Thursday, January 3, 2013

I Write Like

My friend Katy had an interesting link on her web page today. You submit a sample of your writing and the program analyzes it and tells you who you write like.
http://iwl.me/
Although I'm far from convinced of the scientific virtue, it is a fun exercise. Warning: you have to upload a significant amount of text, a few chapters. I would recommend a second chapter because the first may be skewed. For example, my first Sci Fi novel (Scarab) started like Gertrude Stein but leveled out to Cory Doctorow. He's a Canadian Sci-Fi writer I've never heard of before, but I'll have to check out "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom."
The popular Jezebel Sci-Fi series also rang up Cory Doctorow -- seems to be my Sci-Fi voice. Hmm.
My modern fantasy series (Foundation for the Lost, Mata Hari) and the spin-off horror novel in progress all came out William Gibson. I'll take that.

My dark Greek Epic from a decade ago (Contagion) was Mario Puzo. Funny, but I can see Greek gods and generals as gangsters.
Most interesting was that the Epic Fantasy series that I started 16 years ago (Doors to Eternity, Dreams of the Fallen, and Empress of Dreams) was all over the charts: Dan Brown, Jonathan Swift, and Anne Rice. I swear, this series was like a random name generator with Arthur C. Clarke and James F. Cooper popping up at points. The first two volumes were part of the same book I split in half; however, each sample being 450 pages and years apart, I could understand the shift. I took old work and edited it into shape, but it lacks coherent voice.

I guess what the analyzer means is that in the last couple decades of practice I've gradually developed two distinct voices, one for science fiction and another for modern fantasy.

1 comment:

  1. I submitted the Short story I let you read titled Regrets and got Neil Gaiman. I'll take that.

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