<![CDATA[#WritersCoffeeClub 21 April: What's a (maybe silly) hill you're willing to defend?]]> 21 April: What's a (maybe silly) hill you're willing to defend?

The idea that you should write for the broadest audience possible.

Studies show that 54% of the US population read at or below a 6th grade (age 12) level of comprehension.

Fuck 'em, they're not my readers: I write to entertain readers who're willing to put some effort in, I'm not going to enshittify my output to accommodate people who don't read for pleasure. (Low grade readers never got the habit.)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/9fdeb317-14f9-4254-b175-c138970129c5/writerscoffeeclub-21-april-what-s-a-maybe-silly-hill-you-re-willing-to-defendRSS for NodeFri, 15 May 2026 07:13:23 GMTTue, 21 Apr 2026 09:16:02 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to #WritersCoffeeClub 21 April: What's a (maybe silly) hill you're willing to defend? on Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:44:01 GMT]]>@cstross Also, aiming for the broadest audience possible would certainly imply not writing anything offensive. There is another word for writing with nothing that could be offensive to anyone: "bland".

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.mkj.earth/users/mkj/statuses/116442047534417897https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.mkj.earth/users/mkj/statuses/116442047534417897Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:44:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #WritersCoffeeClub 21 April: What's a (maybe silly) hill you're willing to defend? on Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:40:42 GMT]]>@cstross I for one am very appreciative of your approach. I've spent many hours working things through in my head, usually with a moment of "Ah! Very clever" at the end 🙂

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cyberplace.social/users/greem/statuses/116442034482506766https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cyberplace.social/users/greem/statuses/116442034482506766Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:40:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #WritersCoffeeClub 21 April: What's a (maybe silly) hill you're willing to defend? on Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:22:18 GMT]]>@marjolica Unless it's a Bible. (Unread, still in the wrapper.)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wandering.shop/users/cstross/statuses/116441962145669359https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wandering.shop/users/cstross/statuses/116441962145669359Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:22:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #WritersCoffeeClub 21 April: What's a (maybe silly) hill you're willing to defend? on Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:21:02 GMT]]>@cstross I'm guessing that those US 54% are also those who don't have a single book in their house.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.linux.pizza/users/marjolica/statuses/116441957169356859https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.linux.pizza/users/marjolica/statuses/116441957169356859Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:21:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #WritersCoffeeClub 21 April: What's a (maybe silly) hill you're willing to defend? on Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:19:51 GMT]]>@cstross 🔥 ❤️

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaos.social/users/hadez/statuses/116441952509197448https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaos.social/users/hadez/statuses/116441952509197448Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:19:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #WritersCoffeeClub 21 April: What's a (maybe silly) hill you're willing to defend? on Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:18:16 GMT]]>@cstross calling your customers smarter than average also never fails.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.tmm.cx/users/hp/statuses/116441946267794638https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.tmm.cx/users/hp/statuses/116441946267794638Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:18:16 GMT