Me
This is an off-the-cuff post after rearranging a few of the posts on Education in Fiction. The poem was too preachy anyway. So the reason for this is that I’ve been doing some thinking the last few days. I’ve run into a snag with this blog and its initial purpose. I didn’t realize this would be an issue, but it comes with writing a series.
This blog was originally created for me to discuss writing and the Legends of Windemere series. The first part still holds, but the second part has an issue. The dreaded ‘Spoilers’ make it impossible for me to talk about what I’m writing. My post about ‘Quest of the Broken-Hearted’ is proof of that because of the backlash I got. Keep in mind this was a possibility and it’s already changing a bit from what I originally planned. In fact, the title can be for a Luke, Sari, or Kira book if I go with certain situations. Yet, I feel like any posts I make where I mention Windemere get passed over. That’s a bulk of what I write about and this includes future series. If I can’t talk about it beyond ‘Coming in a Few Days’ promos then I’m not really sure what to do here.
Here’s another issue that I’ve seen since the infamous Saturday post and some people might get annoyed: I can’t even post teasers. If you know at least 1 of 3 characters will die then that’s not really a spoiler. It’s what you would hear in a ‘Next Episode’ thing and authors hint at characters dying or something big happening all the time. Taking the information from Saturday the ONLY thing you can know for sure is that someone will die. In fact, it’s even mentioned in one of the books that Gabriel has planned for at least 1 person to die in the final battle and he’s not telling. This adds suspense to the reader because you have no idea the who or the how, which are the important parts. I can rattle off so many scenarios for each character dying in the final battle. There are big events that I keep secret, but I would like to rely on teasers to stir up interest.
Right now I’m leaning toward continuing with these types of posts and putting ‘Spoiler Warning’ in the title even if they’re teasers. It means less traffic and feedback, but the alternative is to keep my mouth shut. I won’t do the Character Interviews or Sneak Peeks any more because I had too many complaints. In fact, I sometimes had nothing but complaints. The truth is that I would love to share what I have planned for my books and if you’ve read any of my books you know that even if I give you a basic idea of the plot, you’ll still be surprised.
Anyway, this was my rant and needed to get it off my chest.
Legends of Windemere 
You should post what you want. Of course the more popular your books become the more visceral your readers become. Not sure you can have it both ways. I don’t understand why people would complain about character interviews.
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Happy April fools day John
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Never saw it coming. Good one.
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It’s that they don’t interact with the interviews. They’re scared of people saying spoilers. I think I’m a little annoyed because I see big authors putting teasers out like I try to do. So it gets a little confusing when I do the same and get angry emails.
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I think of teasers like those choose your own ending books. It can go a number of ways and is just an idea. People need to relax.
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Especially since I still have 8 books to write in the main series. Things can change a lot.
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And they do, even in the course of one book.
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Book 7 proved that in spades. I’m probably going to have to rewrite all of the other outlines after this one.
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I agree with Ionia – that’s what a teaser means. But it has to be hard not to talk out loud about the direction in your books when you are posting every day. Even if I knew someone was going to die, I still wouldn’t know how/why – but maybe I’m a simpleton
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That’s why I don’t always mention my books and talk about my opinions on writing. I’m working with themes like Education in Fiction this week and Birthdays next week.
You’re not a simpleton. The how and why is the main part and will keep a person guessing. Imagine being told (this is a fake example) that Nyx would die in Book 4. You might find yourself drawn into every scene with her because you don’t know when she’ll get taken out. If it goes long enough, a reader might think the author was lying and then get hit even harder.
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This is a great topic. How much is too much? I’m trying something different, but it hasn’t led to fame and fortune. Not yet, anyway. At least I’m having a good time.
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Same here. I think the level of spoiler depends on the reader. Some people enjoy the teasers while others refuse to have even a hint of information. This is where I kind of got into trouble.
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If I hadn’t read Ionia’s April Fools comment, I would have been fooled too! But that aside, Comic Books have been doing this for a while, especially Marvel. If they’re killing someone off, they plain out tell you: “Someone will die!”
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Though with comic books, death has the same length as the common cold.
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Ha very true!
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Consider attaching a box of chill pills to your next post Charles – may just work – happy 1st April.
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Good idea.
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Okay, I’m a little slow. Was this an April’s Fool post or a real rant? I think you should post whatever you decide to write…it’s your darn blog. If this is an April’s fool…you got me good. I was getting all angry for you! 🙂
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Real rant and I think people assumed it was a joke. I’m terrible at jokes, so I didn’t even think of the timing. After the first post of Saturday, I got a bunch of private messages about how an author shouldn’t post spoilers even though they were teasers. Been trying to ignore it, but I felt like I should say something.
