Do You Write Like Stephen King?

by Maeve Maddox

You may have already been to the site that offers to analyze your writing and tell you whose style it resembles.

Created by 27-year-old Russian blogger and software developer Dmitry Chestnykh, the site operates with an algorithm similar to a spam detector. The current version is based on the English texts of 50 authors including Agatha Christie, Dan Brown, and H.P. Lovecraft. You paste an extract from your blog or current fiction project into a text box and hit Submit. An instant response gives you the name of an author whose style your submission resembles.

Readers are already shooting it down, of course. If the tweet I read is to be believed, Margaret Atwood submitted a sample of her writing and found out that she writes like Stephen King.

I too write like Stephen King. At least that’s who came up when I submitted my DWT post “Let the Word Do the Work.” A sample of my PhD dissertation about Joan of Arc and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, on the other hand, apparently resembles the style of Edgar Allan Poe.

Rocket science it’s not. But it is fun. Give it a whirl. Then get back to work.

I Write Like text analyzer
Interview with Dmitry Chestnykh

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18 Responses to “Do You Write Like Stephen King?”

  1. Professor Beej on July 27, 2010 1:57 am

    I copied a sizeable chunk of King’s On Writing into it, and it came back as Stephen King, at least. It’s fun, but you’re right: it’s not rocket science. But my main thought is that at least it’s consistent. I’d be more irritated if it was designed to give random answers or analyzed the same passages of text differently on successive attempts.

  2. Stephen on July 27, 2010 7:28 am

    I’ve put five excerpts of my fiction in, which came out like Rudyard Kipling, Leo Tolstoy, Ian Fleming, Dan Brown, Arthur C. Clarke and James Joyce… those six very similar authors. (Stranger still, the Arthur C. Clarke and James Joyce excerpts were chapters 1 and 2 of the same story.)

    I then put in a piece of correspondence (personal) and it came out like H. P. Lovecraft, and a piece of correspondence (business) came out like Cory Doctorow… and I don’t even know who that is.

  3. Gini on July 27, 2010 10:52 am

    I put in 3 different versions of the first tow paragraphs of the same short story and got James Joyce, Dan Brown and J.R.R. Tolkein. Very interesting how changing just a few words can make such a big difference.

  4. Meg on July 27, 2010 11:33 am

    I entered different sections of the same blog post, and sections from different blog posts. Results: Kurt Vonnegut 5 times, David Foster Wallace 1 time.

    Hey, I’ll take it! :D

  5. Jen on July 27, 2010 11:33 am

    I tried this website out yesterday. I put the same submission in twice and received two different results. Strange?

  6. Ken Khelah on July 27, 2010 12:57 pm

    Apparently “I write like Mark Twain.” If I were a credulous fool to believe it, I would be elated at the mere thought of it.

  7. Kathryn on July 27, 2010 1:06 pm

    Possibly you’ve already showcased this one on this blog, but. . .here’s another one, which purports to tell from a sample of your writing whether you are male or female.

    http://bookblog.net/gender/genie.php

  8. Diana Watson on July 27, 2010 1:41 pm

    I put in a few of my pieces and got a variety of authors, too, such as Stephen King, Dan Brown and even H.P. Lovecraft! It was the Lovecraft reference that made me rather suspicious of the authenticity of this new meem. So out of curiosity I copy and pasted the lyrics to Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping.” You know the song, the one that goes, “I get knocked down, but I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down!” Yeah, that one. The writing analysis website said that this prolific piece of audio imagery was akin to none other than William Shakespeare. Shakespeare! William EFFING Shakespeare! Yeah, I’m not putting any faith into this piece of – erm – technology.

  9. naomi hamm on July 27, 2010 9:17 pm

    No. not really. sometimes I may write like Edgar Allen Poe whenever a strange funk creeps into me.

  10. Jimsun on July 27, 2010 10:31 pm

    When a baby is learning words, and when she said it properly, then what should we say it in English? Well done or well said or you said it well!

  11. Neha on July 28, 2010 3:49 am

    i tried the link… apparently i write like George Orwell and Cory Doctorow.

  12. Cecily on July 28, 2010 4:29 am

    I haven’t submitted any writing to the site, but having read the above, it sounds pretty pointless to do so. Entertaining? Possibly. Useful? Probably not.

  13. David Hunter on July 28, 2010 11:05 pm

    Ha! I submitted this very post to ‘I Write Like’, and it came up H. P. Lovecraft!

  14. Kelsey on August 2, 2010 3:36 pm

    Oh dear sweet god no. It says I write like Stephanie Meyer.

  15. Ashley on January 18, 2011 3:47 pm

    I posted a story I write in a Third Person narrative, and itt said i wrote like Mark Twain (I wish).

    Then I put in a expert from my book written in First Person narrative, and it said Neil Gaiman (which is pretty close).

  16. Lewis on March 19, 2011 4:41 am

    excellent post, i certainly love this website, keep it on.

  17. saminureye on September 10, 2011 6:47 pm

    im new at this and love everyone’s passion to write, keep up the good works.

  18. Roxy on December 18, 2011 4:29 am

    “I put in a few of my pieces and got a variety of authors, too, such as Stephen King, Dan Brown and even H.P. Lovecraft! It was the Lovecraft reference that made me rather suspicious of the authenticity of this new meem. So out of curiosity I copy and pasted the lyrics to Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping.” You know the song, the one that goes, “I get knocked down, but I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down!” Yeah, that one. The writing analysis website said that this prolific piece of audio imagery was akin to none other than William Shakespeare. Shakespeare! William EFFING Shakespeare! Yeah, I’m not putting any faith into this piece of – erm – technology.” – Diana Watson

    Hey, Diana… I can believe it! Shakespeare wasn’t THAT amazing!

    I tried it out with several different things I’ve written…. 3x I got Stephen King.

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