Do Spoilers Ruin a Good Story? No, Say Researchers 238
Hugh Pickens writes "According to a recent study at the University of California San Diego, knowing how a book ends does not ruin its story and can actually enhance enjoyment. It suggests people may enjoy a good story as much as a good twist at the end, and even if they know the outcome, will enjoy the journey as much as the destination. 'It could be that once you know how it turns out, you're more comfortable processing the information and can focus on a deeper understanding of the story,' says co-author Jonathan Leavitt. Researchers gave 12 short stories to 30 participants where two versions were spoiled and a third was not. In all but one story, readers said they preferred versions which had spoiling paragraphs written into it. Even when the stories contained a plot twist or mystery, subjects preferred the spoiled versions. 'Plots are just excuses for great writing,' says social psychologist Nicholas Christenfeld. 'As a film director, your job isn't really to come to the conclusion that the butler did it. A single line would do that.'"
Re:Dumbledore dies in book 6 (Score:5, Interesting)
I think this view is somewhat shortsighted. As an author who enjoys writing stories with a solid twist in them, there is some validity to what you say, but then again, it depends on what you're trying to get out of the book.
I find 98% of my readers don't spot the twist in my story until it's actually put to them and even then I spell it out for about 90% of them. The other 2% see it but only when it's getting really close, despite it being obvious from chapter 1.
The purpose of the twist is to provide enjoyment - to set the reader up so they almost see it coming but can't quite work it out. To give them a chance to keep on guessing and to see how close they got. To achieve this, I use the bias of the reader against them so that they keep second guessing themselves until the final twist is revealed. To make sure all the clues are in plain sight is essential, but I still avoid showing the obvious thread between them.
This also serves the purpose of giving the story re-readability. So that someone can read it a second time while knowing what the twist is and see all the subtle things they missed or misunderstood the first time. Nuances in conversation, tweaks in attitude. In this way the second reading is sometimes more important than the first.
And I think that the missing piece of the research here is to consider whether the reader is reading the story once or twice. If knowing the twist, even one like the sixth-sense twist, helps you enjoy those nuances and you're only going to read the story once or watch the movie a single time, then sometimes knowing can enhance the enjoyment.
I had never considered such before, but having thought about it, it actually makes sense. But I won't be posting any spoilers... Feel free to ask though. :)
GrpA.