“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein
Writing advice is everywhere. Some is like a tasty granola bar to give you a little boost. But, more often, it’s more like that moldy loaf of bread you forgot about in the back of the pantry. Like said expired bread, there’s plenty of writing advice should get tossed out before it starts to stink up the place. One of the more pungent pieces for me is “Keep it simple, stupid.” In other words, if you’re writing for “the masses,” you better dumb it way down. Apparently, we’re all supposed to be writing at a 5th or 6th-grade level, at most!
This idea really grates on me. I’ve been writing at a college level since my high school days. Not to brag, but simplifying my style feels like trying to squeeze into those old jeans you swore you’d never outgrow, which you most certainly did. Still, I’ve tried to be less verbose and attempt to sound less pretentious. Yet,I can’t help but wonder: is this whole simplicity thing really about making my work more accessible? From the way I see it, I’m just watering it down for the lowest common denominator.
So, in my quest to reach “the people,” I turned to the Hemingway App. Indeed, it’s a nifty tool that, like a nitpicky editor, tells you all the ways your writing is too complex, and too convoluted. In other words, too me. According to Hemingway, I’m often at a “13th grade” level, which I suppose is a polite way of saying “college graduate.” Hey, sometimes I manage to get my writing down to a 9th-grade level. Once, I even took an article from a 13th-grade level to a 7th-grade level. That wasn’t fun.
Yet, even when I’m trying to “improve” my readability level, I don’t actually think of myself as dumbing anything down. Sure, I’ve got a soft spot for a good esoteric rant now and then — actually all the time — and Hemingway doesn’t do much for those. Yes, I’m a bit too fond of adverbs, if we’re being honest. It’s something I’m working on, but it’s an addiction I’ll likely never break. I also have this weird obsession with the word “very,” which I’m told is a crutch for people who don’t know how to use real emphasis. But, sometimes it fits very well, so it stays.
So, back to the big question: is being too “smart” in your writing a death sentence for mass media consumption? Are you doomed to obscurity if you dare to use polysyllabic words and complex sentences?
I don’t think so. People can still use a dictionary, right? Last time I checked, they aren’t banned yet.Sure, readers get bombarded with content these days. Yes, folks tend to skim more than they read; even I do this a great deal. So, breaking up sentences and keeping things scannable — especially using subheadings — are things to keep in mind.
But, I refuse to believe that writing at a lower level just to appease some mythical mass audience is the way to go. Maybe I’m just stubborn. In any case, I’ll keep writing the way I do, thank you very much. If that means some people need to dust off their dictionaries, so be it. I’m not here to spoon-feed anyone.
~ Amelia Desertsong
P.S. This is, in fact, a complete rewrite of this essay. So for kicks, I put it into Hemingway App. It says it reads at a Grade 5 level. That was entirely unintentional and very ironic. Also, I do recommend the free version of Hemingway. It’s rather useful.
