Bruce Beckham's Blog - Posts Tagged "a-coat-of-varnish"
Fog Index
I'm reading A Coat of Varnish by CP Snow.
I've been wondering why I'm finding it slightly slow going.
I'm enjoying the subject (set in upper-middle-class London, in the baking summer of 1976) and, at page 62, the story is just beginning to get going.
So that only leaves the style.
One of the copywriting training sessions I run concerns the Fog Index. This is a simple arithmetical formula which can be applied to a block of text - say for an ad or a promotional offer.
The formula produces a number. The lower the number, the more digestible the copy (ie. it sells better).
Good copy is reckoned to have a Fog Index between 9 and 12. Some tabloid newspapers go as low as 5. (Sir Walter Scott in Rob Roy hovered around the 20 mark!)
I tested the fog index on a sample of sections from A Coat of Varnish.
To my surprise, nowhere did it come out higher than 11.
On reflection, CP Snow used short sentences, and few long words (the twin secrets of digestibility).
Which leaves me scratching my head.
The only thing I can out it down to is that - in the early part of the book, at least - the author has adopted a rather pedantic style, carefully explaining each circumstance and situation.
I think it's growing on me, however!
I've been wondering why I'm finding it slightly slow going.
I'm enjoying the subject (set in upper-middle-class London, in the baking summer of 1976) and, at page 62, the story is just beginning to get going.
So that only leaves the style.
One of the copywriting training sessions I run concerns the Fog Index. This is a simple arithmetical formula which can be applied to a block of text - say for an ad or a promotional offer.
The formula produces a number. The lower the number, the more digestible the copy (ie. it sells better).
Good copy is reckoned to have a Fog Index between 9 and 12. Some tabloid newspapers go as low as 5. (Sir Walter Scott in Rob Roy hovered around the 20 mark!)
I tested the fog index on a sample of sections from A Coat of Varnish.
To my surprise, nowhere did it come out higher than 11.
On reflection, CP Snow used short sentences, and few long words (the twin secrets of digestibility).
Which leaves me scratching my head.
The only thing I can out it down to is that - in the early part of the book, at least - the author has adopted a rather pedantic style, carefully explaining each circumstance and situation.
I think it's growing on me, however!
Hyphen Nation
Another little copy-training session I run is all about hyphens.
This humble punctuation mark has fallen out of favour (in UK advertising, at least) - but I'm doing my bit to prevent its extinction.
To my mind, judicious use of the hyphen helps to create an easy to read effect in a sentence.
To my mind, judicious use of the hyphen helps to create an easy-to-read effect in a sentence.
(After all, isn't easy-to-read a compound adjective?)
Hyphens also clarify meaning.
Right now I'm reading A Coat of Varnish by CP Snow. Now, he knew his grammar.
However, I just came across this line: His father had been a small shop-keeper, and he had made his way through academic skills.
This did stop me in my tracks.
Did the author really mean that the character's father was a short shop-keeper? For that is what it suggests.
Actually, this is a tricky one.
For instance, if he were to have written small-shop-keeper that wouldn't help at all, because what he really wants to say is small-shop keeper.
And even small-shopkeeper doesn't quite do it.
Hm. Maybe the editor should have spotted this one, and stepped in with something like: His father ran a small shop ???
This humble punctuation mark has fallen out of favour (in UK advertising, at least) - but I'm doing my bit to prevent its extinction.
To my mind, judicious use of the hyphen helps to create an easy to read effect in a sentence.
To my mind, judicious use of the hyphen helps to create an easy-to-read effect in a sentence.
(After all, isn't easy-to-read a compound adjective?)
Hyphens also clarify meaning.
Right now I'm reading A Coat of Varnish by CP Snow. Now, he knew his grammar.
However, I just came across this line: His father had been a small shop-keeper, and he had made his way through academic skills.
This did stop me in my tracks.
Did the author really mean that the character's father was a short shop-keeper? For that is what it suggests.
Actually, this is a tricky one.
For instance, if he were to have written small-shop-keeper that wouldn't help at all, because what he really wants to say is small-shop keeper.
And even small-shopkeeper doesn't quite do it.
Hm. Maybe the editor should have spotted this one, and stepped in with something like: His father ran a small shop ???
