Tuesday is a good thing!

[byslantedlight]

Tuesday is a good thing and this is because - it's all over except the mopping up! And the bank deposits, hopefully... *g* Yeay, marking is done! Enough with the chaos and mark schemes and dreaming of my team and pages and pages of scribbled answers! Wheeee! Onto the next chaos-y type crisis... *g*

Celebratory rambling, I think! So... what's going on in the world...

My flist is full of the I Write Like Meme, which I'm now hugely amused by, because it turns out that it's based on this:

Currently it analyzes vocabulary (use of words), number of words, commas, and semicolons in sentences, number of sentences with quotation marks and dashes (direct speech). (Coding Robots (authors) post).

I was all set to get fretful when it kept telling me that I write like Stephen King (not so much about writing style, cos hey readable, but because surely I should be a millionaire by now too!), so I ran some of my favourite Pros writers through it - Sebastian, Kitty Fisher and HG all write like Stephen King too. In which case - yeay! *g* Well, commawise and dashwise and speech markwise and... how in the world can it analyse number of words?! Presumably they mean number of types of words... And how does it analyse vocabulary? Counting letters? And I want to see the list of 40 authors they've used - who don't I write like?! Anyway - Stephen King! I'd better start clearing up my bank account read, eh? *g*

What else to ramble about? Trouble is, the newspapers make me want to slit my wrists since our shiny new "coalition" (and I use the term lightly) came to power: there is money for school buildings - if you're an academy, privatising the NHS continues but more so, banks get a corporation tax cut, but no help for pensioners and charities over the VAT hike, child benefit and public sector pay is frozen, but alcohol, cigarettes and petrol escape tax increase... Shall I go on? This is why I can't bring myself to visit that Lolitics thing - it's not fucking funny...

Ooh dear, that was a grumpy ramble in the end! See, this is why I shouldn't read the papers any more... Oh, what should I do today - too many things I want to do! Maybe I should... write? *g* I'd quite like to write. In my Stephen King-y style... *vbg* Oh! Or there's the CI5 flats project I was chatting with Jaycat about... *vbg*

Comments

[madmogs.livejournal.com]

Dear god that meme is addictingly ridiculous. I put in 6 of my recent fics (all written in the last 6 weeks) and got 6 different results: HP Lovecraft, Robert Louis Stevenson, J K Rowlings, Dan Browne, Isaac Asimov and Jane Austen.

I could continue... Clearly my writing style is somewhat protean.

I must say, the lolitics thing (with the schools thing, reading Ed Balls/Michael Gove hatesex is especially cathartic) is the only reason I'm not heading off on a murderous rampage to Whitehall right now--that and I can't afford the fare.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, comments are on catch-up again by the looks...

The meme is addictive, innit! I put in a bunch of my fic and also got a JK Rowling, but otherwise it was Stephen King all the way! He must use lots of commas too... and chatty characters... *g* Wonder what'd happen if I tried it with non-fiction writing... hmmn! *g*

And oghod for slashing that rank lot, there's no way in the world I want to see that!

Ooh, I think your notification just popped up! *g*

[madmogs.livejournal.com]

It was only a couple of minutes late, no biggie. At least for me, anyway.

Also Margaret Attwood and James Joyce. Nine fics, 8 different authors. Jinkies! I haven't tried non-fic stuff either yet. Heaven knows what it'd come out as.

Fret not, I won't inflict my RPS upon you. You really don't like politicians, do you?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not flying into a rage about it - these things happen, and I'm tired of seeing massive screeds dissing lj... That said, it'd be nice to get the notifications first!

And lol - I have no problem with politicians who actually want what's best for the country, based on other people rather than themselves... but you find me one of those in the "coalition" and I'll be impressed... *g*

How're you doing up there anyway? You've moved, right, or am I making that up? (The last month or so's been a bit of a haze!) Are you liking it?

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

LOL at you and your favourite Pros writers all writing like Stephen King - must be that he is technically a good writer (dunno, haven't read any of his books). Also has a good agent. *g*

I'm sad Lolitics has become locked (I'm sure for good reasons), because first I joined, then it swamped my f'list so I unjoined but liked to look in occasionally when something interesting was happening.

[madmogs.livejournal.com]

You can always join but not watch--that's what I do with high-volume comms. I htink the posting frequency has gone down somewhat now though.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I was sure there must be a way to do that.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I think King's a competent writer - I had to go and look him up actually, cos it's been years since I read any, though I went through a Stephen King phase and read loads at one point. He's dissed for being a "popular" author (heaven forbid!) and it's kind of hard to find a description of his "style", because even Wiki (hah - even!) doesn't actually talk about "style" under the heading "Style". I liked Orson Scott Card's defense of him though, describing his writing as "it is not the literature preferred by the academic-literary elite" but also as literature "because it was written to be published and is read with admiration". That would work for me... except that I seriously doubt I do write like King, despite the comma-count and speech-mark-count etc! *g*

Have you tried joining lolitics but not watching it, so that it doesn't come up in your flist? I've done that with busy comms before now - though I often forget to go and check, then! *g*

[empty-mirrors.livejournal.com]

Hmm, James Joyce, Dan Brown, Stephen King. Three samples, three 'write likes'. Methinks they have a problem with peeps who write xgenre.

