I've seen this cool link circling around the writers' blogasphere and had to share it. This application will analyse text from your manuscript and tell you which famous writer you write like. I first spotted it at Writing Outdoor Adventures with Terry Lynn Johnson.
I put in a chapter from The Warracknabeal Kids and got a bit of a surprise. The response?
Okay, I've read Joyce, but only because I HAD to (for Uni). I found it an inaccessible text and too self-praising and showy for my taste. I'm now going to check through my manuscript to make sure it's not too obscure.
I put in a chapter for Dog Show Detective and got:
I write like
David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace
I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!
Who??? From this, I learned I need to read from a wider pool.
A little dismayed, I tried last year's NaNoWriMo novel: The Costume Maker. This time I hit the jackpot!
These apps are fun, but you can learn about your writing this way. I've picked up that my writing style changes with each manuscript, and I think I'd like to be more consistent. I try to write with humour, and, I hope by the results, I'm achieving that objective.
Try out your manuscript - let me know who you write like!
This is a fun site. On my blog I apparently write like Margaret Atwood. My current ms is more like Stephen Kind. Fun stuff :)
ReplyDeleteOops - King, not Kind :)
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a lot of fun, too. I got four different authors for 4 different works, and chances are, had I taken from different SPOTS in those works, I would have gotten an even different set.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED an article I saw that had Margaret Atwood's response (a selection of hers told her she wrote like Stephen King: her response? "Who knew?" *snort*) The article went on though, to say it used 'key words' for the algorithm, so it would be more content related than stylistic.
Cool! Thanks for the link. I put in chapter one and it says I write like Arthur C. Clarke! My idol. How cool!
ReplyDeleteJemi - I'd love to get Stephen King!
ReplyDeleteHart - That might explain why Jemi got Atwood for one manuscript and King for another - there are similarities. My hubby wrote a couple of paragraphs and got some early scholarly writer, then dumbed down all the adjectives and terms, same meaning and got H G Wells. I tried using different sections of my manuscripts to see if I could trick it, but it kept consistent. Mostly it's just fun but you can use the information to notice patterns in your writing.
M Pax - Cool that you got a Sci-fi writer!
What a fun link, Charmaine! I'll be posting my results a bit later today!
ReplyDeleteBlessings & a bit o' sunshine!
Ruthi
http://abitosunshineloveandwriting.blogspot.com
Charmaine, I've now posted the results of my writing analysis. And again, thank you for sharing this, it was informative and fun!
ReplyDeletehttp://abitosunshineloveandwriting.blogspot.com/2010/07/writing-style-analyzer.html