{"id":2765,"date":"2022-03-14T23:09:53","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T04:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=2765"},"modified":"2022-03-14T23:09:53","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T04:09:53","slug":"benji-hughes-agatha-christie-anne-rice-arthur-c-clarke-stephen-king-cory-doctorow-david-foster-wallace-kurt-vonnegut-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/benji-hughes-agatha-christie-anne-rice-arthur-c-clarke-stephen-king-cory-doctorow-david-foster-wallace-kurt-vonnegut-and-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Benji Hughes, Agatha Christie, Anne Rice, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen King, Cory Doctorow, David Foster Wallace, Kurt Vonnegut…and me!"},"content":{"rendered":"

One goal I had for\u00a0L Extreme<\/em><\/a> was to capture the genre crossing styles Benji Hughes uses on\u00a0A Love Extreme<\/em><\/a> the album through the various song\/chapters.<\/p>\n

Recently I remembered this old I Write Like<\/a> text analysis website and wondered how well I did at mixing things up. Let’s see…
\n<\/p>\n

\n
In 15 chapters, I write like
\nAgatha Christie<\/a><\/div>\n

About Agatha Christie<\/a> | Analyze your text<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 15 Chapters:\u00a0<\/strong>You Stood Me Up, Waiting For An Invitation, Cornfields, Why Do These Parties Always End The Same Way?, Girl In The Tower, Vibe So Hot, The Mummy, Love Is A Razor, Coyotes, Ladies On Parade, Jubalee, So Much Better, Lyegue, Baby, It’s Your Life!<\/em><\/p>\n

This surprised me at first, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. There’s an air of mystery around many of these chapters (Who is L? Does the waitress have a name? What happened at the party? Who killed the DJ? WTF is going on in the trippy dream-like sequences?), which could lead an AI to lean towards one of the masters. I later found an article about Christie’s style<\/a> that sounds about right:<\/p>\n

Her language was always simple, using a writing style that every reader could understand and enjoy….She relied heavily on dialogue, a technique to vary the pacing of the story as well as to heighten suspense. The beginnings of her works are strong on description, which gradually drop off as dialogue and interaction between characters take over.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
In 5 chapters, I write like
\nAnne Rice<\/a><\/div>\n

About Anne Rice<\/a> | Analyze your text<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 5 Chapters:\u00a0<\/strong>Where Do Old Lovers Go?, Do You Think They Would Tell You?, All\u00a0You’ve Got To Do Is Fall In Love, Even If, Mmmmmmm<\/i><\/p>\n

Confession: I haven’t read any Anne Rice (as anyone who heard me botch an easy trivia question about her<\/a> on Coverville Musically Challenged knows), so I don’t have direct experience with this comp. These chapters are all from Side B, all come consecutively, and are lighter on dialogue\u2014including the first 4 parts of the silent Heartman & Songstress fairytale flashback which could be considered gothic by the AI system. (Also: C may or may not be a vampire and\/or a muppet…)<\/p>\n

This quote<\/a> resonated with me:<\/p>\n

Treasure your own voice, your own characters, your own vision. Never think you\u2019re too weird, never think that you\u2019re too crazy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also check out Anne’s own advice for writers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
In 3 chapters, I write like
\nArthur C. Clarke<\/a><\/div>\n

About Arthur Clarke<\/a> | Analyze your text<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 3 Chapters:\u00a0<\/strong>Neighbor Down The Hall, So Well, Love On A Budget<\/em><\/p>\n

Obviously this is because the character of C was named after Sir Arthur’s middle initial \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

More seriously, these are 3 Frank-centric chapters which could be what the AI latched onto. I thought I might get Mary Shelley since Frank is partly inspired by Frankenstein\u2014but he’s also partly inspired by someone else which leans more into Clarke’s sci-fi & outer space roots.<\/p>\n

I especially love that\u00a0Love On A Budget<\/em> landed here since half of that chapter contains hidden messages solved via acronyms. The bio on the official Arthur C. Clarke website<\/a> says:<\/p>\n

