Most people who do any sort of creative writing aspire to be like one of their favorite authors, from Emily Dickinson to James Joyce to … well, whomever you like! And chances are, if you have read and reread authors over the years some of their style has bled into your everyday prose.

By way of a tweet from a friend I learned that there is now a site called I Write Like that will analyze your writing and match your style with one of the authors in its database.

So as a test I took some of my Thanks Amazon for Linking Me Up With Old Friends … um … I Think … post and fed it to the translator. What did it tell me?

I write like
Kurt Vonnegut

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

Given I have been a fan of Vonnegut for decades and even bought Jailbird new when it came out in 1979, and have more recently spread my love of his work to my kids, I consider that quite a compliment. Pasting various writings through the years gave different results from Dan Brown to David Foster Wallace and so on.

Take some of your own writing and head on over to IWL and see who you write like – and let me know in the comments!

Source: I Write Like

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I have loved technology for as long as I can remember - and have been a computer gamer since the PDP-10! Mobile Technology has played a major role in my life - I have used an electronic companion since the HP95LX more than 20 years ago, and have been a 'Laptop First' person since my Compaq LTE Lite 3/20 and Powerbook 170 back in 1991! As an avid gamer and gadget-junkie I was constantly asked for my opinions on new technology, which led to writing small blurbs ... and eventually becoming a reviewer many years ago. My family is my biggest priority in life, and they alternate between loving and tolerating my gaming and gadget hobbies ... but ultimately benefits from the addition of technology to our lives!
  • http://www.geardiary.com Carly Z

    Interestingly, aside from one review that flagged me as Dan Brown, everything else I write comes up as David Foster Wallace.

    I’m sort of jealous you get to be Kurt Vonnegut!

  • http://www.geardiary.com Michael Anderson

    Interesting … I went back and pasted the same bit in again and guess what – David Foster Wallace! Oh well, guess the algorithm needs some work!

  • http://www.geardiary.com Douglas Moran

    Depending on the sample I post, I either write like Stephen King, Dan Brown, or David Foster Wallace. Frankly, it’s kind of mind-bending to think of someone able to write like *both* Dan Brown and David Foster Wallace, so one can only wonder how the software is doing its analysis.

  • http://twitter.com/giantgizmonews/status/18718614234 Giant Gizmo

    What Classic Author Do You Write Like? http://bit.ly/9Y84UQ



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