I Tried Copying Neil Gaiman's Style! | "GOOD ARTISTS COPY; GREAT ARTISTS STEAL" | lessons learned

[@SeanIanJacobson01]

The quote at the end was the perfect way to close out this video! I think creativity is just a very complex network of connecting influences, whether from nature or other people. Part of what makes each person have their unique voice is that we each read differently, so even two people trying to copy Neil Gaiman’s style will see different things in his work, and also each person will inherently bring *all* of their influences into their work in a way that becomes unrecognizable and distinctly them.

[@imnickij]

I love the quote 'steal the gem, not the crown' - taking what makes the writer/story sparkle to you, not copy the whole thing.

[@KateCavanaugh]

Ooooooh I love this version!

[@elizabethc7428]

I had a writing teacher who used to assign us whole chapter imitations. We had to do our best to keep the same sentence structures, paragraph breaks, and placement of plot progression in that chapter but we had to write in a different genre with our own story. It was so fun (and difficult)!

[@jonparov]

Loving the Pratchett praise! As a young boy I really struggled with reading and it was falling in love with Sir Terry's stories that got me over that. leading me to eventually getting a degree in Literature and creative writing. A true inspiration.

[@KateCavanaugh]

Ahhh, no way! It's always so incredible to me what an impact our favorite authors can have on us. That's wonderful.

[@jodiethewriter]

I wouldn't say I do this as an experiment, but whenever I'm writing fanfiction based on a book I try to write in the style of that author (I even try to get the same font that the books are written in!) For example, if I'm writing fanfiction about my favourite series of all time, Warriors by Erin Hunter, I'll make sure that I write in the simple prose, third-person past tense style that those books are written in and replicate it as closely as possible, especially if I'm integrating an OC into the story, to make sure that my new character or characters make sense with the world and go well with the other characters. It's one of my favourite things to do!

[@swintonwoolfe]

I love Neil Gaiman! I love his method of telling a story, that's why he rails against the "show vs tell" mantra. He is a story teller., but the most delicious way to consume his words is by listening to his narration of his books. Perfection!

[@AuthorZaraHoffman]

I was watching your old videos when this got posted! What's the website that tells you what author you write like? That sounds like so much fun!

[@KateCavanaugh]

Ahaha perfect timing!!

[@matheus10b]

I used that website when i was taking Neil Gaiman's Masterclass and guess who I was writing like LOL (the website is I Write Like)

[@jennsbookshelf_]

It’s in the description of Kates video! I was also searching for it :)

[@AuthorZaraHoffman]

@@jennsbookshelf_ oh! I didn’t see it when I checked but I’ll look again

[@tejaswinisureshkrishnan4228]

@@KateCavanaugh Heyy Kate can u link that website in the description?

[@bytheBrooke]

Your disappointment in getting Margaret Atwood XD I love how enchanting Neil Gaiman is as a person and writer. Your note on his use of commas was interesting! I need to read more of him!! Also, I'm jealous you have the Naboo Starbucks mug!!!

[@laurasalo6160]

i tried a couple Gaiman books and thought I didn't like them, but after watching this I may have been very wrong about him. I love his style. A great mix of ordinary and extraordinary writing. Thanks for making this. I hope you do more of these. This was fun.

[@grapefry]

The whole ass box of tissues in the passenger seat made me chuckle. that's how you know the allergies are REAL. Such a great video concept!! The nails matching the keyboard, chef's kiss. The result was probably because of the commas. Boy, does that woman love commas.

[@ドナニー]

I would love to see more "in their style" videos for sure!

[@writerbiter3372]

I am so excited for this series. I love getting deep into the prose and language of stories, and finding their rhythms and quirks and elements that make a passage sing.

[@myownbravado]

This is such a fun idea! I think from the excerpts that you shared this story definitely seems Gaiman-esque. I LOVE hearing about people’s no-go authors though, there’s something about it that’s just so fun. Especially when it’s someone that’s well beloved! Mine is Stephen King. I’ve tried so many times, and I just cannot get into it no matter how hard I try. Even though I love a slow burn and long, descriptive writing!

