Spoilers and Works in Progress

[June Scarlet]

This is a topic I've been grappling with for a while now, and I think I see others dealing with the same, so I thought I'd share it with the forum, try and get some perspective on the issue.

Namely, how much plot/story/spoilers should you give away before your story is published or in its final form?

I started out very much in the camp of not wanting to spoil anything. That's certainly the traditional approach. Where authors keep big twists secret, as well as little twists and so on. To allow the reader the full experience of reading.

When I was working on Ink, my Neopets comic series, I would release pages on a petpage for my friends to see, and then once all the comics of the arc were done, I'd submit them to the Times to be published. But even then, what happened next was a surprise to everyone but me. For the most part, I didn't spoiler what was coming.

But now I'm wondering, is it even worth it? What's the goal of all the secrecy? Is it worth the trade-offs?

What's my fear? That no one would read my work if they already knew how it went? But then again, are people even reading my work now? It's like I wait for this big reveal, but then after the reveal, there's no need to talk about it anymore. Feedback is rare, and in some ways not all that needed once it's published. You can't change something once it's in the Times, for example, and yet that's exactly when I'm expecting people to give their feedback, when it's too late to change anything.

Would you read something if you already knew its major twists and turns? Maybe not. But then again, just thinking about the sheer number of books out there that I haven't read, where I don't know what happens in them either.

Maybe I should start sharing my work earlier, when feedback would actually be more useful.

Meanwhile, it's hard to talk about what you're working on without actually being able to give anything away. There's some who happily chatter away about their characters and their lives and give away major plot points without worrying about giving them away before they're published. And that looks kind of fun.

I see others keep secrets about their characters for literal years, and it's all the more exciting when it's finally revealed. That's fun too.

Then there's the fact that a story is in flux until it's finally finished. How you think a story will go, and how it actually goes are two different things. Do you want people to see all the mess that goes into your writing process?

And then I also worry that maybe I'll never get around to these stories, and my characters and their stories will never get told, in passing or published.

There is a lot to think about when it comes to this, and I don't think I've even hit all the discussion points yet. Personally, I haven't come to a conclusion yet, or rather, my conclusion is constantly evolving.

Also, I know there's no one right answer for everyone, it's different for everyone. But I think that will make this discussion all the more interesting, to see all the different opinions and ideas.

[Gelquie]

I'm generally in the "no spoilers" camp, because the way I see it, and the way I take in work, you can only learn a spoiler once. And that one time can be an exciting trip for the reader, if it's well thought out and not a plot twist for the sake of a plot twist. When I watch something for the first time, I'm often trying to guess things myself, or at least follow the story. If I know a spoiler (that someone else gave and is not revealed by the story itself), then that may throw my chronology and reading out of whack. Being spoiled on something robs me of that first time.

That said, I also strongly hold that a story should still hold strong even if you know the spoiler. It may be a different experience from taking it in for the first time, but it's still valid, and can provide a new experience.

As for WIPs, I can see where that might be an issue. I've learned to hold back my excitement, or keep the secret with one other that I trust to not blab. But what if I have a story issue, and am not sure how a spoiler thing will work, and am otherwise not finished with the work to open it for beta reading? Often, I'll keep vague about the story, and just talk about the plot point, so that people can't connect the dots. But sometimes that may not be possible.
Then, if I'm actively seeking critique, I may select a few people to give me critique, who will know the spoiler (and I tell them they would know a spoiler before I give them a chance to agree, so people who don't want a spoiler have a chance to opt out). That way I get help, I don't reveal stuff To the Whole World, and the people I talked to are kind of in on it, and can help me in the future.

Ultimately, I care a lot about the final product, and how it'll be taken. Mostly because I don't particularly like sharing my WIPs because I fear people will pick at a work or deem it as Bad based on something I was in the middle of or intending to work on, because that's just a huge demotivator that may result in me never finishing the work. So I've never felt the urge to share much from my WIP. As for excitement, on my end, I guess I'm just pretty good at keeping my excitement to myself? I don't need to share something that excites me to enjoy the excitement. Maybe that's just me, though, or me being used to doing that.

If I realize at some point that I'm probably never going to get around to finishing a work, and don't really want to dedicate myself to, then I may talk about a work more openly, or work a plot point into another story.

