Do Spoilers Improve Books?

[SteveEisenberg]

http://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...ren-joy-fowler

The University of California team doctored 12 short stories by a top line-up of writers, including John Updike, Roald Dahl, Anton Chekhov, Agatha Christie and Raymond Carver, to test whether spoilers actually made any difference.

They tested three types of stories: ironic-twist, mystery and literary. Each was presented in three different forms – as originally written, with a prefatory spoiler paragraph, and with that same spoiler paragraph incorporated into the story as though it were a part of it.

Their conclusion: though there were some differences in response, readers in all three categories preferred the spoiled versions to the unspoiled ones.

[susan_cassidy]

I wouldn't have, especially for a mystery. Half the fun is trying to figure out who-dun-it.

[latepaul]

I have never thought it about it in connection with books but for movies I've heard the same idea floated.

I think a really good twist that you didn't see coming can be a pleasure in itself. But really good twists are rare and stories where the author tries to hard to surprise you can suffer in other ways.

A really good movie or book can be endlessly re-read/re-watched and enjoyed as you see new things in it. A twist loses 90% of its effect the first time.

[gmw]

These days I tend to judge a book by how much I want to read it again - the journey is much more important to me than the ending. So spoilers don't worry me a whole lot ... but I prefer to avoid them on a first-time read, I like to give the author a chance to surprise me.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

http://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...ren-joy-fowler

I can find zero information on who these "subjects" were. I'm guessing, on the odds, that they were Psych 101 students. All we know otherwise is that people who had read the classic stories before were excluded. We also know that these were all short stories, not novels or movies or TV series.

Is that really going to be a representative sample? Can we happily apply it to other readers and to other situations? Across the board?

As far as anyone else wanting to decide for me whether spoilers are or aren't good for me: that is incredibly annoying . How about just respecting whether or not other people want spoilers?

[Yapyap]

I don't mind "minor" spoilers (the definition of which will vary from person to person) but I really don't wish to be spoiled for any significant plot twists, significant character deaths or the ending beforehand.

I enjoy re-reading, and I enjoy re-reading for the journey, savouring the path taken to those twists or end results, spotting the hints or foreshadowing I might have missed on the initial read or interpreted differently, but I also want that first time read experience as unspoiled as possible.

Re-reading will always allow me to get the experience of enjoying the journey while knowing what will happen; being spoiled before first read robs me of those surprises I also enjoy.

[dublincheri]

I am a self-described "spoiler slut". My routine has long been to read a few chapters to get a feel for the characters and the story and then read the ending before returning to continue where I had left off. I have enough uncertainty and surprises to cope with in real life that I don't need them in my reading as well, plus I find much more enjoyment in my reading when I'm not rushing through it to see what happens. It is a consistent thing for me, I also read recaps of television shows and movies before I watch them!

[DiapDealer]

I'm a firm believer that a truly "great" book will be fairly spoiler-proof (and I'm not very "spoiler" sensitive to begin with). But having said all that; the "study" seems pretty silly to me. It's about a preference. Many readers simply prefer to enter a relationship with a new book as spoiler-free as possible. So they do; and they like it that way; and their wishes should be honored (within reason) by others who love reading.

It has nothing to do with what is (or what might be better). It's about what a reader wants. It hurts no one for a reader to deceive themselves a bit about the "real" effect spoilers might actually have on them.

Is the purpose of the study some sort of weird attempt to justify being an a-hole and blurting out what some consider spoilers willy-nilly?

[Tarana]

When I was in school, many teachers really pushed the 'tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them' when writing. It's actually the easiest form of teaching and works well for all forms of reports and business documents. So, I would not be surprised by their results. However, as a person who enjoys novels, I actually get annoyed when they reveal too much in the blurb. It spoils the story. Unless, of course, it is actually the author's intent and they reveal the end in the first chapter and then weave a story about how that end comes about.

[xg4bx]

There are a few books and stories that I've read spoilers for and I thought they were clever enough to investigate the work for myself. I knew the ending of the Sixth Sense before watching it but it didn't stop the movie from scaring the bejeezus out of me; sometimes it is the journey that matters.

[Glorfindel]

sometimes I'll skim over the last chapter to see if its worth reading (usually after I read the 1st chapter)

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

I don't mind "minor" spoilers (the definition of which will vary from person to person) but I really don't wish to be spoiled for any significant plot twists, significant character deaths or the ending beforehand.

I enjoy re-reading, and I enjoy re-reading for the journey, savouring the path taken to those twists or end results, spotting the hints or foreshadowing I might have missed on the initial read or interpreted differently, but I also want that first time read experience as unspoiled as possible.

Re-reading will always allow me to get the experience of enjoying the journey while knowing what will happen; being spoiled before first read robs me of those surprises I also enjoy.

This.

[kristalana]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

There are a few books and stories that I've read spoilers for and I thought they were clever enough to investigate the work for myself. I knew the ending of the Sixth Sense before watching it but it didn't stop the movie from scaring the bejeezus out of me; sometimes it is the journey that matters.

Funny, it's been what, 15 years? And I remember exactly how I got spoiled for the Sixth Sense, where we were and what the person said, verbatim. I was pretty mad about that one. I mean I definitely still enjoyed the movie, and it scared the heck out of me, but I'm positive it would have been better without that spoiler.

[Xanthe]

I'll read book blurbs to find out about a book, but I never read the brief excerpts that are usually added to the front pages of a book, and I never read the new book teasers that are included at the end of the book.

The first because I don't want to know what exactly is going to happen, and also because a lot of the times it'll be a scene about a romantic clinch that really is only a small aspect of the story.

The second because if I read the teaser, then when I finally realize there is a new book out, and start to read it, I wind up thinking that I read it already because I'm familiar with the opening chapter(s).

I only skim a book if it's only been able to mildly hold my interest and I just want to find out how it ends. I'm reading one like that now - Janni Neill's first Allegra Fairweather mystery. I'm finding that I don't care about the main character, I think the premise of her hunky guardian angel annoying, and the characters' dialog and behaviors are just too rote.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by meeera

I can find zero information on who these "subjects" were. I'm guessing, on the odds, that they were Psych 101 students.

I should have included the study link in the OP. Here it is:

http://pages.ucsd.edu/~nchristenfeld...s/Spoilers.pdf

Your guess is good. They were 819 psychology students at the University of California, San Diego.

Personally, I am pro-spoiler, but of course wouldn't impose that on others.