[@sydney2802]

I'm so glad that someone else is afraid of the 'unintentional copy via osmosis' thing so you avoid reading in the genre/similar books that you're writing because I do the same thing lol. I'm always so afraid of the voices getting muddled, which is why I always salute you, Kate, about being able to write in several stories at the same time.

[@johntubbs6617]

in a roundabout way all authors copy others in regard to structure and writer devices used with Beginning, Middle and End formats etc.... Even genre tropes etc. (Character, Setting and Situations and all that Jazz). Just like musicians that can't own chords we can't own words. either - It is the order and selection we make - then that's copywrite. It's almost impossible to plagiarize if we do it right, authentic writing process.

[@rachelmcafterty6580]

im so happy that ive found your channel. i feel like old authortube is kinda gone -- kim chance deleted her channel, kristen martin is selling her house and becoming a lifestyle channel, lindsay cummings disappeared off the face of the earth. i love how consistent your uploads are!!

[@agingerwrites]

This was such a fun video. Terry Pratchett is my favorite. I've read a decent chunk of the Discworld novels and I'm slowly going through the new audio releases of the witches series within Discworld. And just. I AM SO SAD WE WON'T GET MORE WORDS FROM HIM ;__; sorry. ANYWAY awesome video and I can't wait to see who you write like next!

[@KateCavanaugh]

I AM SAD TOO and I feel like I've only just started down the Terry Pratchett rabbit hole. But I'm very excited that there are so many to occupy me in the meantime. :)

[@amandagrubbs3855]

This is so fun!!! I did the "I write like" and was told I write like Neil! Which doesn't surprise me because I really love my commas and run-ons. 😂 Such a great concept that I'd love to try! Excited to see if you do more!

[@KateCavanaugh]

Bahahah! I am a comma stan so I think that's a great result!

[@briarbramblerose]

I tried the "I write like" site with a couple of pieces of my writing. The first one I got was Sir Author Cannon Doyle, who I've never actually read, so that was interesting. The second thing I tried was the answer to a writing prompt I had done a few weeks ago, and it brought up Ray Bradbury. I've never intentionally attempted to mimic anyone's style before. I think that authors we read and enjoy would naturally become a part of us. Reading is a kind of magic and I think writing is as well. It's an alchemy that takes something caught inside of us and transmutes it into something that another person can take into themselves, creating this shared experience that leaves both writer and reader changed.

[@JordanThatblondegirl]

Yessss Meg Cabot is totally the origin of my writerly tendencies.

[@sarafreitas6988]

I could never be this brave, great experiment Kate. Hope you had fun!

[@KateCavanaugh]

Thanks Sara!! It was really fun! I'd totally recommend doing this even if I never shared it; it was great getting to read so much of a specific author and just fun to see what specifically stuck out to me. I'm sure if someone else did this, reading all the same first chapters, they'd have different parts that resonated with them!

[@RainbowFishSaysHello]

That tool seems really fun! I tried several times with a bunch of different extracts from my recent project, and did get Neil Gaiman couple of times… along with Lovecraft, Stephenie Meyer and Isaac Asimov. I get the feeling that if there’s no strong correlation the answer jumps around a lot.

[@KateCavanaugh]

Yeah, I think you're right!! Remembering the old version of the site, I'd get like 75% match with one author and then 72% match with another, and so on and so forth. So you never really know.

[@multidinero]

Gaiman is so good. I was introduced to Stardust in its movie format with Claire Dane. I love that movie! Yet, it is very much a fairytale. I own Norse Mythology, but haven’t read it yet. I loved The Sandman(both books). His prose are rather spectacular when you analyze them.

[@CatalleyaStorm]

I got David Foster Wallace when I checked an article I wrote. I got Mark Twain when I put in a chapter from my Project Other World. interesting!

[@mangaluver2010]

I tried the website on three different short stories and got Kurt Vonnegut (who I admittedly have not heard of before now), J.K Rowling, (which I don't know how to feel about as I'm not really a fan of her to her work) and Chuck Palahniuk (whom I'm not mad at, but I've never actually seen or read Fight Club). This website is really fun and addicting. I love Neil Gaiman! His stories are so enchanting and his rhythm is truly something to look up to! Loved the video, Kate.

[@mayaenglish5424]

At first I agreed with you about "and he dreamed, when he daydreamed" but I kept saying it in my brain and out loud and it won me over. Neil's insidious that way lol.

