Thursday, July 22, 2010

Daniel Defoe and I Go Way Back


I write like
Daniel Defoe

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!


Yes, and I also once helped Martin Luther change a tire on his car.

I remember when I was a kid and you'd go to the "mall," which at that time was called a shopping center, and they'd have this big board with a bunch of flashing lights on it. It was supposed to tell you all about yourself after you'd given it a few clues. I figure this whole deal at I Write Like is a bit like that. But it did say that Mollie writes like David Foster Wallace, and who could argue with that?

To further my trip into unreality, I note that The Literature Network says of Daniel Defoe

First published when he was almost sixty years old, Defoe is considered by many to have written the first English novel. He wrote [Robinson] Crusoe in the style of social realism in which he is the observant reporter, historian, humorist, and grand story teller. With his extraordinary bibliography comprising myriad historical, satirical and political writings, Defoe's most famous novel was an immediate success.

The deal is, you go to I Write Like, give it a sample of your writing, and it'll tell you who you write like. I wonder if it ever spits something out that says "You write like a second-grader," or "You're writing is so bad we're not sure what language that was." If you write like some famous author too, maybe we could form our own publishing company. We can find out if I Write Like is correct, or just making it all up. Somehow, I think it's the latter.

9 comments:

Kurt Onken said...

Here's who I turned out to write like!

http://92state.blogspot.com/2010/07/must-be-irish-blood.html

Anonymous said...

I write like Dan Brown. That's not good!

Anonymous said...

I forgot to add, Scott, that I submitted to long writings and they both turned up as "Dan Brown." I don't know if this helps validate their process or not.

Scott Diekmann said...

Don't feel bad. My daughter submitted twice, and she came up with Dan Brown both times as well. Could there be three Dan Browns in the world.

Fallhiker said...

I write like Kurt Vonnegut, have to say, "Wow, if only it is true."

Fallhiker said...

for what is worth I resubmitted something I wrote in one of my blogs and it also came back as Kurt Vonnegut, but what was truly confusing is that I input an exert from a Kurt Vonnegut story and it came back saying he wrote like H.P. Lovecraft.....

Scott Diekmann said...

I guess that demonstrates the efficacy of the program if you input the actual author and it comes back saying he writes like somebody else!

Anonymous said...

Now---I write like James Fenimore Cooper!

Martin Diers said...

I tried various chapters of a novel I am working on. Margaret Mitchell came up repeatedly. Arthur C. Clarke, David Foster Wallace, and Chuck Palahniuk each once.

Then I put in my last two sermons and got Oscar Wilde for one, and Dan Brown for the next. What's THAT supposed to mean?