Let’s Talk About Spoilers

Don’t worry, I’m not actually going to spoil anything spoilable.

But spoilers fascinate me. Me – I don’t mind. You could tell me whatever you want about a book, movie or video game, in fact I often invite it – and I wouldn’t care.

I like the knowing, I like the anticipation, and though I understand a lot of people feels like it’s spoiling the surprise I don’t see it that way.

It’s like going to Paris when you’ve never been. You either come there completely unaware, and you see this beautiful city, or you research it before hand, and know that you’re going to a beautiful city.
Either way, whether or not I’ve seen pictures of it and read about it before hand, none of that is going to spoil my experience.

So for me, spoilers is not an issue, except for when I’m writing reviews. I always leave a warning at the top of the post that I might be spoiling something, because I never know how much a person would like to know about a book they’re potentially going to read. And obviously, I want to be able to talk about the book.

So where do we (or rather, I,) draw the line? How much am I allowed to tell you? A good rule of thumb is to check the blurb of said book – anything that’s stated there is obviously fair game.

But often I want to elaborate more, and it’s usually only because I want to tell you how good a book is. I don’t intend to spoil for you, no matter how little I care about spoilers, I would never dream of taking the anticipation away from you.

But I want to be able to tell you about all the cool things I read about. What the characters did and how the plot gripped me in and threw back and forth, and how great it all was. Is that okay?

Using Harry Potter (the first book) as an example, how far should I be allowed to go? Harry learns he’s a wizard, Harry goes to Hogwarts, Harry meets so and so, and the horrible past about the death of his parents is revealed. Is that saying too much?

I’m rambling now, so I’ll leave it there. Just know that I never intend to spoil anything for you, and if you feel I do – let me know, and I’ll try to do better next time.