[@gerindakappert]

loved this video! Never read any Neil Gaiman books, but now I want to. Thanks for the inspiration, I needed that haha

[@realisticequestrian8229]

My old writing teacher read one of my short stories (that is now a novel) and he told me "you write like that fella that always writes about the beach and the land...really good author". 😂 Luckily I knew EXACTLY whom he meant and I was chuffed. Tim Winton. 😁 I got to meet him (of course AT THE BEACH 😂) and he was the most friendly and grounded guy. To be compared to him...compliment. 👌

[@gothicwriter9897]

I enjoyed this video because I am trying to improve my skills as a fiction writer. Last year I typed out the whole of 'Rebecca' by Daphne Du Maurier and the whole of 'A Discovery of Witches' by Deborah Harkness as a learning process. What did I learn? I learned that typing out a book gets one far deeper into the story than reading a book. I had read both books before but when typing I saw so much that I completely missed when reading them. I learned that I should learn to type before I try this again. I type with two fingers (yes, the rude gesture two) and a thumb. So at 1,000 words an hour it took me a long time to type out these two long books - both are well over 100K words. I will try another book after I can touch type, maybe to hep me improve my typing. Great videos. Keep them coming.

[@KateCavanaugh]

That sounds like an incredible practice!! Totally agree that we learn a lot more from the writing by typing it out ourselves, it's amazing what that mind-body connection does for us. And thank you! :)

[@EclipseOfGod]

Hi. New viewer here. That was fun to watch but I expected that at some point you would list the patterns that you noticed in his writing style. Which you only mentioned a couple of points briefly and not in a very specific way. Thanks for the video!

[@KelseyAMadas]

Just commenting to boost your engagment ✨Thanks for inspiring me to keep going on my books!

[@KateCavanaugh]

Aww, thanks Kelsey!! ✨💛

[@rainyhammer9235]

You should try writing like Lemony Snicket. It is such a specific style, but I think the vast different style is going to force anyone reading it and emulating it to think of story and structure in a different way.

[@KateCavanaugh]

That is an excellent point! He does have a very specific style. I gave up on reading his series at like Book 5 because they made me too sad as a kid hahahaha, but it might be worth re-reading now just to play with. Also LOVE your new profile pic!

[@sweeneylens]

I just tried the I Write Like site with the first chapter of my book. I got Arther C. Clarke. Not sure who I expected, but it was a pleasant surprise.

[@anamulholl]

oh my goodness after i watched this, i went to the i write like website and one of my short stories got neil gaiman! feeling very accomplished lmao

[@ReeganHollywood]

So I thought it'd be fun to see which writer I matched with most by inputting all the scenes separately from my wip fantasy novel and I found that I matched most with Neil Gaiman with 7 matches! Pretty strange coincidence as I've never read a single Gaiman book (not that I don't want to, just haven't gotten around to it) 😂 A few surprising matches were: George Orwell, Charles Dickens and Leo Tolstoy. I guess it makes sense since I'm using a neo-old-timey style of writing but still, I'll take it. Verdict: it's a pretty fun little website to use.

[@RainbowFishSaysHello]

Oooh so many shades of purple!

[@johndogwater]

Iiiinteresty. This was interesty. I've been on a bit of a Neil Gaiman jam lately and I have noticed a couple things. If you listen to him speaking on his course or in interviews; his rhythm, cadence and much of his sentence structure is very similar to his prose, in fact my favourite way to experience his work has become Gaiman reading Gaiman. I think you can detect his screenwriting in his prose too, there's an economy and obsessive clarity about it, most everything happens in terms of action or dialogue, there's not much internal stuff going on from what I've read, so his novels sometimes feel more like novelisations of screenplays than novels first to me. It could be because whatever he writes will most likely end up on screen, so writing to be easily adaptable would make a lotta' sense. I do agree with your friend he can sound a bit "uppity", it's a good word for it, like his writing seems to be smirking at itself because it's aware of it's word-smithery. But his ideas are so good and so well spun out whom are we to begrudge the man a smirk at his own cleverness. P.S what is that beautiful clackety purple keyboard that looks like a candy bracelet!? I need one immediately.

