A semiempirical model, the so-called R-parameter model, introduced by Howerton and Plechaty has been proven to be a simple but, nevertheless, a very successful formalism for the description of gamma-ray spectra emitted in the course of nuclear reactions induced by fast neutrons. By the single parameter R, the gamma-ray spectrum will be predicted with a satisfying reliability in a wide range of nuclear masses and neutron incidence energies. The formalism is limited to neutron incidence energies below the (n,2n) threshold. Above this energy, a proposed modified ansatz yields good results.