Wednesday, July 30, 2008

A Quick Note About Spoilers


This is a little outside out regular fare here at Apparently! but everyone is getting so worked up over this subject that I thought I would say something.

(BTW, if you have not read Stephenie Meyer's New Moon, there are spoilers in here for that.)

Okay, so due to a grocery store in Texas allegedly releasing Stephenie Meyer's final book four days early, there are scads of spoilers dancing their way around the internet. First off, let me be very clear, I have not read Breaking Dawn. So I am certainly not going to say anything about the validity of anything that is being said. However, for the hoards of people who are weeping, wailing, and generally gnashing teeth, I do want to say this.

Do not believe everything you see on the internet.

On the other side--and perhaps the more important side--do not believe the WAY that everything is said on the internet.

As a writer, we know that ideas are a dime a dozen. In fact, in the screen writing world, according to my friend Saundra, things are way cutthroat and people will take your idea and hand it off to the newest up and coming screenwriter. Why? Because execution is everything.

Let me give you an example from New Moon. Imagine that you adore Twilight (you may not have to imagine very hard!;)) and a week before New Moon comes out, you stumble upon this on the internet from a Very Reliable Source (TM).

In New Moon . . .

*Edward breaks up with Bella and the Cullens move out of Forks!
*Bella gets together with a new guy who hates Edward!
*Bella starts hearing voices in her head and jumps off a cliff!
*Edward goes to Italy to kill himself!

All of the sudden you're thinking, "Oh no! The couple I loved breaks up and the vampires leave and Bella dies!!!! I hate this series!!!"

Well, all those things DO happen in New Moon, but taken out of context they look really melodramatic and silly, don't they?

But New Moon was awesome!

Why? It's the context and the execution. It doesn't matter how crazy and ridiculous an idea may seem, a good storyteller can pull it off.

And Stephenie Meyer is nothing if not a darn good storyteller.

Enjoy Breaking Dawn in two days!!!

Ciao!

7 comments:

Sheryl said...

Amen sista!!
Couldn't have said it better myself. My copy will be delivered on Saturday from Amazon.com. Unfortunately, I will be 20-some odd miles away at the SCBWI conference and probably won't get my hands on it until Monday. Sigh.

Chelsea said...

I had several (evil, wretched) children tell me the ending of Harry Potter 6 before I read it. I read it anyway (duh) and realized that while that was an important part of the plot, it wasn't the only reason to read the book. There is so much to HOW things happen and WHY. Not just what.
So thanks for the heads up, I won't go searching the internet for Breaking Dawn spoilers. :)

Anonymous said...

I have been trying so hard not to look for spoilers! I will be picking up my copy on Saturday morning to read on the way to a family reunion. I will have 3 hours to read as much as I can or I may appear very rude to my family while I am reading Breaking Dawn at the reunion. Oh well...I can't wait until Saturday!
~~Sheila

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more. And if you do hear something that scares you, don't worry. Hasn't Stephenie herself said she loves a happy ending?

Anyway, I'm so excited about this release. A few friends and I are going at midnight to buy it. Hopefully I won't stay up all night.

Helen said...

Soomeone started spewing spoilers on one of the livejournal comms I'm a part of last night, and I stumbled across some of them after all of my hard work at avoiding them. Thankfully, I realised what was going on within a few works and backtracked like crazy.

Unfortuately, the book's been embargoed in Ireland and the UK until Monday, so I have to wait all weekend before I can get my hands on it. :(

David L. McAfee said...

My daughter is dying for Breaking Dawn to come out. She's all twitchy...

Anonymous said...

Well said! It's true not only for the Twilight series, but for so many things in life: Don't believe what you hear. People love to exaggerate and take things out of context.

By the way, I borrowed a copy from the library a few days ago, and it's interesting. Some huge twists I never would have guessed. But then, I've been avoiding all spoilers.