[@BooksLucyKing]

Terry Pratchett was a genius, I read like 90% of everything he wrote ❤️ planning to read it all one day. I love Discworld so much... Gaiman another genius for me, when I found out they were friends and wrote a book together, I lost it 😍😂... When I read Gaiman's The ocean at the end of the lane, omg, there was a scene where the MC got soaked and super cold, not kidding, while reading it I felt physically the wetness and the cold on my skin 🙀. Insane experience.

[@KateCavanaugh]

OMG!! That's skill. I didn't realize that's a bucket list item for me, but to literally make someone FEEL what my characters are feeling, that's a goal bahaha.

[@CoffeeQueen03]

Neil Gaiman is my favorite author of all time!! I even named my cat Neil after him, even though she's a girl lol

[@KateCavanaugh]

D'awww Neil the Cat sounds adorable!!!

[@cheyennedealy809]

I loved your video. It was so fun. One of my favorite authors is Brandon Sanderson. I love his work.

[@happinesss2]

LOL I laughed at the end result fun idea and even more fun nails oooo sparkly~

[@KateCavanaugh]

ALL THE SPARKLES! And thank you. :)

[@jennsbookshelf_]

I tried my two fantasies with different tones - both got Neil Gaimen! Then I tried my middle grade and got JANE AUSTEN??? I’m cackling lol this was so fun!

[@KateCavanaugh]

bAHAHAH! That's incredible. It really is so silly and fun!

[@jennsbookshelf_]

@@KateCavanaugh agreed!! I tried other passages of writing from the same projects and got different answers after too, like Anne Rice. Very cool and fun!

[@terencejohnson4502]

Favourite author, Ray Bradbury, love F451, really enjoy, Graveyard for Lunatics, didn't like, Something Wicked this way comes. Meh. I was intrigued by your tripping on the Dreamed, Daydream. I love to throw that sort of confusion into my writing. Stuff like: They went out, into the garden. Wish I could remember a good professional example. Hopefully, someone in the comments will help me out. I was reminded of U. Le Guin, steering the craft. "Write for pleasure - to play..." (Page 8.) I can't speak for Mr Gaiman but maybe he enjoyed writing the daydream sentence, without care of the sense.

[@graysonsbookmark]

i tried this tool by pasting my chapters into the reader, and I got a mixture of Kurt Vonnegut, Mario Puzo(the Godfather) and Cory Doctorow, whom i've never heard of...this does not bode well for my YA Romance lol

[@Rec426]

Just only started this video and it’s already inspiring me with how you were talking about Gaiman’s writing. With my writing I think that’s the kind of style I want to go with it too. Like a fairytale type of writing but I do write in first person pov tho so I don’t know how possible this is 😅 also, I highly recommend the Good Omens show with David Tennant if you haven’t seen it already; it was brilliant :)

[@Rec426]

Ha! I’d love to be compared to Margaret Atwood’s writing! I’ve only read one of her books (not the hand maids tale 😅) but remember loving it and how she doesn’t make it obvious to the reader with what’s going on. You basically have to figure a lot out for yourself (Oryx and Crake) and she doesn’t make things simple for the reader and I really enjoyed how she wrote it :)

[@alexandriakaprelian6280]

Love the thumbnail!! 😆

[@KateCavanaugh]

AHHHHH thank you! I saw Neil's picture and was like "I think I can pose like that, I'm gonna try" bahaha.

[@herothebard]

More then once have I gotten Bram Stoker... both times I tried this I got Bram Stoker, with two vastly different passages. Must try this with a few more passages. Maybe some poetry. Update: I did some more of my writing almost all of my first chapters of my published fantasy books came up as Anne Rice, interesting, my newer work came up as Bram Stoker and my favourite project that I have ever written that is currently in beta reading came back with the results of Neil Gaiman. Now Im not sure if we can actually take anything imperial from this but I almost cried when I got the results of Neil Gaiman because he is one of my favourite authors.

