July 14th, 2010 / 10:05 pm
Snippets & Web Hype

Everyone I’ve seen mention this has been told they write either like Stephen King or David Foster Wallace. Who do you write like?

157 Comments

  1. marshall

      Seems like it’s random.

  2. Mike Meginnis

      I’ve gotten Stephen King mostly, with a little Palahniuck and one Nabokov. These always think I’m a woman so I’m a little surprised, but apparently the only women are Jane Austen and JK Rowling.

  3. MG

      I’ve gotten Palahniuk, Nabokov, King, Margaret Atwood, and James Fenimore Cooper.

  4. hubs

      *

      Kurt

  5. shane k

      i got james joyce

      iwl.me gets me

  6. Ken Baumann

      Wallace from that thing at Abjective, Shakespeare from Solip.

  7. MG

      I’m pretty sure it is. I just tested two stories I tested a few days ago. Same results for both: First time they were Palahniuk, now they are DFW.

  8. Tim Horvath

      Shee-it. Next you’re gonna tell me my magic eight ball’s been shilling me for years.

  9. MG

      No. That shit can see into your brain.

  10. MG

      Your future brain.

  11. d

      Daniel Defoe!

  12. J. Bradley

      Raymond fucking Chandler

  13. Tim Horvath

      Signs point to yes.

  14. Andreas

      Dan Brown….

  15. Mimi Vaquer

      I got Margaret Mitchell.

  16. Janey Smith

      I posted a thing from James Joyce, got Stephen King.

  17. emmanuel

      i got HP Lovecraft, yes!

  18. mark

      i got stephaine meyer. I win.

  19. Susana Mai

      my first chapter: chuck palahniuk. my 2nd: stephen king. my 3rd: james joyce.

      go figure.

  20. Eric Anderson

      I posted a poem and got David Foster Wallace. Cute.

  21. Dreezer

      George Orwell, James Fenimore Cooper, James Joyce, and Margaret Atwood (twice).

  22. Daniel Romo

      Mine said I write like the Cleveland Cavaliers owner.

  23. Tim Jones-Yelvington

      I am now less offended I got Dan Brown for one of the pieces I pasted. Also got King, Palahniuk (yech), Vonnegut and Joyce in response to other stuff.

  24. paul boshears

      I posted a section of my thesis on Society of the Spectacle and got Dan Brown. That seems wholly right.

  25. L@rstonovich

      Joyce.

  26. JW Veldhoen

      I got Dan Brown too! Someone else I know got Dan Brown because their sample had foreign words in foreign type, like my sample. I like writing sample. It makes me feel sexual. And why yes then, exactly like Dan Brown, but a sexual Dan Brown. I also enjoy writing and saying that name: Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown…

  27. andrew

      I posted this comments section and got “Arthur C. Clarke”

  28. postitbreakup

      No matter what I posted from my blog of from DC’s, I got King, Wallace, and two Margaret Atwoods. I didn’t know all those other authors were even a choice. I’m glad nothing got Stephanie Meyer, though.

      Intriguing idea… looks like it may need a little finessing.

  29. Wampum Grundlegrass

      I sat on a carton of chocolate milk and got Stephen Elliott.

  30. chris r

      yeah, i entered in a pretty minimalist short story in 2nd person and somehow got david foster wallace…

  31. Amelia

      Entered an ascii middle finger & got James Joyce

  32. Amelia

      …………………./´¯/)
      ………………..,/¯../
      ………………./…./
      …………./´¯/’…’/´¯¯`·¸
      ………./’/…/…./……./¨¯\
      ……..(‘(…´…´…. ¯~/’…’)
      ………\……………..’…../
      ……….”…\………. _.·´
      …………\…………..(
      …………..\………….\…

  33. Mark Gluth

      douglas adams

  34. Guest

      Seems like it’s random.

  35. Mike Meginnis

      I’ve gotten Stephen King mostly, with a little Palahniuck and one Nabokov. These always think I’m a woman so I’m a little surprised, but apparently the only women are Jane Austen and JK Rowling.

  36. MG

      I’ve gotten Palahniuk, Nabokov, King, Margaret Atwood, and James Fenimore Cooper.

  37. hubs

      *

      Kurt

  38. shane k

      i got james joyce

      iwl.me gets me

  39. Ken Baumann

      Wallace from that thing at Abjective, Shakespeare from Solip.

