Readers, do you prefer to read between the lines while reading a novel, for inst

Question: Readers, do you prefer to read between the lines while reading a novel, for instance!.!.!.!?

!.!.!.or do you prefer to have the writer "spell everything out" for you (be it fiction, of course) !?Www@QuestionHome@Com

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this reminds me of the story of the Eastern European literature after the WW2!. You see, after the war almost half of Europe fell under communism!.!.!. and communism meant in most of those literatures two things!.!.!. propaganda writings, praising the worker and his endless powers on one side and censorship against any real artistic attempt on the other side!. great writers either ceased writing, or started to hide themselves!.!.!. in order to cheat the censors and remain true to themselves, therefore, regardless of the country, there is always a double type of discourse!.!.!. behind the "official" discourse of the writing, there were hidden codes!.!.!. meant to be discovered only by the reader - this lead to a type of brother ship in pain between the writer and their public!.

there were three main types of encoding!.!.!. history (for instance, to write about a tyrant in the Middle Ages, but to hint at the communist regime), time (you could write a SF odyssey, a dark dystopia, but in fact to point out the political problems of the nation, something like Orwell's 1984) and space (to write about an exotic, usually African country, but again to manage to emphasize the problems people struggled with on a daily life)!. Thus, there was always darkness and pain!.!.!. but that pain was placed!.!.!. elsewhere, everywhere they could think of!.

the problem with that novel now is pretty strange!.!.!. there is a huge debate now in Europe regarding how much of that novel resists in the history of Europe!. After the falling of communism, people problems changed and took other shapes, the generations of the readers today can't decode those writings anymore with the same genuineness!.!.!. and much of their meanings has been totally lost!. those writings simply lost their public!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I generally like room for my imagination to come into play, so I don't want every detail explained to me!. That puts me more in the "read between the lines" group than the "spell everything out" group!.

For instance, I found it enormously appealing that you never knew the second Mrs!. de Winter's first name (in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier)!. I like it that Jane Austen doesn't give you a detailed description of every character in the story!. With her books, you have to picture most of her main characters using what little description she gives coupled with their personalities and other characters' reactions to them!.

However, I don't really like it when the ending is up in the air and leaves you hanging!. My Cousin Rachel (also by Daphne du Maurier) is an exception to this preference!. I really do like loose ends to be tied up!. I don't like the "what the heck just happened" ending!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

For me, Being to read between the lines is amazing and it gives me a better sense of "accomplishment" in my understanding of the book!. I feel like I've actually understood the book well!. Plus, if things aren't spelled out for me, I'll have more motivation to analyze!.

For example, in The Yearling, the theme is quite obvious and not at all subtle!.(Just read the last paragraph-you'll know what I mean!.) It's about growing up and making sacrifices, and everyone knows it!.

Because she outright tells us the theme, I don't care much for reading between the lines and analyzing more!. "Why should I!? She already gave me the theme!." are basically my thoughts about that!. She might have expected me to analyze, but I don't care to!.

But I'm getting off topic!.!.!.Anyway, although I LIKE to read between the lines, there are times when I NEED things to be spelled out for me in order for me to understand!. Plus, all that analyzing gets tiring after a while!.

Wow, I'm rambling!. I should end this answer before your heads explode due to my endless and badly/verbosely-expressed ideas!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I've taken so many analytical courses that it's impossible for me to read a book or story without analyzing it!.

I like the story to be understandable, but vaguely ambiguous!. I like when stuff is implied, or when there are double entendres that make a reader think or reconsider their original judgement!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Reading between the lines!.!.!.although I usually interpret it differently and find symbolism and literary techniques that the author never intended!

