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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/44589
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Many recommend the Hemingway app, which pushes simplicity and the lowest possible reading level. Where I live, an illiterate person is defined as any person who reads below a grade nine level. The Hemingway app would have us writing for the semi-literate. It encourages such by designating a grade 6 reading level as good. When I was a tutor, that would have been fine for the material we presented to the students, but it was not considered normal.

I refuse to believe that polysyllabic words are evil. Simple words often lack precision, requiring more explanation of the scene to maintain even a fraction of the meaning intended.

I love Hemingway and Blake, both who chose simplicity of diction and style to denote complex thoughts. I prefer Hugo and Tolstoy, Shelley, Byron and Tennyson, who were not afraid to describe something and were writing for an educated audience.

When I began my novel, I was reading to my former student, so found myself choosing words based on his reading level. When he later told me he was not interested in my story, I realized I was free to write it as it ought to be written. I like precise words and will not dumb my novel down.

Has the bar truly been lowered so much that we are now encouraged to write for the illiterate?

My real question is, how to maintain clarity without losing precision?

Original score: 13