Today I found a link to this interesting site that analyzes inputted text and compares it to famous authors. On a whim I decided to enter an old blog post (“Science-Fiction, Fantasy, and Some Thoughts on Classification”) and see what I got. Lo and behold, Kurt Vonnegut came up on the answer page. Vonnegut is my favorite author, so I feel extremely flattered, but also a little concerned. How much of my writing is influenced by the authors I admire? I would like to believe I have a unique style, that over the years I have found a voice that fits me. I don’t want to mime anyone, even someone whose writing has always amazed me. On the other hand, I realize it’s impossible to escape the influence of other writers. No one’s writing exists in a vacuum; we are all influenced by what has come before. If I switched styles to escape Vonnegut’s influence I would only end up sounding exactly like someone else. I’ll keep writing as it comes naturally to me, because there’s no other writer I’d rather (subconsciously) imitate than Vonnegut