  40. Derek

      i posted some source HTML from HTMLGiant and got Dan Brown.

  41. MG

      I’m pretty sure it is. I just tested two stories I tested a few days ago. Same results for both: First time they were Palahniuk, now they are DFW.

  42. Tim Horvath

      Shee-it. Next you’re gonna tell me my magic eight ball’s been shilling me for years.

  43. Charlie

      I entered a paragraph from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and got James Fenimore Cooper. Always suspected that Stephen Dedalus was actually a Mohican.

  44. MG

      No. That shit can see into your brain.

  45. MG

      Your future brain.

  46. d

      Daniel Defoe!

  47. J. Bradley

      Raymond fucking Chandler

  48. Tim Horvath

      Signs point to yes.

  49. Andreas

      Dan Brown….

  50. Mimi Vaquer

      I got Margaret Mitchell.

  51. Janey Smith

      I posted a thing from James Joyce, got Stephen King.

  52. emmanuel

      i got HP Lovecraft, yes!

  53. mark

      i got stephaine meyer. I win.

  54. Susana Mai

      my first chapter: chuck palahniuk. my 2nd: stephen king. my 3rd: james joyce.

      go figure.

  55. Eric Anderson

      I posted a poem and got David Foster Wallace. Cute.

  56. Stu

      I entered everything in this thread and got Arthur C. Clarke. Congratulations on your team effort.

  57. zusya17

      i copy and pasted the comments in this thread and got Arthur C. Clarke

  58. Stu

      Damn. I’m LATE. Fuck me. And still, no delete button. Sorry Andrew. But we did match.

  59. Stu

      Hahaha! Consensus. It takes everyone on here to write like Clarke.

  60. Dreezer

      George Orwell, James Fenimore Cooper, James Joyce, and Margaret Atwood (twice).

  61. Corey

      Marcel Proust writes like Nabokov. Thomas Browne writes like George Orwell. Kafka writes like James Joyce. I write like Nabokov, Foster Wallace and Dan Brown.

  62. Guest

      Mine said I write like the Cleveland Cavaliers owner.

  63. wtv

      I posted GOOD PEOPLE by David Foster Wallace and got Stephen King.

  64. Tim Jones-Yelvington

      I am now less offended I got Dan Brown for one of the pieces I pasted. Also got King, Palahniuk (yech), Vonnegut and Joyce in response to other stuff.

  65. zusya17

      i posted PREMIUM HARMONY by Stephen King and got Stephen King

  66. L@rstonovich

      Joyce.

  67. JW Veldhoen

      I got Dan Brown too! Someone else I know got Dan Brown because their sample had foreign words in foreign type, like my sample. I like writing sample. It makes me feel sexual. And why yes then, exactly like Dan Brown, but a sexual Dan Brown. I also enjoy writing and saying that name: Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, Dan Brown…

  68. andrew

      I posted this comments section and got “Arthur C. Clarke”

  69. postitbreakup

      No matter what I posted from my blog of from DC’s, I got King, Wallace, and two Margaret Atwoods. I didn’t know all those other authors were even a choice. I’m glad nothing got Stephanie Meyer, though.

      Intriguing idea… looks like it may need a little finessing.

  70. Mike Meginnis

      D:

  71. reynard

      i put my dick in a hole and got ants in my pants

  72. Wampum Grundlegrass

      I sat on a carton of chocolate milk and got Stephen Elliott.

  73. chris r

      yeah, i entered in a pretty minimalist short story in 2nd person and somehow got david foster wallace…

  74. Cameron Pierce

      I’ve gotten Kurt Vonnegut x2, Margaret Atwood x2, and David Foster Wallace x2.

  75. Amelia

      Entered an ascii middle finger & got James Joyce

  76. Amelia

      …………………./´¯/)
      ………………..,/¯../
      ………………./…./
      …………./´¯/’…’/´¯¯`·¸
      ………./’/…/…./……./¨¯
      ……..(‘(…´…´…. ¯~/’…’)
      ……………………..’…../
      ……….”…………. _.·´
      ……………………..(
      …………………………

  77. Harry

      stephen king x 2 isaac asimov x 1 and stephenie meyer… x 2

  78. davidk

      I only tried once, with a squib from a private notebook I keep about films I watch and got … TOLSTOY?
      It’s a fraud, a flattering fraud but a fraud nonetheless.

      Hey you up there! What do you mean Raymond fucking Chandler?