Allowing the reader to read between the lines is the magic of reading! Unlike a film where is almost impossible for the reader to do so!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I agree with some of the prior posters that while one doesn't wish to be left scratching one's head wondering what the author is getting at, it's best to leave a bit of the detail to the reader's imagination and let us create some of our own subtext!. In this way, the story takes on a kind of life of its own -differing slightly from reader to reader!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A mixture between the both, I dont like them to be too symbolic like a poem and you have to read one line over and over just to get sense of what it means, but you dont want it to be a childrens book either,if you get what I meanWww@QuestionHome@Com

I prefer to read between the lines - if you always have things spoon-fed to you, you'll never learn to be a critical thinker and see beyond the superficial!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

i for sure like to read between the lines because it is more interesting for the reader and it shows the authors writing styleWww@QuestionHome@Com

Personally, subtexts are very important to me!.
I like to figure everything out on my own!. :)Www@QuestionHome@Com

Well it depends on the event itself!. Some events requires to be cleared up and others would be definitely much better if let for the reader to think about!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Always between the lines but then I all too often find I end up reading a different book!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yup, I love expectations and be happy when mine are right*Www@QuestionHome@Com

A little of both :)Www@QuestionHome@Com

It isn't a matter of having everything spelled out for you - it's a matter of trusting that your readers have imaginations and that they are intelligent enough to use them!.

The absolutely WORST possible thing you can do is use a lot of meaningless descriptions - filling the book up with irrelevant chapters and tons of adjectives and adverbs!. That is the sign of a rank amateur and all of that stuff will end up red penned by the editor anyway!.

A novel is anywhere between 50 - 150K words!. If you fall in that range and you have told your story from beginning to end - leave it alone!. If it is less than that, STILL leave it alone and make it a novella!.

What you have is a bad case of JKRowlingitis - you are trying to be another author - in this case it's Tolkienitis!. That is not YOU!. The more you try and write in his style, the farther away from your own voice you will get!.
To quote Stephen King, when it comes to all these silly details about hair color, eye color, clothes, etc - he says "Spare Me"!. Unless there is some specific reason why I need to know this information - don't use it!. I would bet you couldn't correctly identify the eye color of half of the people you talk to every day!. Why!? Because when you are talking to them, you are focused on their thoughts, not the color of their eyes!. I just left 7-11!. I could not tell you what color eyes or hair the clerk had or what he was wearing!. It just doesn't matter!.

Mr!. King also says "the road to hell is paved with adverbs"!. By that he means, do not tell us things like!.

"Hello, Susan," he said happily!.

Show - not tell!. Spare us the excess adverbs and adjectives!.

NEVER substitute description for content!. By that I mean, do not use a ton of filler by using all kinds of words to describe simple things!. Do you know why people enjoy reading rather than going to movies!? Because they like being able to use their imagination!. Don't shove description down their throats!. Your forest is not necessarily the forest I imagine!. Allow your readers that luxury!. It is a sign of amateur authors to dump tons of adjectives and adverbs into paragraphs to extend them!. It's like adding water to a chocolate milkshake to make it last longer!. It may last longer, but it will taste like hell!. (I like that one!)

Remember what Shakespeare said in Henry V !.!.!.

Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' th' receiving earth;
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times,
Turning th' accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass; for the which supply,

In other words - it isn't necessary to describe a horse - everyone knows what a horse looks like!. And while we're at it, we know what a king looks like and an hourglass, too!. We aren't idiots - we are readers!.

Stephen King discusses this at length in his masterwork On Writing!. Amateur writers over describe!. They fill pages and pages with adjectives and adverbs and purple prose thinking they are doing their readers a great favor when in fact they are doing their readers an injustice by taking away that wonderful part of reading a book that is called "using your imagination"!.

If people wanted to know exactly what everything looked like - they would go to the movies!. Your story will be MUCH duller is people have to read page after page of vivid description of a horse than it will if you just say - it's a horse and move on!. Shakespeare knew that!. He knew to do otherwise was insulting to his audience!. Plus - he couldn't always afford horses for his plays!.

People who read aren't stupid!. They don't have to be led by the nose!. They have imaginations, too!.

Mr!. King states that "The road to hell is paved with adverbs" And I am certain there are more than a few adjectives along the way, too!.

Use your vivid descriptions to put emotion and character into your story TO AN EXTENT, but focus more on your plot and characterizations!. We don't need to know every single detail in nauseating detail!. It is just amateur, bad writing!.

Have you read On Writing!? You really should!. Pax-CWww@QuestionHome@Com