[Kat]

I think I'm one of those people who like to overshare about works in progress, especially after returning to the NT and getting slugged in the face with inspiration. I only have you guys and a handful of other people to talk about my plans for the Neopian Times, so I talk about what I have, although there are some spoilers I still try to hold back to retain some novelty for the finished work. I like to share snippets and excerpts because I enjoy what I do and I sometimes simply can't keep the excitement for myself. Plus, getting an interest check or a fresh pair of eyes goes a long way for me in polishing the final product.

When I consume any form of media, I try to avoid spoilers because I like the thrill of being surprised. But most of the time, I notice that even after learning a spoiler (back when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was newly released, spoilers were already flying before I could even open my own copy of the book and I was not safe), I still enjoy the story or the plot. What happens is that I become interested, instead, in "how does that spoiler work?" or "how do we get to that part?" What happens is that I become more invested in the journey to the spoiler and see how it fits or how it happens. Details are divulged, sure, but the execution? It's much harder to explain to someone how it happens unless that someone has the time to listen to you essentially tell the whole story.

You're right, June, that this is very different for all of us. There are many people who don't mind getting spoiled, there are others who would rather plug their ears. But when you don't really have a wide audience for your work, it's okay to share how it goes while you're writing/drawing it.

[PFA]

For a long time, I've been incredibly particular about my own story spoilers. XYZ is important plot information, I would insist, that must be revealed in-story at the appropriate time, because I want the reveal to have maximum impact. It needs to be a surprise!

...But then as the years went on with all the massive story projects I still haven't finished, I started to realize that I had all these cool stories and characters that nobody knew anything about other than vaguely that "it's spoiler." It started getting more and more frustrating awkwardly dancing around talking about them, so I've been becoming progressively less strict on what counts as a spoiler. There's still plenty of surprise reveals up my sleeve, but I'm realizing there were quite a few of them that really didn't need to be a surprise. XD

Someone on another forum recently gave an analogy that resonated with me: you wouldn't go to a market, put all your wares under a blanket, and urge people to buy it to find out what it is. Certainly you don't need to advertise every plot twist, but there's definitely a point where anti-spoiler measures go too far.

Anyway, usually the compromise I make with myself is to reveal the information in a short story instead of waiting for my magnum opus to be finished. Then I can still enjoy the storytelling of a good reveal without having to wait several years for a story I may or may not finish, lol.

[Moni]

i honestly don't tend to care about spoilers. in fact, not knowing them makes me less likely to pick something up--as with PFA's analogy. i'm one of these people that needs to be given a reason to care about something, and if that something is wrapped up in excessive amounts of "whoops, spoilers!" i'm just not gonna read it in the first place. why should i care about this character? oh? that's a spoiler? not gonna care about them, then.

i'm not really a person who takes great pleasure in grand reveals, and i don't really believe that's the main draw of stories, either. nobody reads paradise lost thinking "wow, will adam and eve NOT eat the apple?" i read things so i can experience the particular way of events in the particular way it is told, and it's really the individual construction i value. not saying that i need to know every plot twist, or that i'm never surprised by them, only that knowing them never does not generally diminish the experience. i find most people overestimate the value of in-the-moment emotional impacts.

there are also other reasons not to talk about your work until it's done. i abstain from talking about my stories a lot and honestly it's a motivation thing. if i just tell people stuff, that kind of gives my brain the same reward-feeling as if i'd actually written it. humans are a social animal and all that. so i tend to be sparse on details, because honestly, my motivation to do anything is very low even on the best of days... also, my ideas are honestly cringe like 99% of the time.

my personal opinion is that it's okay to ask people about specific plot points if you feel it'll helpful to you. and there's no shame in it, honestly.

[Killix]

Leaked information likely isn't going to ruin the experience for me.
Like Moni above, I indulge in media to see how it all unfolds. I need time to invest in the story and characters before I care about big plot twists or anything that the characters do.
Once I'm into a work, even if some of those twists are spoiled or if I figure them out myself before they're revealed (woo, self spoilers!), such knowledge is not going to make me just drop a series I'm already invested in.

Sometimes I seek out spoilers and a really intriguing spoiler can hype me up even more for the Thing. Spoilers can also be handy for evasion of certain types of content that I want to avoid.

Of course, I respect that others don't feel the same way and I avoid spoiling things for others.
For personal projects, there really is no limit for sharing your own WIPs. The author is the one who gets to decide what they share and how much of it they share. A few tidbits might entice some to read your story, it may ruin the surprise for others. Do whatever feels the most comfortable to you.