of the site may be a tad off…. I copy/pasted a full paragraph from a Robert Frost poem & the site said it ‘writes like’ Charles Dickens. Same for a full copy/pasted paragraph of Ernest Hemingway, site said it ‘writes like’ Margaret Mitchell.
Huh! That’s weird! Hemingway was as spare as Mitchell was flowery!
Wallace David. Odd, isn’t it?
Like @jjmah, I got Margaret Atwood.
People tell me that my writing is either very Lovecraftian or very much like Vladimir Nabakov, depending on the genre. I plugged in some of my poetry and got Nabakov. I plugged in part of my young adult novel and got Nabakov.
Score!
I was playing around with this the other day and put a ton of samples in. It told me that I write like:
- Stephen King when I’m writing original fiction, House fanfiction, and personal emails/journal posts
– J.K. Rowling when I’m writing Harry Potter fanfic
– P.G. Wodehouse when I’m writing “formal” emails/&c. or acting as a community/forum moderator
I also put a story I wrote when I was seven years old through this analysis and was told I wrote like … Chuck Palahniuk. I wish I were still that awesome. XD
William Gibson when I used samples from a novel I wrote a few years ago.
J.D. Salinger when I used samples from the short story I am currently writing.
Stephen King when I used samples from a recent journal entry.
I got George Orwell. But then I posted a different paragraph from the same chapter of the same novella and I got Stephen King. Both flatter me, but I will not be putting much faith in this. :P
I was given Daniel Defoe…now I must read some of his work..lol
Aaah..Robinson Crusoe…‘prolific and versatile’..I can go with that, well..versatile yes, prolific…now & then. haha
Stephen King!
Per what DK said, I’m going to repost the same thing in a second time, see if it comes up with something different. (Hmmmm, I wonder if Steven King posted a sample of his writing whether they’d match him with himself!)
Testing over. Came up with Stephen King twice. Working on another kind of test!
How would I find a sample of Stephen King’s writing? I don’t have any of his books in the house….
I just plugged in a paragraph from John Grisham book. Apparently he writes like Ian Fleming!
Isaac Asimov…a sci/fi writer. ummm.
Lady GaGa’s – Poker face…was written by Ian Fleming.
I got James Joyce. ‘Saw a funny tumblr post about this, how if you type “herp derp derp derp” it will say – STEPHANIE MEYER!
@Dutchess_III: I can help with that; I have several Stephen King e-books. Apparently, most of the time he writes like himself, but sometimes he writes like David Foster Wallace, and sometimes even Mario Puzo. Mario Puzo writes like Nabokov. And Nabokov writes like himself.
@AmWiser: I tried to get you some results you’d like better, but it seems Asimov writes like himself, as well.
Raymond Chandler. hahahaha!
James Joyce, Arthur C Clarke and thirdly David Foster Wallace
I think it’s John Connolly , I really like his way of unfolding a story, besides I also like reading Ian McEwan’s novels.
David Foster Wallace as well.
The other day, I saw a post elsewhere about this site and the poster entered nothing but expletives. His result was William Gibson, though I would’ve expected Neal Stephenson (Gibson’s characters have sex while Stephenson’s characters just fuck) so I question the accuracy of the site as well.
Still, mildly amusing.
Vladimir Nabakov was what came up when I plugged in a sample of poetry. I’ve never read him so I don’t know if I agree or not.
Margaret Atwood for a blog post.
David Foster Wallace on another post in the same blog.
James Joyce for a third post on the same blog!
I’ve never read any of these writers’ works, and only heard of James Joyce.
Interesting, to say the least.
What were you hoping the answer would be? I was hoping for Rudyard Kipling, not Stephen King!!
Sylvia Engdahl. She’s my role model.
It’s just a game. Writers I know who’ve tried this have found that the number of different results is pretty small.
Some smart cookies have even put in samples of the writing of those authors and got back other authors’ names.
Apparently I write like Margaret Mitchell. I did it twice and came up with the same result
How odd is this: I went to “I write like” and used two writing samples, one from when I was 20 and one from right now (23).
Apparently I used to write like Lewis Carroll and now I write like Stephen King. Hmm
I got Cory Doctorow, Chuck Palahniuk, Arthur C. Clarke, Gertrude Stein and James Joyce.
Colour me puzzled.
I put in a few paragraphs from a Thomas L. Friedman article in the Times and got Margaret Mitchell. I’m sure he’d be tickled pink.
Chuck Palahniuk. I’ve also noticed a slight resemblance to Louis L’amour.
Just put in another snippet of my writing, and now I write like Leo Tolstoy.
I think I just write like me. Sometimes I might sound like one writer, sometimes like another. But just like everyone else everywhere, I am uniquely myself.
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