I get it. I do.
But I still hate spoilers.
And, okay, it's one thing to talk about the ending of, say, Harry Potter, because at this point, who DOESN'T know that ending. (I mean, unless someone tells you they're reading the books for the first time and have never seen the movies . . . or the movie previews. And has been living under a rock. Then of course I wouldn't talk about the ending.) (And if you're one of those people, do NOT look at the image at the end of this post!) Or the ending of Titanic. Or Thelma and Louise, which I've never seen but know exactly what happens. Endings like those become iconic and part of pop culture. They're almost impossible not to know.
But anything new, or new-ish? PLEASE DON'T TELL ME. Like, I don't even want to know if a book ends on a cliff-hanger. Which is where my questions for you come in.
Do you consider it a spoiler if someone tells you a book ends on a cliff-hanger? What about if they reveal that there's a HUGE twist, even if they don't tell you what the twist is?
I kind of do. I don't consider either one a malicious spoiler or anything--not anywhere near the level of giving away what specifically happens at the end or the exact details of the huge plot twist. But . . . at the same time, it tells me something about a book that I want to find out on my own. If I hear a book ends on a cliff-hanger, I usually don't read the book until the next in the series is out. If I hear a book has a huge twist in it, more times than not I'm able to predict what's going to happen instead of being surprised, because I unconsciously go into the book looking for what twists could be coming. Yanno?
So anyway, tell me your thoughts!
xo
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I like spoilers. I like spoilers because sometimes getting to the end just ain't worth it. I'm the kind of person who goes to moviepooper.com to read the end of the movie to decide if I even want to see the movie. Sure, I miss out on the Huge Twist I Never Saw Coming! But I also miss out on the Yeah I Kind of Figured You'd Screw This Up, Movie People bombs, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm not as bad about this with books. But I hunt down TV spoilers like nobody's business.
Like you, I loathe spoilers. There have been some that have actually made me cry because I was so upset/angry/frustrated at having been spoiled.
ReplyDeleteBut.
I don't view just knowing that there is a cliffhanger as a spoiler. I pretty much assume any book that isn't a stand alone novel (which is most of them these days) will have a cliffhanger. Otherwise, what's the point of a sequel?
Re: Plot twists - I can go either way. It doesn't bother me so much to know, so long as I don't know WHAT it is. On the other hand, knowing that there is one makes me try to figure out what it is as I read making my reading experience different than it would have been.
I don't like book spoilers or movie spoilers, but I do like TV series spoilers. :) My husband will get so mad at me sometimes....or even better, if the suspense is killing us, he'll go, "Fine! Just tell me, because I know you already looked it up!" And then I win times infinity.
ReplyDeleteThe only spoilers I like are the ones in TV magazines, for the soaps - like, "Tina taken hostage!" or "Lesley dies - acident or MURDER?" (guess which UK soap opera those are from ;) ).
ReplyDeleteI HATE it when I'm reading something and someone goes, "ohh, I've read that one - did you guess that Dave McTwistending did it?" And I'm like, no, because I'm only 2 chapters in...
Hahaha! Love that pic! Those are two of my all time hotty hot actors! No seriously.
ReplyDeleteAnywho - I like spoilers. Someone will say "oh I don't want to ruin it for you" and I'm like "no, go ahead, I want to know". Really I do. I usually go on Wiki to look up movies or books and find out what it is all about before I even read/watch it. Why? Because I want to know if it's even worth my time to invest in. but that's just my opinion.
Great post and question!
Spoilers don't bother me (I'm one of those terrible people who will read the ending of a book before I get there), but I totally respect people who have a strict no-spoiler policy. With them, I say absolutely nothing about a book I've read that they haven't. It's only polite. :)
ReplyDeleteI never really thought of either of those things as spoilers. But I see how that could be. So I'll probably stop going around telling people these things now.
ReplyDeleteI HATE spoilers and I don't think I would be okay with cliffhanger or big twist because then I'd be anticipating it as I read.
ReplyDeleteGreat question!
I love spoilers! Mainly because I HATE surprises...like, usually my husband and I will exchange gifts for special occasions days before the actual occasion because neither one of us can wait. So spoil away!
