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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

Do spoilers spoil? The impact of personality style on narrative selection and enjoyment

30/1/2017

10 Comments

 
Having written a novel with a secret at the heart, I’ve been touched by the care taken by reviewers to avoid divulging the truth behind my character Diana’s façade. In fact, I’m aware of only one review with a spoiler, and that was posted with my approval on the valid assumption/aspiration it might attract readers interested in the novel’s gender theme. But, even if bloggers were less conscientious, I wasn't worried, as research suggested that spoilers don’t spoil, and might even enhance the reading experience. However, when I blogged about this some time ago, my fellow booklovers didn’t seem convinced. Now that new evidence has come to light, it seems that they were right and I shouldn’t have been so complacent.

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In a paper published last year in Psychology of Popular Media Culture Benjamin Johnson of the University of Amsterdam and Judith Rosenbaum of Albany State University report on the relationship between certain personality traits and the impact of spoilers. They found that people with a tendency to avoid thinking selected spoiled stories when given a choice of what to read, while those attracted to emotional stimuli reported that they enjoyed unspoiled stories more.

In the first part of the study, student participants were presented with summaries of short stories either with or without a spoiler, and asked how much they’d like to read the full version “right now”. Those who scored low on the trait need for cognition (indicating a preference for not having to think too hard) were more likely to choose to read a spoiled story, probably because spoilers make the narrative easier to understand.

A possible real-world parallel with this experimental procedure might be whether or not we’re tempted by reviews containing spoilers. Uncomfortably for me, given that I consider myself a deep thinker, is that on at least one occasion, I’ve chosen to read
a novel after reading a review with a spoiler. It’s worth noting, however, that reviews tend to be longer than the summaries used in this research (mean length = 64 words). A better parallel might be the blurb on the back of the book (shorter than reviews, although generally longer than these summaries – mine for my next novel is almost exactly twice that length). Feedback from reviewers who enjoyed my debut novel suggests the blurb underestimated the complexity and emotional intensity of the story but (assuming they’re not low on need for cognition) these readers might still not prefer a spoiled version.

In the second part of the study, participants were given a short story to read in its entirety, after reading a summary of that story that was either spoiled or unspoiled, and then rated it for enjoyment. In this case, those who scored high on the trait need for affect (a tendency to value emotion in their lives), as well as those who those who reported reading fiction for pleasure more frequently enjoyed the unspoiled stories more than the spoiled.

As
an avid reader who looks to mine the depths of emotion in my reading and writing, you might expect me to be disappointed in any spoiled fiction I read. But the (spoiled) novel referred to above was one of my favourite reads of 2014, and I can think of a couple of novels I’d have enjoyed more if the secret hadn’t been saved until the end.

Much of our concern about spoilers in fiction relates to novels, but this research was carried out with short stories – and fairly short short stories, a couple classifiable as
flash fiction at under 1000 words – where spoilers might have a different impact. I might enjoy being baffled for 1122 words (the length of the longest short story in this study) but feel alienated and irritated if it dragged on for 100 times that length. But it would be difficult to replicate this study with longer-form fiction which might take days rather than minutes to read.

The experimenters also investigated some other variables that did not yield significant results, but might nevertheless be of interest. The extent of transportation into the story (based on scores on a 15 item scale with items such as “I could picture myself in the scene of the events described in the story”), reminiscent of
cognitive poetics which explores how neurologically we connect to a fictional world as if it were real, and very satisfying for an author to find in a review, was unaffected by spoilers. Neither was the personality trait need for closure (comprising comfort or otherwise with predictability and ambiguity, for example “I don’t like situations that are uncertain”), of particular interest to me given some differences between readers in their reactions to the ending of Sugar and Snails.

The authors note that spoiler impact may vary according to the timing and nature of the reveal, and the degree of reader control (such as choosing to
skip ahead to the ending before deciding whether it’s worth a read). I think there is potential for exploration of the space between spoiled and unspoiled. In my novel, Sugar and Snails, readers who detect an early hint of the secret prior to the reveal have enjoyed the gradually deepening conviction and the process of discovering whether their suspicions were right.

