@JustinAlexander I'd say, given those specific excerpts, the main difference appears to be the topical approach--ex. Adams, being a big fan of technology and its possible directions, spends a lot of time in his work sharing that interest with the reader.
Clark is working to mimic that 19th century tone, which is more, call it people- and manners-oriented. It also has some structural differences, like much longer and complex sentence structures than the more modern 'one statement per sentence' style that Douglas has.
I started writing a book at the end of my 5th grade year. My 6th grade teacher is totally against teen authors, so I stopped for a while. Then my 7th grade teacher inspired me to start again. I'm 13 and I wrote many short stories (all turned down by my teacher last year) but this is my first chap...
Maybe, and I might just be spitballing here, but if you are writing a novel (even at 13) and can't differentiate accept and except, you're not quite ready to submit to a publisher.
If I gave 100 different writers the exact same plot with the exact same cast of characters and told them all to write the exact same story, would they all tell a story of equal quality? I would imagine not. Instead, I would expect to get one or two spectacular ones, a handful of great ones, a bun...
The Overlook Hotel
The Overlook Hotel