Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie discussion
This topic is about
Dennis Meredith
Before You Publish
>
Readability
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Dennis
(new)
Feb 17, 2017 07:04AM
Fascinating @shanesnow article on readability increasing readership. The lesson: simplify! http://bit.ly/1L9M5P5
reply
|
flag
Mod
Dennis wrote: "Fascinating @shanesnow article on readability increasing readership. The lesson: simplify! http://bit.ly/1L9M5P5"A lesson I need to keep reminding myself!
Currently I'm writing children's books, and I think I stray a little above the average readership for the age range here and there, per all the readability guides. And yet I wonder if that's okay, because I didn't get to where I am today by reading only "appropriate for age range" books. Context teaches us new words all the time.
Or am I just fooling myself?
That's fascinating. I ran two of my short stories through it and apparently I'm writing at a sixth-grade level. Ooooh. I particularly liked the pie charts that depicted how much of the population is actually skilled enough to read certain pieces of writing. Illuminating!
I like this post - as an engineer, I tend to gravitate toward statistics and algorithms that help life make sense. I'm drowning in technical terms on a daily basis. Could I write a book at college level? Yes, but I doubt I'd find much pleasure in writing that book since the reason I write is stress relief.
One thing to note about this scale - if you write shorter sentences or get high on writing lots of dialogue like me, the reading level will be lower. I checked these statistics on my first book and got a reading ease of 87. Overall the reading level was around 4, but if you check blocks of the story that don't contain dialogue, this number is 6-8.
Since I write YA, this could be an issue for some. I've seen writing advice stating that YA readers like a 'harder read.' Don't know if this is true for everyone, but I plan to keep writing and hope some might enjoy all the drama enough to forgive me for an 'easy read.'
Mod
Agreed. As long as the flow of the language has a good cadence and the word choice is right, I will never be put off by an easy read just because it's an easy read. Easy reads with insipid content? Right out - and same goes for reading at a higher difficulty level. Content remains the priority - but I'm pretty sure that writing that's easy to read facilitates engrossment (then again - I think we adapt to whatever the writing style is in a specific piece).
Mod
Carole wrote: "I agree. Sometimes though- it's exhausting and you just wanna relax."Yes, that's my main reason for reading. I don't want to struggle to get through the text. Mystery is great, but I like the words to flow. I just want to melt into a good book and unwind, regardless of the genre.
I just posted this on twitter:The biggest lie I tell myself is .... "I don't need to write that down, I will remember it."
Wish I could have posted the picture here. :0)
Regards,
Joni
Joanne Meredith
@scifinov
editor@glyphus.com