[@manvellvn]

I think as a writer there is nothing wrong with involuntary imitating your favorite author - especially for beginners. I copy pasted a few paragraphs from three different chapters, the website almost always says, “you write like Stephen King”. I mean I am a huge fan and maybe it’s because I only read King but what can I do …🤷🏼‍♂️😩

[@herothebard]

I tried this function a few times before I thought it was broken or something because I kept getting Steven King even though I thought I was writing more like Neil Gaiman. Well I put in an except from Neil Gaiman book The Ocean at the End of the Lane and even though it was a direct quote from his book the Coding Robot said the writing sounded like Kurt Vonnegut.

[@ccbb8115]

for me, the author whose style I cannot get behind is sarah j. maas. it sucks because i actually think her stories (mostly acotar and a little bit of crescent city, i havent read her other stuff) and characters are compelling and fun. i wouldn't call her work high literature, even beyond her writing at its face--- it's campy, over-dramatic, not actually very feminist despite her intentions, the themes are all over the place, and the characters are almost all terrible unsufferable people--- but it's _fun_ in a guilty pleasure sort of way. i enjoy how convoluted everything is. i'm happy to remember all kinds of batshit trivia that even die hard sjm fands forget because her books are so fucking long. i love the deus ex machina and plot armor. the whole "heart of stone" thing at the end of acotar made my jaw drop. but the _flavor_ of her writing is just... so bad. it's very gender essentialist which i find really dehumanizing and demeaning to literally everyone involved, and for me as a trans person is very gross and uncomfortable to read. she literally writes shit like "he had a purely male smile". what does that even mean?? i literally dont think any of her books contain the word "man", "woman", or even "person". everyone is exclusively referred to as "a male" or "a female" which im not sure is even grammatically correct unless you're talking about animals. not to mention her writing is extremely redundant and her books are impressively bloated and long. cari can read did a ton of recap videos on all of the acotar series (including acosf which i drew the line at reading myself) and i think that's a much more enjoyable way to experience those stories. all of the crazy plots, all of the characters, no weird obsession with her characters' sex characteristics.

[@multidinero]

As an aside, I’ve read both N.K. Jemisin and Neil Gaiman. They both have uppity moments. Gaiman in his writing, but N.K. in her MasterClass for sure. I don’t think either of them are undeserving of how they perceive themselves or are perceived, but it’s obvious to me that they have developed high opinions of themselves. Confidence is a double edged sword.

[@TheRonnieaj]

If you’re not going to be confident in yourself and your work, who is? If they’re not undeserving, if their work supports it, then people being turned off by their confidence is a personal problem for those people.

[@multidinero]

@@TheRonnieaj I can understand that way of thinking. However, most people with such high opinions of themselves rarely recognize that they are even turning people off in that way. I can even see that in myself. How many times have you been called arrogant for simply being confident in your abilities and actions?

[@bodine219]

I tested one of my scenes on this site and got Neil Gaiman, who I have never read. The Coraline movie SCARRED me. Maybe I should give his actual books a chance 😅

[@arkins1908]

The site does not seem to be too accurate. I got Leo Tolstoy for my FANFICTION work. And Dan Brown for my WIP Urban Fantasy and Cory Doctorow for my Horror series. Or maybe I write in certain ways according to the genre...can't decide which it is. Anyway, Love the video!

[@jeanadriannie2743]

It's midnight now in my country therefore I will watch this tomorrow coz if I watch this right now,I may get motivated and will not be able to sleep all night without writing🙂Like ghorl,you always motivate me. Either it's studying or writing. I just love you and goodnight. I'mma rest in peace for awhile.

[@BethWagnercomicwench]

I just checked my writing and apparently I write like Dan Brown? I haven't even read his books! I've been purposely reading urban fantasy in hopes of writing by osmosis and sadly...it did not work the way I wanted it to.

[@ShayALaMode]

Lol, I got Steven King. Interesting because I never read any by him. I seen a few movies taken from his book. My favorite author is Mary Monroe.

[@rosejermusyk]

Do you use this writing analysis tool often? I just plugged in three different fairy tales and in the order I wrote them got Anne Rice, Neil Gaimann, and Vladimir Nabokov. I don’t really go for gothic horror (apart from John Bellairs’ kids books and Edward Gorey’s illustrations) so I’m thinking Anne Rice was selected because I had a coffin “spring” feet and walk out of a church into the woods.

[@KateCavanaugh]

Nope, not often! Just for fun randomly, so I'm also not entirely sure how they pick out the authors. When I used it years ago, it used to break down and tell you where you lined up with like 20+ authors. I could totally see it picking up on random words and deciding from there.

