I Write Like





I write like
James Joyce

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



I Write Like is a generator that proposes to analyze your writing and compare it to published authors. The above is the result I got when I entered some text from an article I wrote for mental_floss. However, the results do not tell me why my writing resembles James Joyce's prose. Then I entered another sample, this time from an article I wrote for Neatorama.





I write like
J. K. Rowling

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



Again, no explanation for why the results are different. They might even be random. Grab a few paragraphs of your writing and try it out for yourself! Link -via The Daily What

when i enter german text i still get a valid result. a short german sentence resulted in tolstoi - i always thought him to be a russian... :O

i call shenanigans
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Hmmmm, apparently J. D. Salinger wrote using random words and letters and nonsense:
"saudfbdç
dasf a
sdfadhsfuashdfasd nshdfasd asdhfasd ufasduhf sjd
asdfjhasd f ahdf sa hsdfhsjdhfkdsjh fksdjhfkjdhsf asdf
asdfhasdfisdh aseiuyweuh jsdf adlsf ñpfasdiufh afa
asdfsdhfl ñadifasdhfasdbf auyasdkjfn luh"
~ JD Salinger

It may just get a number using a function on the characters input, and then returns a certain author. Why?
To tell you to suscribe to their newsletter, of course.
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this text results in William Shakespeare:

himaec byzdgk pexozj ifuotc sifgnw hjivhm ynhzcj dvolda wkxflo lrcavy uubnbx cxihqq bgqinn toducz mqjjnt naktgt lnicub ufkvfe uupokb ciybbs kgfkjq jaqgbe vmtmqk uwwilv xgfmih vjhcku wecqdx xvcdzy sunjuw cmhftd jlkvrz yomluf eostya yyqbxe zaqjkg tmglkp nykqoo pdeqok gxvqlq fejlak vtonzz kjtcjr zugaui fclllr jmdett sjalqw dhmqbk onatxu wkldoa onfqoe ggxsim xnoqik twiyrx ljxxem bffvcv rrgbpc ufezpg diktkk ampopo giiinz gqpbmr knlvrq osxvck znwixe sbxewg qeippq ekwhwm gldgfw hywhwh jfewee moymss hovmcx sphvop zmbmxw qqwqny ymuuph hfrfaz kgxgfs pukbzl zmcyfd icudyb cwgrjt ikmcsj iywlnj eeusib eigkhz uxjnjy lztgnw lhpxpg tirvdu mhdxzt wyzhxm gychjw vnvlvn oqpsrk mjzcgk twdpob jlifac zrrxis eeasxc wirnvs bbtokw rnchjb kikoec ghvfgp cgwtwu pgwuey tzqcgv ypzipj pffuwr frwrzs xtcyvo gioufp zdulpw ibzhuk nxhmwh lasstq cdnani bnuujg klzqyr sooxqo zpmsbo zqctqn kkmnjt vxhxqr liyrbs gslxau rzwqih zysvok obhqod mwkpdi dvalsv lwfyeb eozuyj hbobem nkdyag mjkhgr bbokbl opccgt oqexgy uezivx prpogv assqya zgxuzs nxzlxl cfjyis ehogvm lamkjv pfzifk wwcfxe mbctfx jgpyth qjhdls pbmbsd hhwwid zrjcwv enzpau brlqqy lgrmvn yhhffk qpkcch gscfkq mbynng iwslwz hqgsto trlcdm yevcbo pglrtg gqafqm oqmeap sdmdue etbdgg fjtwwx tnqrzc iczcvq uzjvrc ofcyoh azmegt yewezb hapaxm pephju ufsdwx gyiebd vdzigk zvhecy yifaxo hiakcr yvedli kwvzhz ojtcjv qxtyrg jijzyx dxoitl zqksxp qcyrmf rvvrpw nligis hozueu bdxasg xwuawo
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I don't think it's random, at the very least - the same piece of text will keep giving you the same author.

My lengthier journal posts have pretty reliably been coming up as Stephen King, which is pretty neat, except for one that came up as Dan Brown, which made me make a face.
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if you do a bunch of the same letter (Any letter) it comes up harry harrison.

adding some random spaces changes it to HP lovecraft.

total garbage, just another narcissistic junk facebook app.
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The following text is an excerpt from Kipling's "The man who was" (available here: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12732/12732-8.txt)

Guess what? Kipling wrote like James Joyce.

