Nan's post on CC's latest section made me wonder about this. Read the poll, and all will become clear!

Oh, and please post to say why.


Wendy

It depends... Often I read a story without peeking ahead, but sometimes I do look at the ending. It depends on my mood, my emotional state if you will, and other things like whether I can finish the story in one session - if I know I'm going to have to take a break, I'm much more likely to eliminate the suspense. I don't do suspense well.

I do find finishing the story much more satisfying if I've managed to resist the temptation to look ahead.

Incidentally, this is why I couldn't answer a recent poll about whether readers like warnings on stories - because sometimes I do want a warning and other times I don't. There wasn't an "it depends" option.

Mere

The end first. Absolutely. Every time. Tells me whether I actually need to bother spending the time reading. Sometimes just the last paragraph. Sometimes the last page. Sometimes the last chapter. Always read the end first.

(this also applies to movies and TV shows! I want spoilers every time!)

I don't want any kind of spoilers! I *hate* knowing what happens in the end or in the middle of any book/fic/movie/younameit. I want to feel the thrill of the ride - and it just isn't as good when you know what happens next.

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

Well, perhaps it's just the type of books I read, but I always know with almost one hundred per certainty that everything will turn out all right in the end. In my experience, the vast majority of books are written this way, so to get vexed over whether or not the hero or heroine will survive happy right to the end of the book seems a bit unnecessary. If, on the rare occasion I'm wrong (although I can't think of one single book I've read where I was wrong), then so be it. Hero dies? Doesn't solve the mystery? Doesn't get the girl? I can handle it.

Now, of course, there are degrees of resolution and happiness, and that's what makes the journey through the book interesting and gripping - to see the ups and downs the hero and/or heroine go through, and to find out what happens to them at the end. If I knew at the outset what the exact point of arrival was going to be, then I'd feel like I was missing out on some of the suspense and intrigue which I enjoy so much.

I can think of just two instances where things don't turn out happily when I thought they would - one was a wonderfully romantic film and the other was Becky's Per Astra thingy-whatsit fic. Both times I felt horribly let down and wouldn't want to watch/read them again, but that doesn't stop me remembering them with fondness - after all, I enjoyed everything about them except the last ten minutes or so.

Yvonne

I couldn't have said it better, Anna.

Now *that's* smart. I mostly read suspense, mysteries, etc, and I just hate it when I accidentally look over at the other page and find out, oops, well they killed off so-n-so, there's goes the surprise.

/me makes a major mental note to try that!

Anywho, I'm anti-spoiler. I love it when stories punch me in the gut be it surprise villians, character deaths...if I can't figure out what's going to happen, it means you're really good at writing.

A big ditto, although I can think of one time where James Patterson killed off one of my favorite characters. I'm still kind of peeved about it to this day lol, but...it was still an outstanding book.

JD

Now, that's a good idea...

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

I hate having the ending spoiled. And every time I pick up a book, I tell myself that. But then things get a little... uncertain and I tell myself: 'I will not look at the ending. I will not look at the ending. I will not look at the ending. Okay, well maybe just a little peek - what could it hurt? '

So I might tell myself that I hate to be spoiled, but I can't stand not knowing if I get really involved in the plot.

LOL, El. I don't do this, but I probably should, considering the number of times I've had to work very hard to keep from even glancing at the next page. Usually when the excitement in the plot is so engrossing I have to stop myself racing desperately ahead to find out what happens next. I have occasionally read the left hand page with my hand over the right though.

LabRat

This brings up an interesting question. Do you end- readers-first enjoy stories posted here in sections on the board or do you have to wait for the Archive? (or the the story to be done posting)? I absolutely never read the end first. I want to enjoy the ride. Conversely, I do appreciate Tank Warnings.

Artemis

Read the end first?! Are you crazy?!

I can't say that I haven't ever spoiled myself, but I don't like doing it. For instance... I printed out The Late Great Lois Lane for trip reading last year. Friends had told me, "OMG! You're going to die of shock when you find out who the villain is!!" I was so excited about this! Then, in a moment of sheer stupidity... I'd placed the stack of papers face down... and that little end note just jumped up at me! Though, it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the story. I was still even a bit shocked when I got to that surprising part.