Thanks to Benjamin Johnson for trusting me with a copy of his paper with Judith Rosenbaum “Who’s Afraid of Spoilers? Need for Cognition, Need for Affect, and Narrative Selection and Enjoyment” and providing the additional information on the length of the stories used in the research. You can find other summaries on
his blog, as well as on The Conversation and on Science of Us.

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No spoilers in the 10 reviews I’ve posted this month – although I did come
pretty close in one, albeit for good reasons. Click on the image for any you might have missed.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
10 Comments
Norah Colvin link
31/1/2017 11:25:00 am

This is really interesting, Anne, and I'm not sure on which side of the fence I sit. I think I'm happy either way. I was one of those readers of Sugar and Snails who detected "an early hint of the secret prior to the reveal (and) enjoyed the gradually deepening conviction and the process of discovering whether (my) suspicions were right." It is not only what happens, but how it happens, and how the characters respond that appeals to me. Finding out how the author is going to weave it into the story can be intriguing. For those of us who re-read books, even more than once (not that I've done that for a while), spoilers must not be an issue. There is more to the pleasure than finding the hidden piece of information. Having said that, I'd probably rather not know who dunnit before reading a mystery. It is definitely something that writers must consider. We are told to never tell everything, to always leave a little mystery. Maybe that's a good point.

Reply
Annecdotist
1/2/2017 10:29:10 am

Thanks for sharing these reflections, Norah, which illustrate the complexity of research in this area as well as the need to be cautious in applying the findings to real life. And you’re right, of course, that there are some types of fiction where spoiling is going to matter more than the others. There are other ways of maintaining tension than a plot twist.

Reply
Paula link
1/2/2017 09:36:12 pm

I would definitely read a time traveling historical novel that told America we were going to get through the next four years without imploding. Can you find me one, Anne, and review it please?

Reply
Annecdotist
2/2/2017 08:48:27 am

If only, Paula! That book would go straight to the top of the bestsellers list.

Reply
Charli Mills
3/2/2017 03:27:42 am

This is fascinating! Although at first I thought I read this wrong: "...people with a tendency to avoid thinking..." Avoid thinking? I didn't know there are people who avoid thinking! Oh, certainly, there were those I suspected didn't think, but now I'm disheartened to realize there really are people who don't think. I have also read some books or articles after knowing the spoiler, but I think there was a greater complexity that compelled me. Much for me to think about!

Reply
Annecdotist
6/2/2017 01:16:48 pm

Your comment made me smile, Charli, but sometimes it is fascinating and starting to discover the ways in which others’ minds work differently to our own. On the other hand, differences that are assessed only by questionnaire, as in much of experimental psychology, might not capture the complexity. Still, I think it’s great that anyone has even tried to research spoilers.

Reply
Irene Waters link
19/3/2018 05:34:22 am

Very interesting Anne. Personally I prefer not to have spoilers and would never read the ending prior to getting there through reading the narrative as it was written.

Reply
Annecdotist
19/3/2018 08:35:39 am

Thanks, Irene. I’d tend to agree, apart from that one novel I was drawn to because of the spoiler. But in that case it wasn’t the ending that was spoiled but a surprise that comes about a third of the way in.

Reply
Marsha link
5/2/2021 02:29:23 am

Hi Anne, I'm getting acquainted with quite a few different posts, and this one is thought provoking as a book reviewer. I don't like to spoil a book for a reader of one of my reviews. I sometimes avoid this by picking favorite quotes. Thanks for this post. It will be linked to one of your comments in Story Chat.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
5/2/2021 04:13:12 pm

Thanks for rooting around, Marsha, and I'm glad you liked this post. I do think it's difficult with reviews as the spoiler is sometimes what makes the novel is so interesting. I've had a similar experience with a review I've written recently: Ten Days. I didn't spell out the issue, but I think a reader could guess and I hope I haven't spoilt it for them.

Reply



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