Do you think you write like Ernest Hemingway? Or maybe Stephen King? Now you can find out. Sort of.
 
Public discussion about a new tool called “I Write Like” made the rounds of the cyber-sphere while I was away on medical leave, so I’m sure I’m the last person on Earth to discover it.  It purports to be a “statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of famous writers.”

Even though IWL has been mocked by many in the media, the idea of comparing one’s own writing to famous authors is actually appealing. It’s as if we could run a DNA test of our writing. Who is our real parent: William Shakespeare, or (gasp) a James Patterson clone?

When I ran the first page of my WIP through the tool, it said I write like Dan Brown. I was actually shooting for something closer to Michael Crichton in my current work, but okay, no complaints from me. Then I ran a few paragraphs of an earlier draft through the program, and it told me I write like Arthur C. Clarke. That’s closer to Crichton’s neck of the solar system, right? I got stoked about that result. Until, that is, I read someplace that Lindsay Lohan also writes like Sir Arthur. And unless her writing shows depths not heretofore displayed in her public Tweets and twitterings, I think there may be a fundamental problem with the IWL’s algorithm.

Heck. I don’t care if it’s accurate or not. I can dream, can’t I? Give me Clarke’s reputation with Brown’s sales, and I’d be one happy camper.

Have you tried IWL? What was your result? 
     
— KL