The Word Cloud

A semi-useful site this.

It'll take your text and tell you how readable it is according to various measures (all of which are explained onsite - don't worry if you don't know your Gunning Fog from your Flesch-Kincaid.) For writers trying to break themselves of bad writing habits acquired during a professional or academic career, then this site can be eye-opening. We know pro authors who subjected their entire first book to a not dissimilar analysis ...

As always, let us know your reactions - we're here to share.

http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/text-statistics.php

I liked this and found it quite revealing. The logic underlying the algorithm makes sense, too.

It seems to me that most writers, whatever the genre, or whether writing fiction or non-fiction, and whatever their readership would aspire to a lower Lexical Density. As the Fog Index is connected to the level of education of the readership being targeted, then a high Fog Index may (or may not) be favourable.