Since we’re talking about the spoiler thread, I wanted to move up a point I made there into the general blog. Whenever a writer’s book is published, the author ceases to be its only point of reference. Whatever is put it to the text must stand or fall by its own merits. I can’t stand over the shoulder of every single person who buys my book and say, “What I meant to say on page 65 is…” so readers are free to make up their own inferences, symbols, memes, and subtext. Maybe it’s there; maybe it’s not; maybe it’s there and I never even realized it. None of it is right or wrong. (Hey, you’re talking to the girl who got a review saying that Rites of Spring (Break) was an allegory about the Iraq war.)
With the advent of the Internet Age, more readers than ever can communicate with an author to ask what they meant or where they are going with a series. “Spoilers” are no longer confined to the few people who attend a booksigning or speaking event. Anyone with a computer can find out what an author said about their book series. It’s both a boon and a curse. Interacting with any creator about their work is a wonderful experience — to be able to listen to a DVD commentary or watch an interview or ask them a question in a chat room — it’s great! Or it’s a nightmare. What if they tell you what you don’t want to hear — that no matter what you, personally, think about those underpinnings of romance between character X and character Y, they aren’t getting together. That Piz, absent any remotely interesting qualities, is somehow the man for Veronica? (Hey, she went for Duncan, too. Apparently she likes ’em boring.) What if they tell you that character Z is getting offed? (Poor Little Nell — not even a letter writing campaign to Dickens saved her!)
What if talking to the author turns you off the work entirely? What if you learn that they write right-wing military thrillers, but are actually bleeding heart liberals? (Or, you know, vice versa?) What if you learn that they don’t even care about all this political stuff you uncovered in their work? What if you think they are telling a fun, popcorn, rip-roaring space western, and they start going on and on and on and on about metaphysics and existentialism all this other crap (which, sorry, Joss, love you to death, but enough already with the Sartre).
As an author, I go back and forth as to how much I should tell a reader who wants to know more about my work. After my first book came out, I went to a book club. The members asked me all sorts of questions about what so-and-so was really thinking in this scene. “What do you think?” was not an acceptable answer to them. They didn’t want to debate it amongst themselves, they wanted the definitive answer straight from the horse’s –my– mouth. But sometimes, when I gave them answers, they didn’t like that either. For instance, the majority of the club had decided Poe was secretly gay and secretly in love with Malcolm. My startled blurt of “but Poe is straight!” did nothing to convince them otherwise, nor did my later entirely reasonable explanation that his love for Malcolm was entirely platonic and based on society loyalty and camaraderie. Apparently, I was as much in the closet as Poe. (I totally sympathize with Ms. Rowling.) Then, when Under the Rose came out, the questions changed from “Is Poe secretly in love with Malcolm?” to “Is Poe secretly in love with Amy?”
Whatever Poe is, you can guarantee it’s secret. 😉
I love to talk to readers about my books, but at the same time, I am never sure what I should say. I don’t want to disappoint them in advance if I’d been hoping for a particular development, but occasionally it’s hard to tell if they are asking for spoilers, or just for clarification. And since they went to the trouble of asking me rather than just talking about it with their friends, “what do you think?” probably isn’t the answer they are looking for.
I’m constantly amazed and impressed by the inferences that my readers have picked up on. After finishing the most recent book, a few have actually gone back to previous books to mine for clues. It makes me so excited to see other people as into this world as I am. So when they want to talk to me about it, of course I want to respond. What color are Amy’s eyes? Hazel. What kind of underwear does Brandon wear? Boxers with funny patterns on them. Are Josh and Lydia really in love? Yes, yes they are. Why did Poe have a change in heart? Because he realized that his loyalty to his own club should supersede his own selfish ambition. Why does Brandon like Felicity? Because she committed when Amy couldn’t, and she sacrificed what Amy wouldn’t. What is Amy’s favorite color? Yellow.
Who is she going to end up with? That one’s a secret.
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