[@santiagosatori]

Are you going to the Armadillacon 2022 in austin? I don't think Neil Gaiman will be there but a lot of other writers will be.

[@MikeBates]

Very interesting experiment, thank you for sharing. I tried sections of my book to see if they were consistent in the I Write Like, in one chapter I write like Anne Rice and the next I write like Cory Doctrow. Hope you are watching the Sandman, I'm amazed at the images and how close to the book it is.

[@MHBerk]

Well hello :) this was interesting, but I have a quarrel to pick with the process if I may. I would recommend not to emulate a way to construct sentences in the same way as the author of your choice. it would be more interesting, I believe, to take a short story you enjoyed - since you are writing a short story in the end yourself, and analyze that. What is the premise, the catalyst, the why, the conflict and how it is all introduced and when. And what the resolution is. And then look at how it can be repeated, with a personal twist. Recognize what you enjoyed and why and reuse that. Not five commas in a single sentence. I can highly recommend two stories of Neil, I found absolutely brilliant. And it is The Babycakes (truly unsettling and just the right amoount of scary) and "We can get them for you wholesale". These are great examples of how a good story is done. How the tension is built and sense of normality broken. And truly, what makes Neil Gaiman such an amazing writer.

[@autumnambience5448]

omg the star wars mugs

[@KateCavanaugh]

I LOVE IT SO MUCH. My friend gifted it to me and it's one of my favorites. :)

[@Amy_Mi6]

100%!! I absolutely have found myself bleeding onto the page someone else's blood and I'm terrified that I'll do it one day -- when it truly matters -- and not catch myself 😬 I'm still a bit of a newbie writer, so maybe that's just where I'm at atm... still finding my voice. Regardless, I loved watching this exercise and FWIW, I would have tried "Frankenstein green" -- a nod to how the garden was coming together haphazardly in the absence of human intervention. But I am also coming at you from "the cheap seats" so what do I know lol 😄 Thanks for the inspiration, Kate!!

[@KateCavanaugh]

Bahaha! I love Frankenstein green! And I think that is the great part about writing style -- in some ways, it's always evolving! As we read more, as we gain more skills, as we play around with language. Sometimes I just take a step back and think how cool it is to be a writer and get to enjoy this process. :)

[@Amy_Mi6]

@@KateCavanaugh 💯😊💜

[@mariamoreno13]

i had never heard the quote at the end until this morning, but the thing is that it isn't even 11am and i've heard it twice already today! the first one in a podcast while working out and the second one here while having breakfast, so i'm going to take this huge coincidence as some sort of sign. i don't know why, but if the universe is repeating that sentence to me so much in such a short time span, i guess i have to take it 😅 hahahaha anyways! i loved this video and i think the experiment was very interesting and fun! i don't think i've read anything from neil gaiman yet but now i'm looking forward to do it :)

[@terencejohnson4502]

love the idea of Neil Gaiman using the "you write like," web-site and getting the answer, "Margaret Atwood." Bet he would be chuffed.

[@KateCavanaugh]

Bahahah yes! That would be so funny. I bet you're right.

[@jonparov]

Also, I tried this with some of my short stories and got a mix of Arthur Conan Doyle, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Arthur C Clarke, Frank L Baum and James Fenimore Cooper! Not sure what that says about my style? Probably that I don't really have my own voice just yet.

[@johntubbs6617]

You can find your voice emulating other authors, eventually your real voice will emerge just by your natural choices and attitudes etc - which only you can do - no one really can write like the original author anyway- we are all different in that regard. In fact, if we started from scratch no writer can write a story exactly the same way every time (That's really scary when you think of if). But that can be used to write different scene versions, then fragmentate them and combine all the best attempts later on to improve the final scene draft etc.

[@rochellavanderwal9320]

I don't have a particular author I am completely in love with, but I could recognise Stephen King and Mary Higgins Clark I think out of a whole bunch. Being interested to see what my writing is like I took three different scenes from my book and entered them into the 'I write like' robot. I was very surprised to see I got three different authors and I know none of their writings (J.K.Rowling, Stephenie Meyer and Jack London). It's interesting because I have never read any of their books, but I know two of them by name due to them having very popular (or unpopular nowadays) book series. My writing is similar even though I have no idea what they write like. To conclude that little experiment I can say that no, reading enough of an author does not influence my writing style 😆

[@arkins1908]

Maybe you have a mix fo the three in your writing style.

