I Write Like...

An online friend whose blog I follow recently posted this web link on her blog:  I Write Like...

The site professes to analyze your writing and compare it to well-known authors; it then tells you that, based on the writing you submitted, you write like the particular author that the site names.  Of course, given that it spews out the result in about a nano-second, I'm not sure how thorough their analysis could have been!  But still...it was fun to try!

So...I did.  I plunked three of my most recent blog entries into the analyzer and, apparently, my writing resembles the work of:  Jack London; Dan Brown; David Foster Wallace.

Two of Jack London's books, Call of the Wild and White Fang, were favourites during my growing up years, so maybe something of London rubbed off on me.  That comparison was rather flattering, and I wish I'd stopped there.  Unfortunately, I couldn't resist, and plugged in another of my recent blog entries.  It came up with Dan Brown (huh?), disappointing since, though I've read most of his books (including The Da Vinci Code), I'm not a big fan of his writing.  Thus, this result was less flattering...though if I thought I could earn as much money with my writing as Brown has with his, perhaps I'd be more interested in the comparison.  In an effort to come up with another Jack London-like result, I entered a third blog entry into the analysis, and this time it came up with David Foster Wallace.  Who's that? was my first thought.  I still don't really know, though I looked him up on Wikipedia.  None of his books rang a bell, though he was apparently highly acclaimed during his lifetime...I suppose I can choose to see the positive in that.

The one thing Jack London and David Foster Wallace have in common is that they both died by their own hand, albeit ninety years apart (1916 and 2008 respectively).  I really hope Dan Brown lives to a ripe old age and dies of natural causes, otherwise I'm hooped.  jk.

Anyway, I thought it was a fun thing to do.  Thanks for the idea, Joy!