Writing yourself into a corner

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Yes, I suspect you're right, and that it was Chandler. My "I write like..." buddy (remember that old site? LOL...it claimed that's who I wrote like. I should be so lucky....)

Hitch

Yep, if I remember right I think it claimed I wrote like Agatha Christie.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Yep, if I remember right I think it claimed I wrote like Agatha Christie.

We're obviously both underappreciated geniuses.

Hitch

[pendragginp]

Yes, I'm supposed to write like Agatha Christie too. Don't I wish!

Also, gmw, so relieved you aren't actually dumping excised writing!

[pendragginp]

Just for fun I went back to that site and pasted in part of a story of mine.
Now, I'm told, I write like Ian Fleming.
And also, apparently, on re-entering, like Stephen King. (That one's a head scratcher.)
So why aren't we all hugely famous with zillions of dollars or pounds?

[Lemurion]

I dumped in large chunks from a novel I wrote 15 years ago and one I just finished a couple of months ago: both came up Agatha Christie.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I dumped in large chunks from a novel I wrote 15 years ago and one I just finished a couple of months ago: both came up Agatha Christie.

And here I woulda thought Haggard, no? ;-)

Hitch

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by Hitch

And here I woulda thought Haggard, no? ;-)

Hitch

I guess not, nor Dent or Leiber either.

[gmw]

Well, since we're all trying it, I ran three samples through the site (one from my first novel, then a sample from two different short stories). The results were: Stephen King, Anne Rice and Agatha Christie.

I'm not complaining. All three of those have written books I like very much, so I'm just going to assume that I write like them on their good days.

But I do wonder if the site has a sample from Dale M. Courtney. Getting that result could be truly frightening.

[arjaybe]

I tested the first chapters of four novels and got Stephen King, Dan Brown, Margaret Atwood and Agatha Christie. Now I just have to decide which certificate I want to post on my website.-)

[skb]

Okay, so I broke down and tried the "I write like..." site. I write like someone I've never heard of (which is okay, because he's probably never heard of me either) - David Foster Wallace. His picture makes him look like a bedraggled & bespectacled Christian Kane. With bad hair.

On the bright side, apparently I don't write like Dale M Courtney, so all is not lost. On the down side, I wanted to write like Dashiell Hammett. Drat.

Thanks for all the suggestions and insights, I am now trying to deal with creepy stalker guy by having a giant robot (called Meeetwo) crash through the wall and smack him one. Thanks for the suggestion, Lemurion. I think that technique could help with a few of my plot blockages!

[gmw]

Did you read about David Foster Wallace? I guess the beard, long (bad?) hair, two page suicide note (although I doubt if I could keep it down to two), and some other details really resonated with me. I'm thinking I might look up some of his work, I'm curious.

[skb]

I did look him up. Sadly, the stalking and domestic violence resonated with me.

This may be the perfect case for a discussion of separating the art from the artist.

[gmw]

You may well be right. I did see the brief reference to stalking in Wikipedia, but had seen no other reference to that or domestic violence in what I had found.

[ZGottlieb]

I started writing one minor character as being and ass and a jerk. He wasn't a very nice person. But the more I wrote the story, the more it didn't feel right. I know why should I even care about a minor character. I toned down the hate, and in the end he plays a critical role and is redeemed .

[crich70]

I checked the website and typed in some stuff off the top of my head and I got back Ian Flemming too.