[@jeanadriannie2743]

I just wrote 9,232 words just by watching this!🥳

[@NeverAskedtobeMade1390]

I got curious about who I write like. I tried each chapter of my current project and each chapter came up with a different author from Dickens to Dan Brown. I'm not sure what to do with this information now lol

[@KateCavanaugh]

Bahahah that's so fun though! Clearly it just means you have a unique style all your own! ;)

[@judyshinohara]

Hi! Long time (non-commenting) viewer. I like this new series. I actually clicked on it because I thought it was the other "writing like" series. Sorry for the non-solicited suggestion, but I think the name of the series might be too similar to the old one. How about: "I tried stealing ___'s style." or "I tried copying ___'s style." Anyway, thanks for the video. It was really interesting!

[@KateCavanaugh]

OOoooooh, thank you so much for the suggestion!! What a wonderful first comment bahaha. (Gonna go change it now. 👀)

[@judyshinohara]

@@KateCavanaugh Wow! You actually changed it^^ I’m so glad you liked it. Thanks for the great videos as always.

[@Iwasonceanonionwithnolayers]

Yeah, I tried to explain this concept and my use of it 😅😅😅 everyone just thought I was a plagiarist. You'd think a writer would be better at articulating themselves 😂

[@mariavalente6304]

"a view from the cheap seats" how do you come up with a title like that?

[@KateCavanaugh]

Bahaha. Sometimes I stare at titles and wonder the exact same thing. (I'm always curious if it was the author, the agent, or the editor who came up with the specific title!)

[@iWriteWithPride]

Gasp! I'm early! 🤩 Edit: Now I want to read Stardust...

[@KateCavanaugh]

YOU ARE! 🔮💜

[@JimmieHammel]

I tried that site like 4 times and I just kept getting Stephen king, and I don't even read Stephen king. So I wonder what it's actually measuring.

[@KateCavanaugh]

Way back when, they used to tell you the % of each author and where you scored, but I think they save that now for the paid, app version. I think they have a couple pages explaining how they measure what they do, but mostly I just take it for fun. :) Stephen King is a great one to get though!

[@smartfunny15]

I tried that coding robot by pasting one of my short stories, and it turns out I write like David Foster Wallace.

[@KateCavanaugh]

Ooooh, that's a very fun result!

[@Thespringcourtqueen]

That website makes no sense! I put the first 600 in of my WIP, got J K Rowling. Put the full first chapter in, and I got Gaiman 😂

[@EmmaBennetAuthor]

You are delightfully bonkers lol!

[@KateCavanaugh]

Bahahah my favorite kind of compliment, thank you!

[@lil_tari]

I finally understand the saying😂😂

[@stephfoxeh]

your nails changed colour three times in on scene lol

[@KateCavanaugh]

Bahaha, sometimes videos take me a while to film (or edit) so I end up changing my nails a lot in the span of one video. And/or I anxious pick at them lol.

[@johntubbs6617]

It's best to buy the latest new publication and study them being most writers improve overtime generally and use different color highlighters to show how they use and juggle lines of the 11 different modes used in passages etc. then you see their author voice or style, but you still need your own author voice anyway - that sells manuscripts to publishers and readers. You have to have your own voice, that's what editors look for. You can study other authors' style. but must develop your own voice. It's best to leave dialogue unmarked being is about 1/3 of most stories to save highlighter etc.

[@Amy_Mi6]

😃😁🥰

[@KateCavanaugh]

:) :) :)

[@Neil-writer-author]

Anne Rice

[@ClaireKinmil]

You should have described an irrelevant passer and their whole backstory. That would have pushed you away from Atwood and towards Gaiman 😆

[@imnickij]

Surprised you didn't go for 'the ocean at the end of the lane' It's in my top 3, alongside Good Omens and Graveyard.

[@KateCavanaugh]

Several other people have recommended that one as well!! I'll have to give it a shot once I complete Good Omens. :)