I Write Like: A Fun, Free Online Writing Analyzer

Are you the next Shakespeare or perhaps one of about fifty other famous writers? If so, how would you know?

The honest answer to this question is, "You wouldn't, at least, not yet." However, you can have a little fun finding out if maybe, just maybe, there is an inkling of one of the Greats in your work.

Your portal to this "iffy" knowledge is the website, I Write Like. It's a fun, free online writing analyzer. Fun and free, you can't go wrong with that.

Using I Write Like is as simple as child's play. I'm sure most of today's Internet savvy children could use this writing analyzer. It requires two steps: 1) type or copy and paste a few paragraphs into the text box and 2) click the "Analyze" button. Within seconds, I Write Like displays which author you write like.

Alas, science's technology and art's writing do not get in bed together so easily.

According to Katjusa Cisar's article and interview with I Write Like's founder, Dmitry Chestnykh, on the website, The Awl, "Margaret Atwood herself pasted in a sample of her own writing and got...Stephen King."

So, you may not actually write like the author I Write Like determines. Still, Chestnykh may be onto something that just needs to be perfected. Many brilliant ideas were scoffed at in their beginnings including television, computers, and the Internet.

Exactly what Chestnykh is onto is a bit of a mystery. According to his interview statements, it has something to do with an algorithm. As there are no algorithms up my alley, I decided to turn into the alley behind my English Language and Literature Degree.

So, just for fun and as I Write Like is free, I tested four of my writing samples to see if the results made a hint of sense. Three samples were excerpts from college essays and one was a naughty ditty. Hold on to your bookmarks, Literary World! I write like Jack London, H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King AND James Joyce.

In a far-fetched, abstract way, half of this outcome may make a little sense. I can't see a London or Lovecraft connection to my essays. However, the essay that matched King was about a tornado. Joyce, of course, matched with the dirty ditty.

I Write Like may not be able to tell you if you have a little Shakespeare or any other literary genius in you, yet. It may be a free online writing analyzer just for fun. So, what? We could all do worse than a little clean, free fun nowadays. And who knows, maybe someday technology will be able to tell us much more about ourselves than who we write like.