  79. Merzmensch

      Haham I wonder, if the textes we are past there are just analyzed, or are uploading and going to be published in another issue of “Forgodot”…

  80. Mark Gluth

      douglas adams

  81. Derek

      i posted some source HTML from HTMLGiant and got Dan Brown.

  82. Charlie

      I entered a paragraph from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and got James Fenimore Cooper. Always suspected that Stephen Dedalus was actually a Mohican.

  83. Chris

      My poem got Tolkien.

  84. Stu

      I entered everything in this thread and got Arthur C. Clarke. Congratulations on your team effort.

  85. Stu

      Damn. I’m LATE. Fuck me. And still, no delete button. Sorry Andrew. But we did match.

  86. Stu

      Hahaha! Consensus. It takes everyone on here to write like Clarke.

  87. Rich

      First I got Stephen King, then Ian Fleming, DFW, and Arthur Conan Doyle.

  88. Caca Coup

      Marcel Proust writes like Nabokov. Thomas Browne writes like George Orwell. Kafka writes like James Joyce. I write like Nabokov, Foster Wallace and Dan Brown.

  89. wtv

      I posted GOOD PEOPLE by David Foster Wallace and got Stephen King.

  90. Trey

      Two different poems got James Fenimore Cooper and Ursula K. Leguin. I think it’s bad when a poem gets Cooper. I think.

  91. cody

      Oscar (girlsgone)Wilde.

  92. rk

      daniel defoe. it’s been a while since i read defoe but i don’t see it.

  93. Jordan

      Williams Gibson and Shakespeare. I’ll take it.

  94. Mike Meginnis

      D:

  95. reynard

      i put my dick in a hole and got ants in my pants

  96. ZZZIPP

      James Joyce (x2), Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Chuck Palahniuk, Murphy Brown

  97. Joseph Young

      My vampire novel got Gertrude Stein.

  98. danny

      An awful post-break up email I now regret ever writing: Mark Twain.

      Donald Barthelme’s The School is Margaret Atwood.

  99. Cameron Pierce

      I’ve gotten Kurt Vonnegut x2, Margaret Atwood x2, and David Foster Wallace x2.

  100. Harry

      stephen king x 2 isaac asimov x 1 and stephenie meyer… x 2

  101. davidk

      I only tried once, with a squib from a private notebook I keep about films I watch and got … TOLSTOY?
      It’s a fraud, a flattering fraud but a fraud nonetheless.

      Hey you up there! What do you mean Raymond fucking Chandler?

  102. Merzmensch

      Haham I wonder, if the textes we are past there are just analyzed, or are uploading and going to be published in another issue of “Forgodot”…

  103. MoGa

      I got Mark Twain.

  104. joseph

      William Gibson…yay?

  105. wmtwalsh

      I got HP Lovecraft and then DFW. I think no real programming behind that analyze button…

  106. Chris

      My poem got Tolkien.

  107. Henry Vauban

      dfw

  108. eric

      goddammit, i still got Stephen King when I put my dick in a hole.

  109. Tobias

      I posted in excerpts of four stories and got Lovecraft, King, Rowling, and DFW.

      Pasting in “Kittens.” ten times gets Edgar Allan Poe.

  110. Rich

      First I got Stephen King, then Ian Fleming, DFW, and Arthur Conan Doyle.

  111. Trey

      Two different poems got James Fenimore Cooper and Ursula K. Leguin. I think it’s bad when a poem gets Cooper. I think.

  112. Schylur Prinz

      Gotta figure that being compared to Dan Brown is better than Palahniuk, right?

  113. cody

      Oscar (girlsgone)Wilde.

  114. mimi

      “Pasting in “Kittens.” ten times gets Edgar Allan Poe.”
      Another scientist in our midst! Sweet!

  115. mimi

      if i were to put my dick, assuming i have one, which i don’t, in a hole, who would i want to get? hmmm, let’s see, james franco, maybe. yeah, james franco.

  116. rk

      daniel defoe. it’s been a while since i read defoe but i don’t see it.

  117. Jordan

      Williams Gibson and Shakespeare. I’ll take it.

  118. Steven Augustine

      My dick has a hole in it

  119. ZZZIPP

      James Joyce (x2), Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Chuck Palahniuk, Murphy Brown

  120. Joseph Young

      My vampire novel got Gertrude Stein.

  121. danny

      An awful post-break up email I now regret ever writing: Mark Twain.

