So where's my gazillion dollars?

[marydell]

via dsudis , a little widget that statistically analyzes text you dump into it and compares it to various authors.  I dumped a page of one of my stories into it and got: 

I write like
Stephen King

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

I am heartened by the fact that when I dumped the first three paragraphs of The Dead into it, it said "I" write like James Joyce. I wanted to try dumping part of a free online Stephen King short story into it, but "free King story"=bwa ha ha ha ha right.

I'm pleased that it decided my prose is King-like, because he writes a type of straight-ahead "invisible" prose that I like a lot (his plots are another matter). I don't try to emulate him but I do like his style. I suppose if I try to emulate anyone stylistically it's Hemingway, except without all the bull (-fighting and -shit). I am aware that I do not succeed, what with my love of tortuous sentences, but it's good to have a touchstone.

This reminds me that once I told my Mom that I had gotten an audiobook of Hemingway short stories, and that I'd listened to one story so far. She said, drily, "was it about love, and death?" To which I truthfully replied "yes, and bullfighting," which made her about fall over with glee and mockery. She is an English professor with not much use for Hemingway.

Comments

[notodette.livejournal.com]

Man, I wish I wrote like James Joyce.

[notodette.livejournal.com]

I just read your last paragraph... your English professor mother doesn't have much use for Hemingway? I'm floored.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

She prefers Steinbeck, when she's doing Americans at all (her specialty is 19th c continental novel). Hemingway was too macho, too much about man v. nature rather than laying out the ills of society, which is her thing. Also my dad's parents, who lived in Paris in the 20's, knew him and would occasionally tell stories* in their golden years about what a prick he was, which has colored the whole family's opinions of him, I think.

*The best story: H. had a very formal dinner to attend and didn't want to buy his wife an expensive dress, so he took my grandmother instead, because she already owned a gold lame gown. Grandpa did not approve of these shenanigans and took Hemingway's wife to dinner as a consolation.

[notodette.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is a great story! I prefer Hemingway to Steinbeck, but just barely. I think they're both fantastic.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I prefer Hemingway by a mile, but I might like Steinbeck if I re-read him. We had to read a lot of him in high school, and I found all the woe unbearable...they didn't do a good job explaining the larger picture.

And yeah, my grandparents were the bomb. They lived overseas most of their lives but they lived their last few years with us, which was nice for us kids. Since they were cooler than any of their grandkids will ever be! :)

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

It gave me "I write like Dan Brown."

WTF NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Oh jeez! That's very distressing. Did your text have the word "vatican" in it, maybe?

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

Oooo...I know what it may have been. "Crucifix" may have been mentioned more than once. Also "purified."

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

Tried to tell me that my snippet of Snakes and Ladders is like Lovecraft.

Um....not so much.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

But snakes are squamous!

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

I think that's what's triggered it.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I've discovered that it's fun to go fishing for different results in this thing...see my new post about that.