Dirkovitch was a Russian--a Russian of the Russians, as he said--who
appeared to get his bread by serving the czar as an officer in a
Cossack regiment, and corresponding for a Russian newspaper with a
name that was never twice the same. He was a handsome young Oriental,
with a taste for wandering through unexplored portions of the earth,
and he arrived in India from nowhere in particular. At least no living
man could ascertain whether it was by way of Balkh, Budukhshan,
Chitral, Beloochistan, Nepaul, or anywhere else. The Indian
government, being in an unusually affable mood, gave orders that he
was to be civilly treated, and shown everything that was to be seen;
so he drifted, talking bad English and worse French, from one city to
another till he forgathered with her Majesty's White Hussars[3] in the
city of Peshawur,[4] which stands at the mouth of that narrow
sword-cut in the hills that men call the Khyber Pass. He was
undoubtedly an officer, and he was decorated, after the manner of the
Russians, with little enameled crosses, and he could talk, and (though
this has nothing to do with his merits) he had been given up as a
hopeless task or case by the Black Tyrones[5], who, individually and
collectively, with hot whisky and honey, mulled brandy and mixed
spirits of all kinds, had striven in all hospitality to make him
drunk. And when the Black Tyrones, who are exclusively Irish, fail to
disturb the peace of head of a foreigner, that foreigner is certain to
be a superior man. This was the argument of the Black Tyrones, but
they were ever an unruly and self-opinionated regiment, and they
allowed junior subalterns of four years' service to choose their
wines. The spirits were always purchased by the colonel and a
committee of majors. And a regiment that would so behave may be
respected but cannot be loved.
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@anony

it's not random, but this:

'analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them to those of the famous writers.'

is bull. this thing's about as useful as a mechanical fortune teller (if you're not tom hanks).
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I'm still willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. I fed it several posts of mine that were stylistically similar, and I kept getting Stephen King. That's not to say I necessarily agree with the analyses it's giving - just that it seems to have some logic and consistency to how it works.

I think the problem is that it's designed to look for what IS there than what ISN'T. It probably factors in things like the lengths of sentences and paragraphs, word repetition, capitalization or punctuation, maybe looking for a few key words (like vulgarities, perhaps?). It gets "fooled" by garbage, because it doesn't check for garbage, and it doesn't make sense for it to do so - internet posts are filled with slang and misspellings, and a "snobbier" algorithm that chides you for writing nonsense might return some false positives, which would only end in tears.
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James Joyce -- James Joyce -- Steven King. That's three goes of two paragraphs from the same story.

Shenanigans or not, I certainly don't write anything like James Joyce. (In fact the whole story was an attempt to write in the style of Roger Zelazny, but whether I succeeded is another thing entirely.)

Ignore this. It's of no use.
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I pasted Shakespeare's sonnet "Let me not to the marriage of true minds..."

Shakespeare writes like Charles Dickens.

When I pasted the "To be or not to be" soliloquy from Hamlet, Shakespeare was writing like Mark Twain.

Coleridge's Xanadu poem is written like Rudyard Kipling.

It's just an analysis of common words - a simple statistical thing. Notice how it's all well-known writers names.
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The result from the server seemed Entirely too fast to have done some kind of real analysis/comparo.

That being said, I write like H.P. Lovecraft.
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"Any text in English will do: your latest blog post, journal entry, Reddit comment, chapter of your unfinished book, etc. For reliable results paste at least a few paragraphs (not tweets)."

Arthur Conan Doyle
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I put a several paragraphs of my so-far unfinished book, and apparently I write like J. K. Rowling. Yey, I'll be a millionaire writer! I think it's because mine is quite a weird, fantastical writing style.

I hope they don't steal my writing, I'll go ape-sh** because it has taken me a year to get where I am!
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I copypasted a letter I wrote to my apartment managers and got Kurt Vonnegut. I loled because I know I don't write like Kurt, but he is my favorite author. It was nice to see him on the list. :)
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Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp Herp derp
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It probably has more to do with subject matter than actual writing style.

I got Asimov after entering a chemistry paper, and Vonnegut on a speech I wrote about Vonnegut (even after removing his name, his works, and so on).

Though, how I got Chuck Palahniuk on a paper I wrote about a Thai restaurant, I do not know...
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I wrote a blog about sultry, humid, hot air - was told I write like Edgar Allen Poe. Then I wrote about geneology and the Church - was told I write like Dan Brown. I think it is really content, not style. I'd like to see what criterea they are using for analysis.
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I inserted a paragraph from one of my historical articles, and it told me I wrote like Dan Brown. But, when I chose a paragraph that was about Wells' Land Ironclads, it told me that I wrote like H. G. Wells. This could be because I quoted him numerous times, and it pulled his style out of his words, or because I used words that he, of course, would have used.
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Took a consistent block of text and split into 4 parts.
Got 4 different authors.

Also, the extra special subscription offer is for an e-book that is easily available through Project Gutenberg.

This was a waste of time
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I pull out some old fanfic to see. Of course the Harry Potter came out as JK Rowling

but the Doctor Who which was more dialogue heavy said David Foster Wallace *shrug*
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I'm in the process of writing a report. I tried the analyzer several times on various paragraphs and got:

James Joyce
Leo Tolstoy
David Foster Wallace
George Orwell
Daniel Dafoe and
Dan Brown

I must be AWESOME. Gotta go. Heading out to write the great American Novel. Look for it soon!
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This is a pretty sophmoric site. For a very good nalysis of this site and discussion of others who were not amused by the results I suggest reading (post in your browser) http://zia-narratora.livejournal.com/626726.html Make sure you read the successive days as well
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I write like Stephen King...
cool, but haha.. This app would be better if they mentioned why you write like a certain author.
I think they just pick the authors randomly, :(
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But then again, I agree with christine... It is based on content...

