In Defense of Spoilers (!)

Spoilers freshen up stories
Readers get pleasure from knowing what's coming
By Bruce Bower
Web edition : Friday, August 19th, 2011
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/333505/title/Spoilers_freshen_up_stor...

People who read the last page of a mystery novel first may be on to something. Giving away plot surprises generally makes readers like stories better, say psychology graduate student Jonathan Leavitt and psychologist Nicholas Christenfeld, both of the University of California, San Diego.

Volunteers especially enjoyed classic short stories, including mysteries and tales with ironic twists, after seeing spoiler paragraphs that revealed how the yarns ended, Leavitt and Christenfeld report in a paper published online August 12 in Psychological Science.

“Spoilers may enhance story enjoyment by making texts easier to read and understand, leading to deeper comprehension, or they may reduce readers’ anxiety about what’s to come, allowing them to focus on a story’s aesthetic details,” Leavitt says. These responses could explain why a favorite book can be read many times with undiminished pleasure, he suggests.

It’s also possible that spoilers amplify stories’ appeal by increasing tension, Leavitt adds. Giving away the ending of, say, Oedipus Rex may elicit pleasurable tension as a reader contemplates the title character marching unknowingly to his doom. ...

J. Leavitt and N. Christenfeld. Story spoilers don't spoil stories. Psychological Science. Published online Aug. 12, 2011. doi:10.1177/0956797611417007.

Morphidae needs to read this article. She's known this forever and always reads the endings before the book.

I agree - for rereads. Obviously I know what's going to happen when I reread a book, and it doesn't ruin the story. But regardless of what they or anybody else says, I prefer to go into most new books spoiler-free.

Spoilers have never bothered me. I don't read the end of the book first, but it's okay if I know some things before I read the book. One of my best RL friends will cut your head off (figuratively even though it feels very real) if you tell her anything about a book.

Yes, Elaine, I'm talking about you.

I prefer not to know on a first read but if I accidentally come across spoilers it usually doesn't ruin anything for me. Well, other than for murder mysteries. Those I don't want to know!

I might have to agree with this. Before thinking about it, whenever I read the last page, one of these three things happen.

1. Nothing happens, and I'm hopelessly confused.

2. It spoils the whole book for me (that may have happen 1 1/2 times)

3. It spoils it, but the ending is somewhat still of a surprise.

But now that I do think of other possibilities...this person may be on to something, all I have to do is remember, which will never happen.

If the book is dragging and poorly written, I will skip to the end to see if there is anything there worth plodding through the book for. Murder mysteries, I prefer not to know. *shrug* Like others, they don't really ruin the story if it is a well written book there, but I don't purposely seek them out, either.

>7 MrsLee: Is there any other types of mysteries besides "murder mysteries"?

#8 - Yup!

I really am a 'flick-forwarder'. I've tried to break the habit, but I just can't. I just get so stressed about what might, or might not, happen to the characters. I find it much easier to read and enjoy if I have a heads up. I often enjoy a second read much more, and oddly enough, still get stressed knowing what's coming - but not quite as much.

HOORAY FOR SPOILERS!

But I won't spoil things intentionally for others, who are not of the same mind as myself.

Never liked spoilers much. Part of the fun is not knowing. Rereading something in my mind doesn't mean its spoiled for you. Spoiling a book implies something or someone else telling you. If you've read a book already you just know how it ends ahead of time. Spoilers imply outside influence as far as Im concerned.

Me no likey spoilers. Can't do it.

I've been threatened with abstinence for spoilerage. I'm not so worried about it. I'll avoid huge spoilers, but if I know $character is going to die, but it's not the main point of the book, I'm not horrified.