Years of English classes, reading books and articles, writing newsletters and reviews have taught me a few lessons. The most important of these is how to grab your audience’s attention and hold it. In this age of instant gratification and hyper attention deficits, the faster you get to your point the better. I look at informational websites and grade them according to this scale: 50% brevity, 40% relevance, and 10% articulation (or art). Brevity is paramount: I want a concise explanation, the idea expressed in as few words as possible. Relevance ranks secondary, and almost as high as brevity: I want this explanation put into a relevant context, preferably as close to my situation as possible. Finally, I want articulation, because how the information distinguishes itself factors into its retention and usability. Better language, artful and skilled presentation, mean less chance that I will forget or dismiss it. Jakob Nielsen, usability guru, has an interesting article on web users’ reading habits.

My scale changes when grading fictional work. I am guessing that brevity will scale down and articulation will rank much higher. I base this on the assumption that fiction readers’ primary objectives are pleasure and entertainment.