I started writing my first blog about five years ago. The impetus occurred during a writing class I was taking when the instructor asked, “Do you know the difference between a diary, a journal, and a blog?” My definitions were simple. A diary is personal, for my eyes only. A journal is a travelogue of my life’s journey, maybe to share, maybe not. And a blog, that’s for anybody’s perusal and it needs to be interesting to people other than yourself. I got the blog bug.
Interesting was the key word for me, thinking of a target audience interested in the same things I am: kitties, writing, reading, drawing, gardening, the usual things enjoyed by people in my age group, and possibly by a few others. And this is what I blogged about: things happening in my own life that I wanted to share with others.
I enjoyed writing these blogs, and I felt a little surge of happiness every time views of my blog and reader comments increased.
Then, I discovered the Gunning Fog Index and a new way to approach my target audience. By learning my index, I found out my stories were informal and unpretentious, easy to read. A 7 or 8 (which relates to one’s educational grade level) was my normal score. Was this really good? Or bad? It seemed awfully low to me. But the size of your audience is the real goal.
Another tool in Microsoft Word shows readability statistics according to tests known as Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grading Level. The ratings are based on formulas that use the average number of syllables per word and words per sentence. The sought-after score in the Reading Ease test is 60-70. The Grading Level results are similar to the Gunning Fog Index with a score of 7-8 being the most popular. Although each version of Word is a little different, a simple Google search of your Word version will bring the intended results. In my older version of Word, all I needed to do was check under “tools,” “options,” then, “spelling and grammar,” type away, run the tool when I was finished and make adjustments as I felt necessary to attract the largest audience.
Readability tools make a comprehensive assessment of the reading difficulty level of your writing. Sometimes I’m in a “fog” when I read things like insurance policies or the instructions for filing my income tax return. A sample of the text in question, around 100 words, copied and pasted into a Gunning Fog Index online form tells me why. The Gunning Fog test also uses word syllables and sentence length combined with an algorithm to arrive at a person’s presumed grade level or age group for understanding content. Although comprehension is not guaranteed, it’s implied.
I found some interesting statistics. The ideal score in the Gunning Fog Index is 7-8. Text that scores over 12 is too difficult for the majority of people to read. You may be surprised to know The Bible, Mark Twain, and Shakespeare have Gunning Fog indices of around 6. (I’m not too sure about Shakespeare. I think someone is pulling my leg.)
Then, I decided to find some statistics on two of my favorite writers, Poe and Hemingway. I find it difficult to believe the results, but, then, maybe that’s one of the reasons they’re my favorites.
- The Tell-tale Heart – 4.786
- A Farewell to Arms – 4.0
Robert Gunning invented his tool in 1952. His original goal was to make newspapers more readable, so in 1944 he formed his own consulting company to accomplish this. He knew a readable text would always draw a larger audience. He did not think of this as “dumbing down” writing, but rather as making it more accessible to more readers.
Today, the readability tools — and there are many of them– are used by many professional organizations to target their readers. For instance, Reader’s Digest comes in at 8-9 and Time and the Wall Street Journal at 11. Oh, and for your information, this text came in at a 9. My Gunning Fog Index has increased a little. I’m not exactly sure why.
One thing these tools cannot tell you is if your writing is interesting. Your readers will be the judge of that!
