Spoiler Talk Part Two: What Counts as Spoilers?

 This is a sequel of sorts to another article I wrote, Whose Responsibility is it to Avoid Spoilers, if you missed out on that one you can check it out right here, but please finish this one first. :) http://charmingchum.blogspot.com/2018/03/spoiler-talk-part-one-who-is.html

      I and many people really only think of something as spoiled when we hear how it ends. If I learned a little bit about a subplot occurring later in the story, is that also a spoiler? I would say yes, but I enjoy going into a story blind so I can both try to guess what is going to happen next and to keep my expectations under control so what are some guidelines I use to pinpoint spoilers?

    If something isn’t in the trailer of a movie I consider it a spoiler. However, I don’t trust movie trailers anymore so I avoid them. For example, I knew I wasn’t going to see The Last Jedi until after Christmas and I had to quite the internet until then. I suppose I went a little too far as I refused to even watch the trailer until after I saw the movie. After seeing the trailer, I wondered why I thought it was going to spoil me because they did a good job not revealing important events from the end of the film. However, I am still not a person to watch trailers if I’m not forced to because I am at a movie theater.

  

  My personal opinion about what counts as a spoiler for books is if it isn’t in the synopsis and/or the first 20-45 pages (this is the length of most previews give or take a few pages) of the book then I consider it a spoiler. Although, this ground is a little shaky because sometimes a book’s synopsis will have spoilers. Spoiler Warning for Flames in the Mist if you haven’t read it yet I recommend you skip the next several sentences. The synopsis stated Mariko, the main character, was going to find love that will challenge everything she believes in. Although the character who Markio ended up falling in love with was introduced early in the story (within my 20-45-pages rule) there wasn’t any sexual tension until about 50 pages later and actual romance doesn’t begin until well over the second half of the book. This romance was an important plot point but doesn’t occur until the story is coming to a close. Because I knew Mariko would find love when I opened the front cover I continued to anticipate it, but I think I may have enjoyed the story more if I didn’t know what was going to happen. I would rather the question not be “When will Mariko find love?”, but “Will Mariko find love?”