On the politics front, I'm with you. They're terrifying. Completely terrifying. I'm sticking my head in the sand and hoping like hell someone comes to their senses (Nick Clegg LOL) and breaks up the coalition.

I'll tell you for free, the LibDems have lost my vote for the forseeable future. I always saw them as the only viable radical alternative. How wrong can you possible be, huh.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I'll tell you for free, the LibDems have lost my vote for the forseeable future.
Oh, no kidding... I had to vote for them around here, cos it was a totally Tory-safe seat unless there was a Lib-Dem miracle, but since the LibDems turn out to be no alternative at all I might as well have voted for Labour just to register preference... Not that "New Labour" aren't also the sodding Tories. What's happened to politics over here? The parties are all clones of each other, except that the Tories are striving to keep moving to the right no matter how far right they already are... Gargh!

And hee for write-alikes! Writing style based on commas and speechmarks, that's so the world right now... *headdesk*

[empty-mirrors.livejournal.com]

What's happened to politics over here?

People vote for whoever's gonna finance their 64" flatscreen 3D Hi-Res, Blu-Ray recording, interwebs & Wii connected, thingymegadget in the corner and devil take the hindmost. Whatdya mean, 'you don't want one.' Everyone wants one. It's the modern world, innit.

JMHO you understand. *vbg*

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

Hee, the writing meme!

I lean towards James Joyce (including my un-edited Big Bang and both the original and post-edited versions of "Well Hall", so I guess that's a tendency). Stephen King is in there though, in a few places, and the only 'outlier' was "Roots to Branches" for which I got "Douglas Adams" !?

Now I have no idea what that means, even in terms of commas and dialogue marks. *eyeroll, grinnning*.

As for politicians, I reckon it's not a bad thing if some people move from being interested in the "characters" to the issues... otherwise I am definitely in "lalalala can't hear you" land.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee for having Douglas Adams in there! *vbg* I'd definitely like to know more about how they assign the authors!

I didn't say lolitics was a bad thing you know, just that I can't stand to read it, myself... as you say, if it makes people look at what's going on, whereas they wouldn't before, then that's good. Next step is what to do about it, mind... *sighs*

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

Next step is what to do about it, mind... *sighs*

Absolutely. For example, over here the press is full of the twists and turns that Gillard is going through on the 'asylum seeker' question.

The hegemonic press (by which I mean the national and state dailies) informs public opinion and the intelligent, informed analysis rarely gets a run. How do you beat that?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Is the "popular press" ever other than hegemonic? Though there are layers even there - I wish the articles I linked to above would be given a louder shout, but it's not those angles that are picked up by our most popularly-read tabloids, unfortunately, especially for anything like action. Media campaign to organise voting for the latest Strictly-Come-and-be-an-Idiot tv show - massive. Media campaign to save the NHS - negligible... not because people don't support it, but because that sort of thing is always Somebody Else's Problem...

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

argh, an irresistible meme ... I put in several bits of fic from more than one fandom ... all Stephen King! What does it all mean? Then I put in original fic and got James Joyce. Which I can live with *g*

*and waves because has been awol and actually still is a little bit awol*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ooh, hello awoler! Lol for your James Joyce fic - I don't think I've read him yet, though I either did by or nearly bought one of his books a while ago... I've got to admit, I've realised that I don't actually mind the Stephen King thing though - I'd be happy publishing books that are readable and memorable, and enjoyed by millions of people... *g*

*waves and waves*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Stephen King is laughing all the way to the bank. How much money did James Joyce make last year? And have you tried to read that stuff? Boring as hell. I'll take King any day.

The idea that anybody who considers themselves an "elite" write is so darned pretentious. This reminds me a lot of actors who want to be "serious". It makes me laugh. It's all fake! Pretending to be Hamlet doesn't make you any more serious than pretending to be Freddy Kruger. It's just how much one looks down their nose at the other. I hate that.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

To be honest there's nothing more likely to put me off buying a book than "Elite-Literary Prize Winner" stamped on its cover (which means I do miss out on some good stuff, and have to backtrack *g*), cos I can't stand pretentious writing... so self-conscious of trying to impress, when it's the story I want to feel, not the author's ever-so-cleverness... There readable and there's unreadable; interesting and dull; passionate and cold, etc etc etc, but being pretentious about who you read only shows up the reader...

I'm going to have to try some Joyce now, aren't I! *g*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I tried to read Ulysses once because it's on the top of the 100 best books ever written. I swear, I'd rather read a Harlequin romance. Now there's a group of people who rake in the money while being blasted for being silly. They are silly books, but sometimes a person just needs an escape.

There are classics that I like. Dracula, The Three Musketeers, Atlas Shrugged, great books that are readable.