He believed in short sentences and short paragraphs. He used metaphors but not archaic ones. He loved to coin a phrase or make up new acronyms. He enjoyed busting popular myths without the arrogance of a know-it-all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
In 2 chapters, I write like
\nStephen King<\/a><\/div>\n

About Stephen King<\/a> | Analyze your text<\/a><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 2 Chapters:\u00a0<\/strong>Tight Tee Shirt, Kenny<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m flattered here, but can’t quite figure it out. If\u00a0Girl In\u00a0The Tower<\/i> was here for\u00a0Dark Tower<\/em> inspirations maybe, but not sure on these two choices. Kenny<\/em> does sound like the title of a King work. Both have a little bit of fourth wall breaking he’s known to do, but they also lack supernatural elements (even more of his calling card) that appear elsewhere in\u00a0L Extreme.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since the opening song (not counting the first instrumental) is included here, this King quote could be relevant:<\/p>\n

I think that every novelist has a single ideal reader; that at various points during the composition of a story, the writer is thinking \u2018I wonder what he\/she will think when he\/she reads this<\/em> part?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

LX certainly had one ideal reader…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
In 1 chapter, I write like
\nCory Doctorow<\/a><\/div>\n

About Cory Doctorow<\/a> | Analyze your text<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 1 Chapter:\u00a0<\/strong>I Am You, You Are Me, We Are One<\/em><\/p>\n

A great comp to get right out of the gate. Again I was a little surprised to get it on a far-out trip of a chapter, but this Cory Doctorow\u00a0quote<\/a> fits very well for someone who might not be picking up on nods to\u00a0Love Devotion Surrender<\/em> or\u00a0Lovers and Other Strangers<\/em> or\u00a0Bill & Ted<\/em> or Challenging Impossibility\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0the entire parade of other white-suited celebrities.<\/p>\n

Science fiction has always been written as kind of a riddle for the reader to figure out. The whole point is to stop the reader and force their imagination to conjure up something that would otherwise take thousands of words to describe. But even more so today we live in the age of Google. So writers should feel free to add in references that provide richness and depth to readers who take the time to look them up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
In 1 chapter, I write like
\nDavid Foster Wallace<\/a><\/div>\n

About David Foster Wallace<\/a> | Analyze your text<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 1 Chapter:\u00a0<\/strong>I Went With Some Friends To See The Flaming Lips<\/em><\/p>\n

If you asked me for a stylistic comparison, David Foster Wallace might be on my short list. I’m not saying I actually write like DFW, but attempting a song by song novelization of an album requiring non-sequential storytelling to keep the tracks in proper order feels like a Wallace-worthy feat if that makes any sense. If nothing else you could call it “a supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again” \u2014 which is also a fair assessment of how the Flaming Lips experience goes in this chapter and perhaps what the AI picked up on.<\/p>\n

Or maybe \u201cMemory deficiency magical alchemy\u201d as MDMA invoked this analysis<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Wallace\u2019s writing often contains multiple voices and (sometimes made up) jargon and vocabulary drawn from a variety of fields. He uses his own abbreviations, long sentences with multiple clauses…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
In 1 chapter, I write like
\nKurt Vonnegut<\/a><\/div>\n

About Kurt Vonnegut<\/a> |\u00a0Analyze your text<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 1 Chapter:\u00a0<\/strong>EpiLILILILogue<\/em><\/p>\n

The epilogue is a short and goofy little coda paying tribute to\u00a0LILILIL<\/em> \u2014 a different Benji Hughes record adjacent to the\u00a0L Extreme\u00a0<\/em>universe. (Prequel or sequel? That’s complicated when the future is behind you and the past is all you can see.)<\/p>\n

Weird and concise may have earned the Vonnegut comparable in the eyes of the AI. I like this bit from Kurt<\/a>, echoing the thoughts of Stephen King & Anne Rice quoted above:<\/p>\n

Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Turning my two favorite albums by my favorite musician into a novel definitely qualifies here.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
In the acknowledgments, I write like
\nChuck Palahniuk<\/a><\/div>\n

About Chuck Palahniuk<\/a> | Analyze your text<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

As a bonus, I decided to run the acknowledgments through the I Write Like tool to see what happened. Interesting how when I’m just being myself in a non-fictional set of thank yous the comparable is Palahniuk.<\/p>\n

What does that mean? You tell me. Or as the first chapter observes:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a song with that lyric in it, but I won\u2019t acknowledge what it is. Or will I?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Check out L Extreme<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One goal I had for\u00a0L Extreme was to capture the genre crossing styles Benji Hughes uses on\u00a0A Love Extreme the album through the various song\/chapters. Recently I remembered this old I Write Like text analysis website and wondered how well I did at mixing things up. Let’s see… In 15 chapters, I write like Agatha…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-scenes","category-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfx3-IB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2787,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/remixing-heartman-songstress\/","url_meta":{"origin":2765,"position":0},"title":"Remixing Heartman & Songstress","author":"LBDG","date":"April 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"L Extreme\u00a0plays out in album order as a track-by-track adaptation of\u00a0A Love Extreme, but ironically following the song sequence generated a non-sequential narrative that loops back on itself in a series of flashbacks. Keeping score at home? Excluding framing devices, re-arranging the chapters into chronological story would be along the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Ballad of Heartman & Songstress -- a free novella by JL Civi based on the songs of Benji Hughes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/HS-JPG-723x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/HS-JPG-723x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/HS-JPG-723x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/HS-JPG-723x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2227,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-commentary-8-where-do-old-lovers-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":2765,"position":1},"title":"LX Commentary #8: Where Do Old Lovers Go?","author":"LBDG","date":"July 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The song may be about going away, but ironically it helped pull the musical concept of the book together. It was also one of my favorite chapters to write. The lyrical breadcrumbs showed me connections to other Benji Hughes songs so clearly it made me start seeking them elsewhere. Benji\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/SpacelandSetlist-149x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":960,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/i-write-like\/","url_meta":{"origin":2765,"position":2},"title":"I Write Like","author":"LBDG","date":"August 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent some time playing around with the \u00c2\u00a0\"I Write Like\" website using various snippets from my writing. \u00c2\u00a0Check out the results below. \u00c2\u00a0Never realized how wide my range was or the company I kept. Bowling Alley Scene (Chapter 2 of TP) I write like P. G. Wodehouse I Write\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2083,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/new-novel-l-extreme\/","url_meta":{"origin":2765,"position":3},"title":"New Novel: L Extreme","author":"LBDG","date":"April 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been awhile but we're back with style... Announcing the new novel by JL Civi: L Extreme! Readers of this blog know I've been a huge fan of Benji Hughes for years. Somewhere along the line I decided to write a novel based on his album\u00a0A Love Extreme. For a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"L Extreme Book Cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/LX-Space-Painting-Cover-FINAL-188x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2354,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-commentary-14-vibe-so-hot\/","url_meta":{"origin":2765,"position":4},"title":"LX Commentary #14: Vibe So Hot","author":"LBDG","date":"September 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Onto side C, where we kick off the second record with a mondegreen.One of my favorite lyrics in \"Vibe So Hot\" is when Benji Hughes sings \"I'm standing in a cape on your lawn.\"Only that's not the line. It's \"I'm singing in a camp on your lawn.\" It took Priscilla\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/MusicianWithCape-261x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2088,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-origin-story-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":2765,"position":5},"title":"LX Origin Story, Part I","author":"LBDG","date":"April 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Before I dive into chapter by chapter, song by song commentary for L Extreme I wanted to provide a little background on how this came to be. Let's start at the beginning... July 2009: I purchased the special music issue of The Believer magazine at Skylight Books in LA. 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