- I wrote about how I hate sparkling vampires, WOW!, I eventually write like Stephanie Meyer...
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The range of variations between the different original language manuscripts is not as large as it would seem at first. Many of the differences have no more consequence than the dotting of an "i" or the crossing of a "t" in English. Other differences are copying errors that have no more impact than
using "an" instead of "a" in English. Other differences are caused by using synonyms, where the effect on the meaning is slight if it has an effect at all.
There is no denying that there are differences which go beyond those listed above. However, there is not a single doctrine ever mentioned in the passages in question which cannot be as well or better established from other verses of Scripture. Every doctrine established in the King James Version can be just as well established from the New American Standard or the New International Version.
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Where has all of the time gone? 19 years as an English teacher have elapsed quickly. My teaching practice has evolved over the years, but is it really the best it can be? I have always believed in being a facilitator rather than the person standing at the front of the room with the answer key. Teaching English enriches student’s lives with literature and writing process. Students need time to read and write. Throughout my career, I have worked closely with the English curriculum guides as a pilot teacher and curriculum facilitator. Through these practices I was able to mine the curriculum guides and completely understand the subject area. I felt reaffirmed in my teaching practices as it was reflected in these guides. The English curriculum has been renewed. The emphasis is on a new process I am expected to use which is creating skepticism. Am I really teaching to the best of my ability? The importance placed on inquiry learning has created tension and uncertainty in my teaching. Which brings forth my interrogation of inquiry-based learning and how to incorporate this into my teaching. This process is new and ambiguous to me. The teacher must know so much beforehand creating doubt and self-consciousness. I want to fully understand how to use this process in my English classroom.
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I write an occasional column for a medical mag.
I entered two early ones and got Ian Fleming! Twice!
Then a later column - Oscar Wilde.
Finally an non-column article, for the same mag - David Foster Wallace, the well known (?) author of 'hysterical reality' novels.

I think it's random.

John
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What is a matter with you people? You seem to lack the intelligence and wisdom to understand that the analyzer takes selected works of several authors and compares your piece to the text similar to yours by means of the following criteria:

words, their grade level and syllabication; phrases from prepositional to verbals; complements; adjective, adverb, and noun clauses. And much more. The power of the computer makes this possible.

It compares sentence type and structure: e.g. Simple sentence with an infinitive phrase. I'm sure it even investigates at the paragraph level: narrative, descriptive, explanatory, and persuasive.

Do you get the idea? All writers use various rules of grammar and composition. Of course, not only in our language, English, but others as well.

Another e.g. Ernest Hemingway wrote short sentences with subjects coming first. Dickens and Lovecraft, used big words with long, stringy sentences, of which today might be considered too long. More contemporary writing is terse, to the point. The machine is not bias.

I write like H.P. Lovecraft, and man is it so true. I never heard of him, but after reading a few of his short stories, to see if my way of writing truly is anywhere near his style, no doubt exists in my mind. And believe me or not, I tried analyzing on my own, but the only thing I found out is that I love those lengthy sentences that everyone seems to despise today due to our hectic fast-paced world of give me now! Fools. Then they wonder where are all the good writers.

Yes, I entered more and came up with Dickens, and someone else, but I get the gist of what the creator of the analyzer had in mind.

Write a dozen paragraphs of your way of writing and I'll bet you'll get an average of one author. Try it. I haven't, and I don't care to. I think, if anything, it has encouraged me to write in the natural and never compromise my style, even if it means a smaller audience. Don't laugh at it, try using it as a guide instead. It's worth it I think. Thank you.
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Anyone who believes this program is consistent is either an idiot or in denial. Just face it for crying out loud! It's a sham!
I pasted a text from one of my stories and got Charles Dickens as a first result, then pasted the same text and got H.P. Lovecraft, who still doesn't remotely resemble Dickens.
Besides, there's no way an author can be similar to like ten different famous authors. I've gotten James Joyce (yeah right!), Rudyard Kipling, Vladimir Nabokov (strange since I don't write in Russian) Stephanie Meyers and Dan Brown. Gee, wonder why?
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And I forgot to add that the time that elapses during processing doesn't even come close to being able to compare the syntax, grammar, word-choice and other claimed functions. It would probably need at least ten seconds to make a reliable analysis, but it doesn't even take half a second, hence no time to compare the text. You can live with narcissism and think that you're as good as Mary Shelley or Dickens, but don't try to defend yourself as a person of common sense for doing so.
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Funny. I didn't know that Mark Twain ignored basic grammatical rules, such as not using real words.
Apparently he could have written this:
aginafnbnkn adfg a a g ehgi jaeflg aerg afg afg afg ag pjegj sadver[hprn hs dsgo[kep[gergpo[epfnskncs.
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