Writing is outside my field of expertise. For the past 25 years I've been a software developer, following a love I've had since my pre-teens. Trained by the military, trained more so by myself to first master the art and then keep up to date with the latest technologies, I have never used classic academia to further my knowledge with the tech world... nor with the world of the written word. I always had a flair for it, and hid a secret love for it throughout my life, like a small flower hidden in a dark basement. Every once in a great while I would visit it, cherish it, but was always afraid to show my flower to others in my life. Certainly I could never expose it to the harsh elements of the cold, critical world.
One day however, I dared to show my loving wife my little flower. She encouraged me to foster its growth, give it more outside light. Now, the flower is in full bloom as I attempt to finish my novel. The story is an odd amalgamation of Science Fiction and Christianity. Not many have attempted such a thing. I don't have any 'role models,' so to speak, with which I can gauge my own progress and ability. So, you can imagine my joy when I found a little website called I Write Like. This neat little website allows you to provide to it a snipped of your writing, and in return provides you an analysis of your writing, letting you know who your writing style most resembles. Incredible!
So, I provided this little snippet:
But Lizzie ignored her. Finishing up, she excused herself with a husky whisper and went into the back room. The cheap, thin walls could do little to stop the sounds of Lizzie crying, to herself and to her Lord. Jennifer sat silently, sipping her tea, lost in her own thoughts beside a dying man.
Not the best work you'll ever read, but fairly indicative of my style of writing. I pasted the text in and hit the submit button, awaiting the results with equal amounts of fear and curiosity. Would it tell me I mimicked the styles of Saul Bellow? Or would it see my for my fraudulent ways and compare my work to your average 8th grade shop class special? Here's what I received:
Amazing! So my writing style resembles the great Ian Fleming, noted author of the James Bond series of books. Could this mean my flower may be well accepted by the unforgiving world? Well, I don't think I could ever seriously hope to gain the success and notoriety of Mr. Fleming, and I certainly can't give any real credence to the qualifications the website's analysis routines may possess, but really that hardly matters. Whether my new found hope is false or true, it is no less real to me. With this new confidence, I'm looking forward to the time I can show everyone my pretty flower. I'll keep everyone posted here on my progress.
God is good!
