READABILITTY

            I’ve been preaching this for years at Fred Central and just last year this same article was under a different title. I cannot stress enough how important it is for your story to be easy to read. This time I went through the same old same old and found a book that was awful.

            The easy read is all about making your book the best product imaginable, producing the best format for your readers, creating the easiest way to get your story out to the public. In other words, creating the easiest read for your readers.

            That brings up the question as to how? Or, more importantly why?

            Do you care?

EXAMPLES

            I always like to try new authors so every once in a while, I obtain something new. This first example is a horror novel. It looked promising after a quick scan at the bookstore. However, once I got into it, it was a real slog. Page after page after page of characterization made me almost put it down. Then I got to page 44 and realized not a thing had happened yet. What? That did it for me and I put it down and gave it a one star review. If I have to work that hard for nothing, that’s saying something.

            Contrast that with the next book, which happened to be one of my favorite authors. I was halfway through the book before I even realized it. It was like I sat down and got lost in the story, only to come up for air once in a while. It was a pure pleasure.

            That, my friends, is the difference between good and not so good writing!

WHY DO IT?

            As I’ve pointed out before, some authors don’t care to make things easy. They want you, the reader, to come up to their level, not the other way around. They want to “edumacate” you, teach you something, bring you up to a higher level with their prose, style, and format.

            They want to break the mold.

            Nothing wrong with that if they can find an audience, which many do.

            On the other hand, there are those authors who just want to get their stories across, whatever that might be. They aren’t out to force readers to bend to their will. They aren’t out to try and mold people into their image of a particular kind of reader.

            They want to communicate with as many people as possible, plain and simple.

            Nothing wrong with that either.

            There are those authors that like to throw a mix in there, by keeping it simple, yet adding in a little more complexity without going overboard in either grammar, style, or format.

            Nothing wrong with that either. There’ll always be an audience.

WHICH APPROACH ARE YOU?

            Since most of you reading this are not likely best-selling authors yet…I have to be realistic here…you’re struggling to make your mark in a huge market filled with countless writers and authors. You want to reach as many readers as possible. Therefore, I personally recommend the “simpler is better” approach.

            There’s the philosophy that since you’re not exactly setting the world on fire yet, why not go for broke, put your nose up in the air, and take the highbrow route? It wouldn’t matter if you alienate most of your readers with complex prose, maybe in some off-the-wall format, because you’re not selling many books anyway, right? Maybe, someday, your style will catch on. I say, if that’s what you want to do, go for it.

            On the other hand, if you’re in that same boat, but want to sell more books, and are willing to make a more readable story, try the easier-to-read approach and see where you go.

HOW I APPROACH IT

            This is mainly for those of you that are new, but it can apply to anyone.

            My philosophy, from day one, has been the same.

            Long before I was ever a writer, I was a reader. Sixty plus years now, not to age myself!

            In all that time, I’ve read a LOT of books…thousands. I’ve suffered through every style and format imaginable. I have several graduate degrees behind me, so I’m above average “edumukated.” In other words, I’ve been around the block, not that education per se, really matters. I’ve also had twenty-nine years plus as a writer. Additionally, since the late nineties, I began reviewing books on Amazon, though a lot of them have since disappeared due to age or obsolescence.

            This resume is not meant to brag or tout anything special about me except to state that I’ve been exposed to a lot of writing and reading, including plenty of college textbooks and intellectual tomes.

            My reading interest, despite all that college, still remains with fiction, which many consider “lowbrow.” It will be for the foreseeable future.

            Since I’ve been exposed to so many different writing styles, I know what works for me and what doesn’t. I’m not everyone, but at the same time, I’ve been around long enough to have punished myself with stuff I haven’t really been comfortable with until I finally realized why I wasn’t comfortable with it. That revelation came about when I started writing in the mid-nineties. It became even more pronounced as I became a better and more proficient writer.

            Despite that rather lengthy resume, I still must say that I’m not everyone. What I have at least proven to myself is that despite anomalies, a lot of the stuff I like best ends up being on the best seller lists. Sure, many of what I call anomalies end up as best sellers as well, but some tend to polarize a lot more readers than the easer-to-read styles.

            Why?

THE WAY I SEE IT

            It boils down to the easy read.

            Some authors get slammed for “dumbing down” their work to the “base level” and pandering to the lowest common denominator.

            Oh yeah?

            So, that means that when an author writes an easy read that everyone can enjoy, it’s supposed to suck? It sucks because it’s not “challenging” or “intellectually stimulating” enough to satisfy the highbrows?

            Without naming names, I’ll give you examples of what I’m talking about.

            The easier books don’t throw the dictionary at the reader.

            The easier books aren’t filled with endless characterization.

            The easier books don’t jerk at the heartstrings with some complex deep meanings or political or philosophical candyrock psychedelic profundities.

            The easier books aren’t written in some odd format like no punctuation or 150K words with only three chapters.

            The easier books aren’t written in multiple tenses or points of view switching from first to third to first every chapter.

            The easier books don’t have blatant taboo subject matter for shock value.

SUMMARY

            The shame of it all is that there are thousands upon thousands of great stories out there. It’s all in the manner of telling (or showing) them that’s the issue.

            Then there are plenty of lousy stories as well. Many of them, unfortunately, get published. I’ve read a few. My reviews reflect the good and the bad.

            Do you prefer to tell your great story in a way that is accessible to everyone, or to few?

            That’s the choice you have to make.

            Happy writing!