If you’ve been following my Flash Fiction prompt on Fridays, you may notice I mention things called GL and passive sentence structure. Why do I do that and why are those things important?
Some people think if you write, then you’re all good. The problem with that is, you are only as good as your editor when it comes to publishing.
You must know what writing is about.
You must know what it takes to make a story you like.
You must always be learning and realize you don’t know everything and never will, and that’s okay.
Grade Reading Level
GL is the reading grade level of a book. For fiction, you generally want your book not too difficult so the reader can get lost in the story and forget they are reading at all. If you can do that, you have a good reading level.
There are many ways the grade reading level is determined. The one I use it strictly based on the length of sentences and the syllables used. I don’t take into consideration the content of your work. That is something for professionals to determine. I think most of us know if we have violence, profanity, or sex in a book, the reading level is going to go up.
As time goes by, the suggested grade reading level drops according to what society sees as acceptable. In addition, you need to keep in mind the level will be different for the general public than it might be for schools where books are for educational purposes in classrooms.
You might think adults would read books at a level of 12 or higher. Realistically we want something simpler, where we know most of the words if not all of them. Most of the greatest fiction, or most popular, is written around a grade level of five or six, and that is for adult readers as well as teens.
Harry Potter is a GL of around five. Tolkien is around GL 6.5. In other words, don’t knock a GL of 5-6 when you see it in the weekly #Links post I put out.
If you are participating in the weekly prompts and are not writing around that level, it’s up to you to decide if you want to adjust. Now you know how to adjust. If you want a higher GL, use longer words and sentences. If you want a lower GL, then shorter words and sentences.
How do I determine the GL of the entries into the challenge? Word has a built in tool that does it for me.
Now you know why I include the GL in the comments/links for the entries to the challenge.
How about PSS?
I’ve more recently begun including the passive sentence structure percentage. Why did I do that? Passive sentences normally end up being longer and somewhat convoluted, causing the reader to do more to understand the sentence. Passive slows down the reading, the progress, and action of the story.
I know, some of you are thinking your book is not an action story, but each book has something going on that needs to move forward. You want to carry the reader onward. You don’t want to have your reader bogged down and their brain getting tired or bored.
Doing prompt challenges like the one I host, or any blog for that matter, helps you get in the habit of writing in the grade level you like and in an active voice. You don’t want to write an entire book and realize you need to change it all. 350 pages of do over is a daunting thing to face.
Use Word, if you have it, and set things up to check for passive voice. Yes, Word has that ability. Check out Using Proofing To Help Your Fiction Diction & More! to see how to set Word to work for you.
I don’t give much feedback about how to improve writing, because when I have given serious feedback I ended up with anger and defensiveness. That is another reason I put the GL and passive sentence structure percentage in the links.
Ronovan Hester is an author, whose debut historical adventure novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling is available now on Kindle and in Paperback is ready to ship now. Click HERE to choose.
Click the image for Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling on Amazon.com.
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