Graham Whittaker ~ Above the Cut ~ Chat

I was talking with Graham Whittaker regarding The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level readability test and I feel it is nothing short of the dumbing down of the masses by saying comprehension is low, therefore propagating the furtherance of lowering understanding by having authors lowering their standards. Diabolical

I was reading Tolstoy in grade 5 and it wasn't unusual. It was just schoolwork.         

Publishers now run Mss through the test and grade for a reading age level in a fiction of between 5 and 7.

                                                                                                                                                    Sadly, many if not most Trad publishers are using the test for 'readability.'  Consequently, I now use the Hemingway App to 'test' before sending to the editor. http://www.techtoolsforwriters.com/hemingway-app-a-proofreading-tool-for-writers/

Here is the new Hemingway app for desktops: http://www.hemingwayapp.com/

My last large novel, The Girl From Kosovo had a reading grade of 11.  By the time it was edited it was grade 7, still regarded as 'not universal enough'.  I told my editor to let me do it instead. I eventually ended up the Hemingway grade of 4!  Now it sells well.

The Kincaid Flesch test is the one used by publishers. Here is some text. Magazine publishers care. After the Flesch Reading Ease formula was created in 1943, leading publishers discovered that adhering to the formula could raise their readership by 40 to 60 percent. Predictably, many other publishers immediately jumped on board. Later, in a project sponsored by the U.S. Navy, the Flesch Reading Ease formula was adapted into a score based on U.S. school grade level, called the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula. The U.S. Department of Defense found the formula so useful, it now uses it as the standard test of readability for its documents and forms.
First off, what does readability mean?

https://medium.com/@stevemetivier_81863/does-readability-matter-fe92e6e27f28

Does Readability Matter? – Steve Meritivi – Medium

Are you marketing to adults?                                                                                                                                                      Yes, I only write children's stuff on contract, but my own books are adult/literary.  I also put pages of The Old Man and The Sea through the Hemmingway app and while it is a classic with massive observations on humanity, it still only rates a 4.5 Grade!   
I have some very strong views on it.  Especially on the Kincaid Fleischer reading tests.  I ran one of my books through it... just a few chapters and it said that I had a level of 12 and needed a level of 5 to make it readable.  Insane!

Is this for Australia or all over?

                                                                                                                                                          No, it is international.  Here is the link:  https://yoast.com/flesch-reading-ease-score/

I think a lot of folks have stopped reading books per se. They read on tablets or phones, and in short bursts. These are the people who have created a form of shorthand writing that has made its way into creative writing. Books must be shorter, less demanding and have the action beginning instantly. A murder, a shock, lots of hard action and then The End. My mother wrote Mills & Boones and she would laugh at the formula for them then.

Here is a really interesting link. It shows how old words can become new words again. Different meanings.

https://www.inc.com/business-insider/words-changed-meaning-2017-they-unicorn-snowflake-fake-news.html

Although Graham Whittaker has been writing for almost sixty years, started very early in life, he tends to talk about other people he has known and feels are great writers and some newer people he finds worthy of pushing into the spotlight.  We spoke of many things but this blog is not big enough to contain all. More snippets will appear on the review blog in a week. Must finish reading the book first.

We will leave you with a poem Graham Whittaker found after his mum's death at the age of 96 when he was settling her affairs.  She wrote for Mills & Boones under many pseudonyms, Pauline Taylor was one, but he lovingly remembers her for her poems.

YOU NEVER LOST ME.

You can travel the whole world over Over land and lake and sea-
Lose your house and your car and your family
But- you never lost me

On the ship, as we left England
Never seen such an enormous sea
Lost your breakfast, your lunch and your glass of wine
But- you never lost me.

On your travels across New Zealand
With such beautiful scenery
Lost your heart on Waiheke Island
But- you never lost me.

And remember when you went fishing? Caught the biggest fish in the sea
Lost your fish, and your line and your tackle.
But- you never lost me.

And the day you lost your temper- And the car you were driving hit a tree.
Lost your no claims bonus, and lots of blood-
But- you never lost me.

And now we are old, in our eighties Pensioners for all to see.
Lost your hair, and your teeth, and your urge to work
But- you never lost me.

P.M. Whittaker 1992


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