The Writer and the backlash

The lovely CC--not to be confused with the other lovely CC--sent me a link to the NY TIMES (link not posted in protest against their pay-for policy, blah, blah, blah, stick-it to the man!) regarding the recent flutter of "I Write Like"controversy. Obviously this is just a bit of fun, a harmless web bot to play with, however, the creator has made a fatal flaw in not putting a big warning, pop-up window, underlined, blinking text to say so.

I think the problem is that you're dealing with Writers here. Like all artists they have massive egos. Sometimes they aren't even aware of how large and how fragile those egos are until you tell them they write like the most hated man in literature of course. Then you're done for. Writers fight back. The poor creator of the said web-bot has been inundated with the wrath of outraged writery types who all hoped his little bit of code would prove that they/we all write like their/our idol of choice and are therefore all geniuses. With the exception of Dan Brown of course.

There is no bit of software or algorithm that will ever be able to confirm your creative genius I am afraid. It's all subjective. So, let's all get back to our literary masterpieces and prove our talent with action instead of webbages.

BTW I Write Like Arthur C. Clarke, so eat them apples!

Comments

[Davedevereux]

Leaving aside that there's a vanity press thingy involved (see Making Light, et al.)...

Write like Dan Brown? Are you kidding me? Do you know how many editors are looking for someone who can shift as many units as him? That's a nice big sale right there, baby!

To misquote Michael Caine: "I've not seen Jaws IV, but I *have* seen the house it paid for, which is very nice."

Bang out a million-selling piece of dross every year or two, take the money home and support your publisher who will then let you put out the arty stuff between bestsellers. Everybody wins, apart from the snobs.

[Davedevereux]

Just to be clear, I hate that this is how things are - but there's no avoiding the harsh realities of the business.

[MEStaton]

Hi Dave, thanks for your comments. I do get what you are saying. Obviously lots of people like Dan Brown because they buy his books and go to the films based on his books. He's very successful. Art is relative to the eye of the beholder to misquote everybody :D So one man's poor literary choice is another's pinnacle of entertainment. It's all about who is making the judgement. My post on the other hand is less about how I might personally feel about being told by a souless bit of web script that I write like Dan Brown, and more how absurdly out of hand a small thing like this can take over not only the web, but even supposed bastions of "higher" journalism (something else which is extremely subjective). I find it kinda crazy that people are sending the guy/gal who created this thing hate e-mail because they didn't get the result they wanted and have discovered flaws in his analytical tools.