#11: Spoilers
We’ve all been there. Some people just don’t have the common decency to keep their months shut, others are just ignorant of the fact that you may not have read the book yet. Whatever the reason, getting spoiled sucks! When it happens to me I try not to let it ruin my reading experience but, well, it doesn’t always work.
Spoilers have the potential to ruin a reading experience. Imagine if someone told you the ending of Deathly Hallows when you were only in the middle of Order of the Phoenix. What if you’re expecting someone to die for an entire book, all you do is sit there worrying about when it will happen rather than enjoying the journey.
If you’ve read a book:
- Ask before you start spouting spoilers.
- Change the subject to something you KNOW they’ve read.
- Be courteous.
- Don’t post spoilers without warning people first.
If you don’t want to be spoiled:
- Avoid Twitter and tumblr during huge releases.
- DO NOT post that you don’t want to be spoiled, there will be that one jerk who will do it on purpose.
- Get that book in your hands ASAP!
- Be careful of bookish conversations with friends until you read the book.
Sometimes people don’t realize that they’re spoiling you, but it still makes you feel bad when it happens. Don’t ruin the surprise for others. Be kind, be courteous.
Keep Reading!
This is a personal pet peeve too! I always ALWAYS avoid social networking sites during releases. I avoid reviews of books I badly want to read just to avoid spoilers. Also, I totally got spoiled on some Harry Potter books. The writing was still amazing though so I thoroughly enjoyed them still.
I'm glad it didn't spoil your enjoyment! Keep avoiding those spoilers!
When I was about a third of the way through Allegiant someone on Goodreads posted "the" spoiler on an unrelated board within a few days of the books release. One of those, "If you thought that was bad at least it wasn't like in Allegiant, where 'this' happened." Yeah. I actually cried I was so disappointed. Then for Ruin and Rising, that I hand't read any of, someone posted "the" spoiler in the comments of a spoiler-free blog review the day after it was released. It was a blog I regularly visit and wanted to leave a comment to let her know I was there. I tweeted the blogger right away and they removed it, but that didn't help me. I could be wrong, but the way the comments were worded, and where they were posted, almost made me think they did it on purpose.
Sometimes they do do it on purpose, that's why I say never to post on social media that you don't want to be spoiled for X book. Someone will message or tweet you spoilers just to be a dick.
Thanks for the warning. I never knew other readers would stoop that low!
Every group has bad apples. Sigh.