      Donald Barthelme’s The School is Margaret Atwood.

  122. Matt Cozart

      e.m. forster writes like douglas adams

  123. sp

      I know my life has ceased to have meaning when I read this post and I go, “Shouldn’t it be ‘whom’?”

      Also, speaking of grammatical prescriptivism, DFW. Over and over again.

  124. Molly Gaudry

      I got Mark Twain.

  125. john carney

      2+2 = 5

  126. robert j baumann

      I got Margaret Atwood and Ursula K. Le Guin (in addition to DFW).

  127. joseph

      William Gibson…yay?

  128. wmtwalsh

      I got HP Lovecraft and then DFW. I think no real programming behind that analyze button…

  129. Guest

      dfw

  130. eric

      goddammit, i still got Stephen King when I put my dick in a hole.

  131. Tobias

      I posted in excerpts of four stories and got Lovecraft, King, Rowling, and DFW.

      Pasting in “Kittens.” ten times gets Edgar Allan Poe.

  132. boss

      H.P. Lovecraft. uuuuuu

  133. spiky

      Vladimir Nabokov! What a delightful compliment to receive from a computer.

  134. sp

      To the cleaning and preening
      Of the cats, cats, cats –
      Of the cats, cats, cats, cats,
      Cats, cats, cats –
      To the purring and demurring of the cats!

  135. sp

      2+2 = (e^iπ) + (6103515625^(1/14))

  136. marshall

      wooooooooooooooord

  137. mimi

      Sorry to be a killjoy, but I got Nabokov, too, so you probably shouldn’t be tooooo flattered.
      (On the third try. First try I got Dan Brown. Felt like I was on Internet Candid Camera or something, embarrassed all by myself in a darkened room. Second try I got Raymond Chandler. Go figure.)

  138. sm

      fiction: stephen king
      nonfiction: david foster wallace

  139. Schylur Prinz

      Gotta figure that being compared to Dan Brown is better than Palahniuk, right?

  140. mimi

      “Pasting in “Kittens.” ten times gets Edgar Allan Poe.”
      Another scientist in our midst! Sweet!

  141. mimi

      if i were to put my dick, assuming i have one, which i don’t, in a hole, who would i want to get? hmmm, let’s see, james franco, maybe. yeah, james franco.

  142. Steven Augustine

      My dick has a hole in it

  143. Matt Cozart

      e.m. forster writes like douglas adams

  144. sp

      I know my life has ceased to have meaning when I read this post and I go, “Shouldn’t it be ‘whom’?”

      Also, speaking of grammatical prescriptivism, DFW. Over and over again.

  145. john carney

      2+2 = 5

  146. robert j baumann

      I got Margaret Atwood and Ursula K. Le Guin (in addition to DFW).

  147. boss

      H.P. Lovecraft. uuuuuu

  148. spiky

      Vladimir Nabokov! What a delightful compliment to receive from a computer.

  149. sp

      To the cleaning and preening
      Of the cats, cats, cats –
      Of the cats, cats, cats, cats,
      Cats, cats, cats –
      To the purring and demurring of the cats!

  150. sp

      2+2 = (e^iπ) + (6103515625^(1/14))

  151. Guest

      wooooooooooooooord

  152. mimi

      Sorry to be a killjoy, but I got Nabokov, too, so you probably shouldn’t be tooooo flattered.
      (On the third try. First try I got Dan Brown. Felt like I was on Internet Candid Camera or something, embarrassed all by myself in a darkened room. Second try I got Raymond Chandler. Go figure.)

  153. sm

      fiction: stephen king
      nonfiction: david foster wallace

  154. hubs
  155. James Yeh

      DFW (draft #1 of a short story i’m currently working on), Charles Dickens (draft #2 of same story), DFW (#3), Raymond Chandler (a very short story) Stephanie Meyer (another very short story), Palahniuk (novel its entirety), Stephen King (excerpt from that novel), Dan Brown (paragraph in the beginning where I list all the things that have been published and the places where those things were published)

  156. hubs
  157. James Yeh

      DFW (draft #1 of a short story i’m currently working on), Charles Dickens (draft #2 of same story), DFW (#3), Raymond Chandler (a very short story) Stephanie Meyer (another very short story), Palahniuk (novel its entirety), Stephen King (excerpt from that novel), Dan Brown (paragraph in the beginning where I list all the things that have been published and the places where those things were published)