Here's the list: http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html

I'm with the Readers' List more than on the other side. There are some great books on both sides but I swear, the most dullest books are their top picks. A passage to India was so darned slow, as was The Grapes of Wrath. I'm just not high brow enough for those I suppose. There's some crossover of course, but I'd pick from the Readers' List long before I'd pick from the other.

[miwahni.livejournal.com]

Ooh Stephen King... I went through a Stephen King phase where I read everything of his that I could get my hands on. He's certainly been very prolific over the last 35 years too. Still, of all his works, my favourite is his non-fiction book discussing the horror genre, Danse Macabre.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's actually made me quite curious about his writing/autobiography book, which has got quite impressive reviews! Apparently his rule is that he must write 2000 words a day - which would be 702,000 words a year (not allowing for weekends etc off, but even halving that amount'd give you a good novel or two!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I was all set to get fretful when it kept telling me that I write like Stephen King (not so much about writing style, cos hey readable, but because surely I should be a millionaire by now too!), so I ran some of my favourite Pros writers through it - Sebastian, Kitty Fisher and HG all write like Stephen King too. In which case - yeay! *g* Well, commawise and dashwise and speech markwise and... how in the world can it analyse number of words?! Presumably they mean number of types of words... And how does it analyse vocabulary? Counting letters? And I want to see the list of 40 authors they've used - who don't I write like?! Anyway - Stephen King! I'd better start clearing up my bank account read, eh? *g*

Don't we all wish! I find King eminently readable and would give my right arm to write like him. I'm not sure what the meme is based on but I've seen some come up with the same results who write nothing like him.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Apparently they're based on comma-count, speech-mark count, dash-count, and vocabulary (adverb-count, maybe?!)... I don't think actual writing style has much to do with it! *g* Fun and thought-provocative, though!

[inamac.livejournal.com]

Ah, I wondered about the coding - thank you.

Has anyone tried putting in some Stephen King prose and seeing whether he writes like himself?

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

I've tried Joyce, and he defintely does.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

Katherine Mansfield writes like either Jack London or HP Lovecraft according to selection (different ones from "At the Bay").

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

Virginia Woolf writes like Ray Bradbury in "The Voyage Out" chapter 1.

:)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Lol - I'm still catching up with your comments here! Yeay for being home and having access to novels! Ooops - bet that's you popping up again... *runs to look* Oh no! Just... heeeee for the different writers, though! *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee - I wondered about putting some Stephen King in too, but I didn't have any to hand! Bet someone has, somewhere... *g* I wonder how they decided the 40 authors were distinctive enough from each other... it must be quite precise in some ways...

"you write like" meme

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

I couldn't resist either - got James Joyce ::falls over laughing:: - good idea of inamac's, to see if any of these authors actually "write like" themselves!

And yes to what you said about the ConDemned coalition. Too bloody depressing to be funny - it's featherbedding for the richest, all the way as far as the eye can see, and just fuck everybody else.

Re: "you write like" meme

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Or maybe they write like each other... *g* They must have picked authors who're very structurally different for their definitions, I'd think... Ooh, I've just seen KWS's comment to say that Joyce does, but that Mansfield writes like someone else - or the other way around... *g*

And oh gawd, ConDem... now there was a sign, if we'd only seen it earlier... not that it would have helped New Labour who were also dreadful, but still... Gaaaaargh!

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Dunno, the same story, at different parts, gave me Raymond Chandler, James Joyce (twice), and Stephen King. *g*

I'm finding it depressing to read the papers, I must say. Over here, I'm mad at both parties. Although the Democrats aren't quite as morally bankrupt as the Republicans.

Yay for being done! Yay for more writing--in whatever style!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It makes it so much worse, somehow, that we had such hope, on both sides of the Atlantic... I really didn't see how we could go so blatantly back to the days of Thatcher, but apparently it's really easy... bloody LibDems... There seems to be a wider line between your two sides than there is between ours right now - though actually the ConDems are widening ours by moving further to the right the whole time... just.. garrrgh!

But yeay for being done - and yeay for writing in our very own styles! *g* Now, I've just got to do some today to start with... *headdesk*

[mabiana.livejournal.com]

Hope I don't seem stalkerish, but I just saw this (http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring09/PATTflock.php) and thought it might be possible to convert it into a pattern for a plane, if you are still looking for one.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry for the even longer-than-usual delay in replying - I managed to throw myself down some stairs the week after you commented here, and I was already very far behind...

And you're not stalker-ish at all, it's lovely to hear from you! Cute bird - it might indeed be adapted to an aeroplane, though I think I've actually found one that might work as an actual plane! Erm... I printed it out and have now lost the link, silly me... erm... Oh - this wasn't the site, but that first pic is the plane! I've even bought some wool for it, though I got distracted by some other very pretty wool, and thought I'd try and get back into knitting with a scarf made of Very Pretty Wool... *g* I shall stalk in my turn and let you know how the plane gets on, though! I've got until November... *g*

[mabiana.livejournal.com]

Ouch - I hope you have healed completely now!

The plane looks cute - I look forward to hearing about it! :-)