An author-friend of mine and I often read each other’s work. Last week she used a word in her story that I hadn’t heard before.
I normally use context clues to gain meaning of unfamiliar words, but in this case I still wasn’t sure. I had to look it up.
I ‘ve heard more than once that readers either skip over unfamiliar words (thus not gaining the express meaning of a sentence) or if the author uses too many of them, they put the book aside. Sometimes they do look up the meaning. However, they become irritated if there are too many unfamiliar words in a book and most likely will not select books from that author again.
Readers, please share how you react to unfamiliar words in the books that you read. Authors really do want to hear from you. After all, we really do write for YOU!
brenda poulos 
When I am reading and get to an unfamiliar word, I usually skip it. If the word intrigues me enough, I might look it up in the dictionary (either online or a hardcopy), but that rarely happens.
When I am writing, I try to be cognizant of the vocabulary I am using. For the most part, I want to use words that my audience will be familiar with, but sometimes, I deliberately choose a word with the intention of expanding their vocabulary.
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Thanks for your comment. Sounds like we are in sync.Most people want to enjoy what they read–not have to work hard to understand.
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