Mystery/suspense novels... I love trying to figure things out from the clues as I go along. I get to feel smart when I find I was right. OTOH... not so great to feel dumb when you got it wrong, but that just means it's good writing.

Romance-type novels (I read the "chick lit" type novels as opposed to the true "romance" novels)... You know with certainty that the two main characters are going to get together at the end, but the whole fun of it is in the journey!

Sara

I usually try not to spoil books for myself (or fanfics, for that matter). However, if I feel really emotionally attached to a character-- especially in a sequel (or a fanfic) where I've already fallen in love with the characters-- and I have a sinking suspicion they're going to die, I will look at the end just so I can have time to get used to the idea <g>.

I can live with suspense (although admittedly I don't read that much of it), mysteries, etc. without being tempted to cheat. It's only when I expect an emotional battering when I look ahead.

And btw, Sara, that included your Wherever You Will Go. Had to check the end of that one

Kaylle

I usually don't read the end first. However, if I find that I really don't like the way a story line seems to be progressing I will peak at the ending. If I don't like the ending I usually quit reading. Now the only endings I hate are where the hero and/or his girl die. Then yeah I quit reading. Has only happened a couple of times.

As for not reading a story until it is finished that's me. Not because I want to be able to peak but because I have started way to many stories that are never finished. The last one I started and hasn't been finished is "Disguise Failed." I made the decision at that time to wait until a story is finished. I just don't have the time to spend on stories that aren't finished or have long times between postings. I like to read one story at a time or one book at a time. To get engrossed in a story and enjoy it and then move on to the next. Not have to keep going back and rereading stories just so I can't keep them straight if I'm reading several and the postings are weeks apart. I enjoy them much more if I read one at a time which dictates they be finished.

Now I know their have been triologies etc. That is okay. I still can reading one story at a time that comes to a conclusion. Then read the next installment when it is finished.

I never take a peek. I love suspense novels and I always hope I'll be pleasantly surprised at the end. I love it when I think the butler's the one 'whodunit' and it turns out to be the vicar!

I've been around in this fandom for a few years so I now have a pretty good idea whose fics I can read in installments.

Like Kmar, I don't want to spend time reading fics that are never finished. So I only read short stories in the fanfic folder or fics by authors I know will be completed as promised. I know - the fanfic folder isn't just for posting completed stories. These are often WIPs. Authors can leave them dangling on their hard disk till their Muses decides to help them finish them, or they can post the parts they have and risk geting stuck - permanently.

Maybe it doesn't bother other fanfic authors, but if it happened to me I'd be horrified and so embarrassed!

Hey, maybe that's something for another poll!

Oh, and by the way - fics by unknown authors I check out in the Archive. And yes, then I do take a peek at the end first! Just to check if our heroes are happy and safe and sound - and together. Just the way I want them to be.

I'm one of those people who tries to stay away from spoilers so I don't ruin the surprises and twists, but fails dismally almost every time. I often give in to temptation and either read ahead or skim so fast to try and find out the ending that I miss key details during the story. I find I have to actually read most things twice or three times to truly appreciate them because in the race to find out whodunnit, or what's going to happen, I just end up missing so many things. I recently reread one of my recent favorite book series and was finding myself going, "WHAT?! When did *THAT* happen?" more than once.

My style of reading has been cultivated so much that I can usually glance at a page for about 10-20 seconds and get the 'gist' and move on, which is very bad when you want to sit back and just enjoy every word. But it's gotten to the point where I just can't help it sometimes. I'll start out reading word for word and then boom, I shoot several pages ahead before I stop myself.

As far as the boards go, however, I want new material so badly I usually will read things part by part, unfinished or no

And as far as what types of endings I find acceptable... If it's written well enough, I can usually find myself agreeing with just about anything, from standard happily ever afters, to Romeo and Juliet Take Four, to whoops the world got blown up. If I'm in a specific need to feel good mood, though, I try to avoid the latter two

In general I don't peak ahead to see what happens. Sometimes I do start a story mid way while it's being posted on the board and then go back and read the beginning. I don't mind spoilers, it doesn't ruin the story for me but I also like being surprised.

I like waiting for the end to see if I can figure it out first. That's all.

