So, I came across another online copy/paste program that lets you paste a portion of your work into its bot, and this particular bot will then decide whom you most write like (from an accomplished author’s perspective).
I did this because … it’s fun. It’s interesting to know such information. And, who knows. It may even prove helpful to my endeavors as a budding novelist.
I had no idea who this David Foster Wallace is, so I looked him up online and chose wiki, of course.
David Foster Wallace bio: Novelist. David Foster Wallace was an award-winning American novelist, short story writer, essayist, professor of English at Illinois State University, and professor of creative writing at Pomona College. Wikipedia
Born: February 21, 1962, Ithaca, NY, Died: September 12, 2008, Claremont, CA (suicide), Spouse: Karen L. Green (m. 2004–2008), Movies: Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Education: University of Arizona, Amherst College, Cornell University, Harvard University
Books: Infinite Jest (1996), A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments (1997), Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays (2005), This Is Water (2009), The Pale King (2011)
Interesting. I’ll definitely have to read what he’s written to see if we do, indeed, have a similar writing style. This screams to me – at least he’s accomplished – right? Dead via suicide due to a long bout with depression and close in age, but whatever. I’ll read his works and make the final decision on my own.
Then I thought … y’know, these bots are programmed, right? So, what if I was to copy another section of my writing and paste it into the program. Would the same published author appear again?
Sadly, no.
I decided to do it again, and this happened:
which makes it extremely difficult, again, to believe everything you find online. Still, the process itself is a blast and gives you a slice of hope in your writing endeavor. Not so much to become like whomever the bot chose but to become a writer knowing you share a bit of yourself with someone more prominent and accomplished than you are.
It can happen, in other words.
Is it a good thing that this is the case or a bad thing? I wonder if I were to copy random excerpts from Stephen King and paste them in this bot would the results change for his writing as well, or would his name pop up again and again and ONLY because the bot has all of Stephen King’s works already programmed in its robotic brain?
I’m worried now and shouldn’t be. Did I just manage to take all of the fun out of this supposedly fun program? Probably. Should I start to believe that I stand a chance at getting published because a bot just said I write like a well-known author? Not likely. But, y’know, after having said that, it brings me back to believing in the fun of such a program.
I’m confused. Again. No more bot’s for awhile, I’m thinking.
Rain's Writing Realm 