moreau%eiffel.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (07/03/85)
From: moreau%eiffel.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (Ken Moreau, ZKO2-3/N30 3N11, DTN 381-2102) Frank Adams (mmintl!franka@topaz.arpa) writes: > Indeed, whoever started this discussion specifically > disliked the suspense of not knowing what was going to happen. But > you should be aware that giving away the plot does detract from the > pleasure for some of us, and insert spoiler warnings as called for. > After all, no one's enjoyment is diminished by seeing the words > "spoiler warning" in an article. No, I understand that some people treat the words "spoiler warning" as a cue to reach for the 'n' key. I was just trying to point out that some people (me, and possibly others) treat it as a cue to read further in the hopes of picking up information. I am always careful to insert spoiler warnings as a cue to both types of people. I don't think there is anything wrong with either technique. I was just trying to explain why I feel as I do, and get other people (the ones who reach for the 'n' key) to explain why they feel as they do. Henry Vogel (henry%clemson.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa) writes: > One is forced to wonder how you can stand life? Last time I checked, > most people have no idea what will happen next in their life or the > lives of their friends. Admittedly, more people will have a tendency > to get blown away (or have some other awful thing happen to them) > in fiction than in real life, but awful things do happen in real > life. I'm not flaming you for your opinion, but it does raise some > interesting questions... That is one of the things about life that I cannot take: its uncertainty. But it seems to me that you (and others) are coming back to the same point, which is "Life has (uncertainty, bad guys winning, good guys losing, everyone unhappy all the time, whatever else you care to put here), and you somehow survive life, so why don't you spend money on and actively enjoy the same things in books?". Have you ever heard the term "escapism"? I read to enjoy myself. Insisting that a lot of bad things be put into a book *JUST BECAUSE SUCH THINGS HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE* eliminates one of the main attractions of fiction, namely that it is NOT like life. Someone else wrote "The big question when watching television is not *WHETHER* the hero will get out of their crisis. We know that they will. The big question is *HOW* the hero will get out of their crisis." To me that is the enjoyable part of fiction, the "how". If I am concerned about the "whether", I cannot enjoy it. Ken Moreau