The other day I was talking with a friend about movie spoilers and whether they ruin the experience of watching the movie, specifically spoilers that give away the plot twists in thrillers or mysteries. She mentioned a study that she’d heard about last year that examined spoilers and books.
I found this article referencing the study: Spoilers Don't Ruin Stories from The Huffington Post. It posed some interesting questions.
The author of the article asked, “is plot irrelevant, and is a story really about the process as opposed to the result? Or are there just two types of people in this world -- ones that enjoy spoilers and ones who don't?”
Other paraphrased points/questions the article raised:
- Is the value of a story in how it’s told?
- Do readers enjoy books where they know the outcome more because it’s easier to read?
- Does it lessen the stress of “negative” plot twists to know they are coming?
I imagine with only three sampled pages she might miss a major character dying off, but it seems to be a system that works for her. She devours books and speed-reads at an astounding rate. Apparently, knowing the end of the story does not diminish her enjoyment of reading. In fact, I’d say it helps her lessen the “severe emotional stress” the Huffington Post article refers to, so she can sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey.
To some extent, I can understand that. When I read a romance, I expect the two (or more) people the story is about to end up together and for the arc of their relationship to have a satisfactory, happy ending. This, of course, can be subjective. My definition of “happy” and someone else’s might not mesh. When I finish a romance and it doesn’t fit my brand of happy, I’m disappointed and wished I’d known the ending going into the book. I might have read it anyway or I might have picked a more romantic story.
What do you think? Do you mind spoilers for the books you read?
What about books that are heavy on mystery or suspense? Would you like to know how it all works out in the end before you start the book?
Sloan Parker
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7 comments:
Sorry, I have to say yes and no. If I'm not so invested perhaps I don't care if I know what happens. If I love it I want my own feelings unhindered. Mostly I want the full experience, without spoilers, but very rarely I'll check out spoilers. Sometimes the spoilers can be wrong though. I've seen info on a book where I've wondered if it's the same book I'm reading. So a spoiler can, in fact, be misinformation. Better to read it myself I think and experience it my way.
Since a majority of what I read is romance, I know that the ending is going to be happy and involve the two people getting together. So that "spoiler" doesn't ruin the journey, but as far as they mystery ...I would prefer to be spoiler free and figure the story out as I read it.
kazzak: That's a really good point about misinformation in spoilers. I've had similar experiences where I'm not sure what story the spoiler was referring to once I read the book. Before I saw this study, I would've thought most people were like you, that they'd want the full experience and all their own feelings about the book without the spoilers. I wonder if larger, repeat studies would have the same outcome. Thanks for stopping by the post!
Constance: I think I'm the same way. In fact, I was trying to remember a mystery or thriller I really loved where I knew what happened before I read it. I can't think of one so perhaps I haven't tested this theory to know enough for sure. Hmmm might have to pick a book I know nothing about and read all kinds of spoilers first, then see what I think of the book. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and giving me an idea for another blog post.
I don't want the story spoilt regardless of genre. I couldn't read the last page until I reached it naturally - no matter how desperate I was to know what happened. But there are spoilers and spoilers and people have different ideas about what spoils a story. I once did a review on Goodreads and a guy got in touch and said I'd spoilt the story. I hid the review though I didn't agree with him because I'd merely used info from the back page of the book and expanded a little but that was his opinion and I respected that.
Hi Barbara. I wouldn't want to read the last page either, even if I knew the general outcome of the story via other spoilers. There's something about experiencing that ending in the moment of following along with the characters that I don't want to spoil. I would guess most people are like you and don't want spoilers. I think my niece gets a lot of weird looks from people when she explains her process. Thanks for stopping by!
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