Reader survey
You come across the term “spatial deconcentration” in a novel about squatters on the Lower East Side in the mid-nineties. You:
A) Know what it means
B) Don’t know what it means and look it up
C) Don’t know what it means and skip over it
D) Don’t know what it means and put the book down
Why do I ask you? Because defining terms like that within the prose is hella clunky and awkward. But it’s in there, so… Honestly. What would you do as a reader?
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A.
b. I use Wikipedia a lot.
B. I always look up what I don’t know.
B. I always look up what I don’t know.
B. I always look up what I don’t know.
B or C. If I’m really into the book and the phrase seems important to the scene/plot/character, I’ll look it up. Don’t mind learning something new, and it wouldn’t deter me from reading the book unless it was full of stuff like that. Then it would just make me feel stupid and I’d move on.
A
C, unless knowing the proper definition seemed vital to understanding the book.
Bit of B, bit of E: come up with a definition that makes sense to me within the context of the story.
Never, ever D.
I second what Leslie said. Look it up or not – depending on my mood and how much I’m enjoying (or not). Too many instances and I figure I’m not the reader the author was writing for.
C, or B if the context didn’t make sense.
C or B based on my mood.
Probably C, but I’m pretty good at inferring meaning from the text.
If I’m reading an e-book I would look it up since the dictionary function is quick and inobtrusive.
I never looked up words while reading on paper, it’s too much of an interruption to the flow.
I’d go for “E. Don’t know what it means but make an educated guess.” Usually the sentences and paragraphs that follow will help me figure it out without having to spell it out for me explicitly.
I would never pick D. unless the book was full of terms like that. 🙂
B or C, along the same lines as what Leslie said and depending on context. If I think I can more or less figure it out from context or if it’s only a passing reference, I won’t bother looking it up, at least not right then. If it seems central to understanding the story or the characters and context doesn’t help, I’ll look it up.
B
C. Unless it’s used over and over and I can’t figure out what’s happening, in which case B.
B or C – I extrapolate from the text and if I can’t make it work I look it up.
C – unless I don’t get any clue from the context, then I might look it up. If the book was full of terms I had to figure out, I might put it down. But it would probably need other problems before I would stop reading.
B – I’m kind of a nerd that way!
E, along with Deepa. I like reading things that stretch my vocabulary.
I’m in the most likely figure it out from context, but look it up if I can’t figure it out group. Just for further info, I would never put a book down because I had to look up a term or two. I would most definitely put a book down that kept breaking the flow of the narrative to define stuff. Then again I read a lot of SciFi/Fantasy that is constantly making up words and defining them only with context, so that might have something to do with my attitude.
Sort of A. I haven’t heard that phrase before but I think I understand what it means so I’d plug along and if I got really confused then I would go look it up.
I agree with Heather G. I would look it up in an ereader, probably not if I was reading a paper book. In that case I would infer from context. I would not stop reading the book only because I had to look up/infer a term or two (or even five).
C. Either I’ll figure out what it means, or it will turn out to be not important enough to the story. Never D. I’d much rather have a couple of ‘huh?’ moments than be hit over the head with explainy bits over and over again.
Somewhere between B and C. First thing I’ll try to do is try to figure out the meaning of the word based on the context of the sentence. If that doesn’t work, mostly I’ll be too lazy to look it up, unless I’m really curious and/or engaged in the book, in which case I’ll google it. If I read too many of those types of terms in the book, I’ll roll my eyes, call it pretentious and put it down.
Follow up note. I’m going to look up the term now so when I purchase my copy of your book (!!!!) I’ll know what it means. 🙂
If it’s on a Kindle I’d look it up, on account of it being so easy to do so. Otherwise – skip.
B if I’m reading on my iPad, C if it’s a real book.
I don’t think a phrase like that could be defined by the kindle dictionary — I’ll bet you’d get a dfn for “spatial” and another “dfn” for “deconcentration.” For me, I would guess based on context that “spacial deconcentration” means breaking up a dense population and dispersing them, and then I would keep reading.
A thought: What about a brief introduction to your novel that gave some background info on the issue of squatting, brief history of how long it has been going on, different points of view, how it has been handled by different governments especially in NYC, and definining terms like “spatial deconcentration” in the intro?
This reader likes introductions, especially when the story takes place in a setting/context that is unfamiliar to me. 😉
C, unless the context it’s in didn’t explain it. Then B. I hate loose ends…
B. But probably I would look it up when I had a break in the reading. Then I would ponder.
C. I’d trust that its meaning (if significant to the story) will become apparent as the book progresses.
C — usually the situation and a good writer (which you are!) will make it clear without having to define it. If it really bothers me, though, B.
C. Ditto precisely what Sara Shepard said.
I’ve been inhaling books since I learned to read at about age 3-1/2 (when my brother started kindergarten and shared his lessons) so I have a pretty extensive vocabulary and I can usually figure out the meaning from context, but if I can’t (or sometimes even if I think I can but, given my long-term love affair with dictionaries…) I’ll look it up. Maybe not right away if I’m really into the book and don’t want to interrupt the flow, but eventually.
If it happens more than once or twice, I would probably put the book down. It seems like it would be easy to figure out from the context, but it sounds faux-technical, when a much cleaner construction would work in a novel.