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Okay, so what’s the point of a teaser then? It’s supposed to make you curious and the inherent definition of the word means that something will be revealed – the tease. I’m sorry that some people are giving you a hard time. Who knew that being a writer would cause so much controversy! 🙂
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It’s a fine line I guess. Some people don’t want to know anything about the books, including teasers. So it makes keeping a blog on the books rather difficult.
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Ummm…couldn’t they just skip over the teasers if they don’t want to read them? It would make it nigh to impossible to have a book blog!!
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I don’t think a decrease in traffic/feedback should be an issue with teaser/spoiler posts because it should be expected. Personally, I avoid them like a plague in everything I read and watch. Hell, I avoid football results for a whole weekend sometimes just so I can fully enjoy the highlights. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do them.
Anyone who clicks into a post that clearly says it will contain spoilers, then complains because it contains spoilers, is quite simply a moron. You don’t buy a box of cereal and get mad because you open it and find cereal.
As long as your title doesn’t give the spoiler, there should be no problem and any backlash is undeserved.
Easiest thing to do is see how many people react positively to a spoiler vs how many email you or comment negatively about it. Anyone who glosses over those posts isn’t a lost reader, they simply don’t add to the blog’s stats as they don’t want to see the spoilers before they read it. And I’d imagine (and hope) that you ultimately get more positive feedback than negative, which would mean it’s okay to do. 🙂
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That’s what part of the issue is. I don’t always write spoiler because I use teasers. There’s a difference and I’d rather not turn people away from the parts that I want to be read. So far, I’ve had more negative reactions to the teasers. The reason is because are prone to react more when they’re upset than when they’re happy.
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I suppose then a simple “(Possible spoilers)” warning should be enough on your part then to make the negative reactions unmerited. 🙂
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That’s what I did, but it still means the people invested in the series would avoid it. Those tend to be the group that take the most out of teasers because they know what’s going on.
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How many negative e-mails are we talking about here? You’ve got a fairly popular series here, and an unfortunate side effect of popularity is that once you get enough readers you’re going to have a few who aren’t going to be happy no matter what you do.
Since you have a frequently updated blog, written in a conversational style, you also come across as very approachable, in a way that most traditionally published authors who work through a company PR department don’t.
I suspect that any author who reaches a certain thresholds of readers gets complaints about his or her blog content. It’s part of the business. I wouldn’t worry about it unless the complaints reach a significant percentage of your readership.
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About 6 or 7 private complaints that I threw spoilers out on my blog. Even though it’s a probable event and not clear on how it comes about or what the details are.
That approachability has gotten me into trouble. I think I’ve got to tone it down a bit outside of my blog or be more careful with what I do. As you said, a higher profile means I draw more attention to myself and it’s not always good. Especially in the world of Indie Authors.
I think the difficult part here is that it’s led to many of my Windemere blog posts to go without feedback. Even when it’s part of a different series. People see the world name and stay away. It’s definitely feeling inevitable at this point, which might be a good thing. People care enough to not want to know what’s going to happen.
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I would think that it is would be very tough to promote a new book or a series in general for that matter without putting out teasers to lure people in. I think that people may be being just a little too sensitive about what you are sharing. These snippets, I highly doubt would be reason enough to not want to read the books. Remember you can’t please everyone.
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That’s part of it. I’m at a point where I can’t even pick an excerpt without giving something away. For example, I’m still keeping a character debut from book 4 secret here. I’m not sure when I can talk about him openly on the blog. Might not be until gearing up for the book 5. It’s rather frustrating.
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I can only imagine how difficult this is, but these kinds of teasers should be drawing the audience in rather than pushing them away. It surprises me that people are not more receptive. I don’t envy your position my friend.
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I think it’s more worry that I’m spoiling the fun. As someone said, indie authors are approachable because it’s how we sell our books. So there’s a different sense of an indie author doing a teaser than a traditionally published author. It’s more like a friend spilling a secret.
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I guess it’s different for me with my blog, because I have a tightly focused topic, dragons, and I seldom talk about my writing there. Basically, only when I make a sale or have a new publication coming out. But I do Tweet several times a week about my works in progress and teasing catch phrases. Of course, with Twitter, you have to keep it short. And people can’t argue with you quite as much!
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Great point about Twitter. Tweets are definitely easier because of the 140 character limit. The medium seems to force one to be vague and mysterious.
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Keep in mind that, unlike big name authors who aren’t viewed as accessible, you are accessible. This comment section proves it. Also keep in mind that, unlike television programs that post teasers, your books aren’t yet a done deal because if you’re writing a teaser then the book isn’t yet published. That combination means that some people think they can still influence what you’ll do.
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That’s definitely something to consider. It’s a lose/lose situation too. Being an indie author, cutting off accessibility would be a mistake. So I have to take the suggestions with the benefits, I guess.
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That’s true. It’s also true, like you say in the post, you control what the audience knows before you publish. 🙂
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Sounds slightly ominous in a way. 😀
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