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From: bnw@crash.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: The concept of spoilers
Message-ID: <2614@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 8-Jul-85 21:35:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: topaz.2614
Posted: Mon Jul  8 21:35:46 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 10-Jul-85 23:49:56 EDT
Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: 

Ken Moreau writes:
>Could someone who doesn't read spoilers respond with why you feel
>the way you do?
 
     When an author writes a book, he writes it so that the reader may
enjoy and savor the elements of the plot that have been created.  Part
of the enjoyment of the work is experiencing the events with the char-
acters.  I don't care for predictable books, and won't finish one on the
first attack.  For me, anyway, a book whose entire course is obvious from
the start is so badly flawed that no other factor will redeem it.
     Roy Turner cited O. Henry--a good example.  Another is the Twilight
Zone.  These, and others, live and die mostly on the element of surprise.
     I do, on the other hand, reread books.  Those that delivered strong
characters, well-developed plots, believable dialog and story lines.  
Some very good ones get reread at once, others draw my interest months or
years later.  Knowing the plot does not diminish my enjoyment because I
am reading them for different reasons.  But I would not want to give up 
the special thrills of that first read.
                                                         /Bruce N. Wheelock/
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