So the internet has been all a-buzz about the "I Write Like" meme. Basically, you paste a sample of your writing into a box and it uses an algorithm based upon word choice, sentence length and structure, tense and syntax to determine what famous writer you write like. The meme has come under a lot of fire in the last couple of days for having few female writers and its complete omission of authors of color - men AND women. Being both female and Mahogany-American (yes, I'm still waiting for that to catch on), I probably should be outraged. Most people got results that jumped all over the place (with people that received Dan Brown being especially pissed), but mine were pretty consistent. My fanfiction (which I tested only because Margaret Atwood's writing identified her with P.G. Wodehouse despite her being one of the few women actually on the list used for the meme) evoked J.K. Rowling - which makes sense as it WAS Harry Potter fanfic. Everything else - short stories, blog posts, poetry, even Degrassi: The Next Generation fanfic came up as:
I write like
David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace
I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!
Yep. I'm sure it isn't true in any way, shape or form, but I'll take it. We are, after all, talking about the guy that wrote Infinite Jest and influenced almost every modern "literary" writer that I'm a fan of.
Speaking of authors influenced by David Foster Wallace that influenced my own writing, I edited the I Write Like badge to fix the (Mostly) Dead White Men problem. I now write like...
