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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/29643
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/29643
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Apparently not, according to this study ([https://contently.com/strategist/2015/01/28/this-surprising-reading-level-analysis-will-change-the-way-you-write/](https://contently.com/strategist/2015/01/28/this-surprising-reading-level-analysis-will-change-the-way-you-write/)) which found popular authors spred all acorss the reading ease scale from Ernest Hemmingway at a grade 5 level to Michael Cricton at a grade 9 level.

This does not surprise me. It is generally more educated people who read novels anyway, so simplicity of language should not be an overwhelming issue for them. Compelling story seems much more likely to be the determining factor for the average novel reader.

Orwell's advice, we should remember, was aimed principally at writer of non-fiction. Not to say it does not apply to novelists as well, but it is well to remember that the writing of a lot of nonfiction should be accessible to the average citizen, whereas the average novel reader is likely better schooled and will certainly read at a higher grade level, if only because they get more practice.

Curiously, the writer of the study cited above had just the opposite concern, that people would turn their noses up at books that used simple language. So his message is that it is okay to use simple language. But his results equally show that it is okay to use more complex language as well.

Original score: 3