[ SECRET POST #4358 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4358 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 38 secrets from Secret Submission Post #624.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I've been pondering this myself. Giving away major plot points is just so contrary to what storytelling is about, FFS.

[(Anonymous)]

Is it actually, though?

[silverr]

Yes, I think it is. (I agree with the secret maker, and have come to use "Chose Not to Warn" more and for for this reason.)

Narrative tension -- the hunger for what happens next - is one of the pleasures of a first reading. (Re-reading has pleasures as well.)

Also, I saw a great writeup on tumbler years ago (never was able to find it again, then or now) about how even if you warn for everything you can possibly warn for, sometimes people are triggered by apparently innocuous things in a story.

The example they gave was a fanfic that had a very poetic and well-written description of the MC walking in a woodland during a light rain. The description was so evocative, in fact, that it triggered a flashback.

The blogger said that she didn't think the author should be "blamed" for this, as they couldn't possibly have had any idea that it would have this effect. They said that readers do need to take some responsibility for their own mental health, and while this is not an potentially inflammatory opinion, I think it's valid.

[(Anonymous)]

If knowing major plot points was contrary to story telling, no one would ever retell stories. Or rewatch movies. Or reread books.

As the quote goes:

[(Anonymous)]

I agree that it's one of the pleasures. But I don't think that it's what storytelling is all about, or the only point of storytelling. I don't agree with that idea of storytelling, basically. There are lots of different things storytelling is about. Revealing plot points isn't necessarily contrary to storytelling. Sometimes it is, but not always.

I mean, for one thing, if I go to Romeo & Juliet, I can still enjoy it even knowing they die at the end. And that's even the case if it's the first time I've seen it.

[silverr]

I absolutely agree that there is also satisfaction in knowing/guessing how a story is going to end -- that's one of the things that can make tropey fic enjoyable — and also makes re-reading/rewatching certain works enjoyable.

But I am also the type of reader/viewer that likes to be pleasantly surprised sometimes.

[(Anonymous)]

totally!

I just don't think this is, ultimately, a question that has a right or wrong answer.

[silverr]

I agree. It's a matter of personal preference and opinion.

I prefer to avoid spoilers, so I generally don't read reviews before I watch or read, but I'd never tell others they have to do the same.

[(Anonymous)]

But that's the point. Content warnings and tags for stuff like character death and rape etc. isn't there to keep readers from being pleasantly surprised. It's there to keep readers from being unpleasantly surprised. And as stated elsewhere in the comments, reading fanfic and reading an original work is not the same thing/type of reading experience for most people. So the rules of storytelling may differ as well.

[silverr]

I do agree, which is why I deliberately used the phrase "pleasantly surprised."

FWIW, I always tag for the major Ao3 warnings if they occur (and never use CNTW in those cases); it's the exhaustive minor tags that I sometimes get in a churn over, especially for those cases where I know that one person's squick might be another person's kink.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm one of those readers who is less interested in what happens, and more in the how is it happening. Also, to me there's no such thing as a pleasant surprise, so I go out of my way to find spoilers, or read the ending first, or just not read at all. I don't bother other people with that - if I can't find the information I want somewhere on the net, I'll either skip or simply wait. Sometimes a very long time...

[(Anonymous)]

You don't need to agree with that idea of storytelling - or of reading, for that matter - for it to be absolutely true for other people.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think the original post in this thread really carried that point across, though...

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, in a lot of cases. For instance, I would not have enjoyed Silent Hill 2 anywhere near as much if I'd known the twist before going in. The reveal in question was the emotional climax of the game and was done in such a way so as to catch you completely off guard and just really WHAM you because you weren't expecting it.

I've replayed the game many, many times and I love it, but nothing can ever recapture that feeling of getting to That Scene the first time around and finding out the truth. Knowing that particular spoiler would absolutely have ruined the impact of that moment for me.

[(Anonymous)]

Fanfiction is not normal storytelling though, and the experiences your readers are looking for with fic are not at all what they look for in an original story.

[(Anonymous)]

No, the experiences you are looking for with fic aren't what you look for in an original story.

That doesn't mean other people don't, in fact, want the same sort of experience they'd have with other media.

[(Anonymous)]

this

[(Anonymous)]

Fanfiction is normal storytelling in every way. There are "normal" books that are actually fanfiction in many ways and whatnot (like the Brontë sisters). Otherwise parody would be the same. This all is pedantry, really.

Fanficton readers feel the need to be entitled to the content, since with fanfiction writers it's possible, and hardly ever with published writers. The need to use power as a reader is the thing, "I need to know it's for me" is stupid, really. It doesn't matter what your reasons to read are, since it's about the reasons of the writer. Synopsis and ratings are enough. If you get triggered? Look for milder rating. Or don't read at all or write your own stuff. Nuff said.