Friday, July 23, 2010

Really?

This post is brought to you by Odious and Peculiar. Mr. P posted a badge which declared he wrote like H. P. Lovecraft - which completely suits him and is a great honor.

I gave it a go hoping the widget would not reveal that I write like a 2 year old or, worse, Ayn Rand. Secretly, I wished for greatness (and my favorites): Jane Austen, George Elliot, Dodie Smith...perhaps even modern like J. K. Rowling, Jennifer Weiner, Helen Fielding, or Meg Cabot.

The first paragraph I submitted yielded James Joyce. I thought "that can't be right" - there is no way I am that interesting. The next result was David Foster Wallace.

The third paragraph produced:


I write like
William Shakespeare

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




Hahahahaha - yeh right.

I put in another - and WTF??? David Foster Wallace??? Then Cory Doctorow??? Is it because my paragraph contained the word "condom"?

I naturally tried another...and got Raymond Chandler. And then I did it again just for luck.

Stupid effing David Foster Wallace. So I am sticking with Shakespeare.

2 comments:

Peculiar said...

Did you try a big chuck, say 8-10 paragraphs? Remember, that seemed to be what it took to get the thing to identify Lovecraft as himself rather than Arthur C. Clark. You made me wonder about the female author question too, so I just tossed a sizable chunk of Emma in there. To my relief, it got it right.

Lia Mey said...

Hmmm...I will try that. I wonder if they have anyone else besides Jane Austen in their database.