Whom Do You Write Like?

9/6/10

I recently learned of a website that purports to analyze a sample of your writing and identify which famous author you write like.  Simply paste in a few paragraphs of your writing, click, and receive an instant result.

Well, who could resist?  I pasted in a scene from The Secret Confessions of Anne Shakespeare and found I write like…Shakespeare?  Kit Marlowe?  Ben Jonson?  No, Anne Rice.  Interesting, because when I tried another scene from the same novel, my literary style now resembles James Joyce.

I then submitted several paragraphs from The Kingsley House, and lo and behold!, I’m channeling Margaret Mitchell.  An analysis of a scene from How (Not) to Have a Perfect Wedding reveals that my alter-author is Stephen King.

Finally, a scene from my new novel-in-progress.  Memo to all publishers looking for the next mega-bestseller:  the writing style of my new book puts me right up there with Dan Brown.

Too funny!  You don’t have to be a professional writer; almost any piece of prose will do.  So if you need a silly break, try it out at http://iwl.me/ I’ve had mine–time to get back to work.