ReplyDeleteI do read a book differently if I know there's a cliffhanger or a big twist. It can make me like a book less, actually, especially if I'm able to predict the ending because of that. Also, LOVE the image at the end. Too funny. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit of a spoiler Nazi. I once yelled at Sarah Fine, for revealing what I thought was a spoiler about The Marbury Lens. Then, she gently pointed out that the info was in the jacket copy.
ReplyDeleteI felt like such a moron. But then again, I still don't read jacket copy. I'll never learn.
I don't like spoilers at all, but hints about cliffhangers and plot twists don't bother me. :)
ReplyDeleteI definitely consider it a spoiler. Why? Because there was this one time I was reading the book FIGHT CLUB (and I had never ever seen the movie), and some kid at camp walked up to me and otld me the twist/cliff hanger/ending/thing. I was sooo mad! I was so close to figuring it out myself and was curious if I was right and then this kid just TOLD me the ending/spoiler... gah!
ReplyDeleteBTW I am stopping by from Katy Upperman's blog :)
I'm with Linda and Cam, I don't mind spoilers...and occasionally I read the ending first. (not often) Except with mysteries. I do NOT want to know anything about the ending of a mystery.
ReplyDeleteBut, I am careful not to spoil stories for others. (books, movies, TV) That's why I don't live tweet TV shows like so many others do...because with time zones and Tivo, I don't want to spoil it, OR be spoiled. (since we tivo everything)
Well, obvs, I DO live tweet awards shows. ;) But, they're LIVE, so everyone SHOULD be watching them at the same time, right? Because the news media will spoil who wins, so we're fine on our live tweeting of awards shows. Right? RIGHT.
I hate spoilers of any kind! All I want to know is if trusted friends loved it (book, movie, TV show, whatever). That's plenty to get me on-board. That said, I do love discussing all things entertainment once everyone's on the same page.
ReplyDeleteGreat question, Sara!
I hate being told there is a twist in a book/movie because then I spend the entire time I'm watching/reading trying to figure out the twist. It's just what my brain does. And because I'm watching for a twist, I usually do figure it out and then I'm not as surprised by it.
ReplyDeleteI hate spoilers, unless it's a book or play where pretty much everyone knows the ending anyway, like Romeo and Juliet. My little brother used to watch the PBS program Wishbone, and I freaking hated having to be in the room while it was on, since it ruined the endings of a lot of books I'd been looking forward to reading, like Pride and Prejudice. What's there to look forward to if I've just essentially been told the entire plot and the final outcome?
ReplyDeleteBut if it's a book I'm not intending to read, I don't care if I know the ending or plotline spoilers. I'm very sure I'm never going to read Harry Potter or certain other overhyped books, for example.
Yeah i hear you. Because if they say there's a clifhanger, then i know things won't be resolved and it lessens the tension. Or if there's a twist, i'll start looking for it ahead of time
ReplyDeleteI hate spoilers, especially for books. Like Sarah said above, if I know that a certain thing is going to happen, I'll start looking for it as I read, and really, that spoils all the fun of reading for me.
ReplyDeleteI HATE SPOILERS! Oh man, so much. Knowing there's a twist or a cliffhanger is definitely a spoiler for me. And I know I can't force everyone in the world to not post them, but is it too much to ask that they warn me beforehand?!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you. Even if not a full-on spoiler, I don't want to hear it. I want to experience it for myself!
ReplyDeleteSomeone told me something about a character in a previous season of Dexter before I watched it. It wasn't a total spoiler since I didn't know what exactly would happen, but the whole time I watched the season, I kept waiting for something to happen to that character and it was so distracting!
I don't usually mind TV spoilers (I'm about a billion episodes behind on Glee, but I still know all the Big News that's going on.) I mean, it's only 45 minutes (usually). (But when I found out the Sherlock ending? STINKS. Totally going to watch, though...)
ReplyDeleteBook spoilers=worse things EVER.
When books have killer cliff-hanger endings, I usually advise people to slow down, or just put down the book in middle, and wait a while. I always wish people would do that for me, so the wait until the sequel doesn't kill me as slowly and painfully.
By the way, loving Blog Me MAYbe! I posted yesterday AND today! I'm proud of me. =D
~Riv Re
Riv Reads
I hate, hate, hate spoilers, and I think saying there is going to be a twist is just as much of a spoiler as saying what happens. Because then I spend my whole time trying to anticipate the twist and not enjoying the ride.
ReplyDeleteI hardly even read jacket copy. I like going in with as little info as possible.