TEEEEEEJ

Most of the time I prefer to be surprised, when it comes to stories. With movies the suspense is made so much greater by the background music, etc., and I usually end up leaving the room (videos at home) till the suspenseful scene is over and I know what happened, lol. But with books, there's only been a couple where I read ahead. If I'm not sure if the ending will be happy, or I know someone's going to die but I want to be prepared for it ahead of time, I might check the ending to know. It's not as much fun reading then, but in those circumstances, I really didn't want to be unpleasantly surprised by the shock. There's only been a few times where I wish I would have known the ending first, so I'm usually fine.

I hate being spoiled. If it's a book I'm adoring, I'll actually slow down reading in order to make it last longer. And, though I've never gone quite so far as El, I will occasionally make strenuous efforts not to look at the facing page during a crucial scene. I don't want to know who the villain is, who the heroine ends up with, whether someone dies or anything like that... until it happens.

So, with fanfic, I have no problem at all reading works in progress... as long as there isn't too long a delay between posts and I'm pretty sure the author will finish it. After all, what with Single White Kryptonian, Better Part of Valour and What's Love Got To Do With It buried in the graveyard of unfinished fics, you gotta be careful.


Thanks for all the responses, guys; it's been fun reading them!


Wendy

Lol, since it was my post that seems to have started this poll, I suppose I'm obligated to explain my position.

It's odd, but I have very little tolerance for suspense -- especially when I write suspense all the time. It's a little different when I'm writing it, because I know what's going to happen.

I used to have more tolerance for suspense, but not much. What killed what little I had were a few books where I had really gotten to like the characters and then they ended badly. That did it.

At 57, I feel like I've done enough of the tragedy thing. I've had plenty of bad things happen in real life, and I read, watch television, or go to movies for escape. If it's going to end badly, I want to know so I can avoid that particular story/production/whatever. If I want to feel bad all I have to do is talk to my sis about my mother's Alzheimers or watch the news, or something. I don't need to go looking for it.

I don't read the details of the stories, because I want to see how everything evolves. That's part of enjoying the story, but at the same time I know I'll enjoy all the problems the characters endure much more if I know it's going to turn out all right in the end.

And that's the whole explanation.

Nan

I'm an it depends kind of person.

I hate myself when I do peek to see what happens at the end of a book, but I still do it from time to time. Oddly, this seems to have something to do with how *un*suspenseful I'm finding a story. I'm more likely to peek if my attention is wandering.

If I do peek, it is usually only at the last paragraph or, at the most, page. Enough to get a glimpse of what might happen. Not usually enough to completely ruin the ending.

With a fantastic, wonderful, everything that is brilliant kind of a story, I won't look. The more engaging and the more suspenseful I find a book, the less likely I am to peek.

Does that make sense?

Chris

I'm just like Nan, and for pretty much the same reasons, too. Monday, I read a story on the archive (I won't say whose story for fear of spoiling people who don't want to be), and partway into it, I had to jump to the end, just to make sure one of the characters survived to the end of the story.

See, it surprises me that you'd feel the need to check for that reason in this fandom, Sheila. After all, it's not as if deathfics are common here. I think I could probably count on the fingers of two hands the number of deathfics on the Archive. Maybe three.

One reason is probably that, like you, we authors are all pretty attached to the characters and like to see them get together/end up together/be happy together.

A few of the deathfics I've read have been obviously written by teenagers - cloyingly sentimental stories in which Lois is killed in a traffic accident/in childbirth/of a mysterious illness and Clark mourns her bitterly, cradling their child to his bosom/vowing never to love another/dying/killing himself from grief. Some of those smack suspiciously of Mary Sue-ism. A couple are poignantly sad, and one is even almost WAFFy, in a way: Jennifer Eagan-Dixon's When Magnolias Bloom.

Actually, as long as I've been a GE it's been Archive policy that deathfics should be marked as such, so that readers don't stumble on a principal-character death unexpectedly. So you shouldn't have to worry about encountering that accidentally anyway, Sheila.

And now all this has put me in mind of another poll...


Wendy

Ad Astra Per Aspera is one of my all-time favorite fics. But it's clear that I'm in the minority there . . . and that authors are discouraged, FDK-wise, from posting that sort of story these days. *sigh*

Ditto Rivka

AnnaBtG.

Well, then I'm right in there with you! I loved that story. It broke my heart, but I thought it was wonderfully written, and I really enjoyed it.

Jen

Exactly! I'm fine with stories that break my heart -- as long as they do it properly!