Amnesia and spoilers

[Jeroen Steenbeeke]

The protagonist of the book I'm currently working on suffers from amnesia, and one of the main plots of the book is her discovering her true identity, as well as the cause of her amnesia. However, the story is complicated by the fact that it is the second part of a trilogy, and the protagonist is related to characters from the first book.

Two of the people who read the first book have read samples from the second book. After one chapter they had a vague suspicion who the protagonist was. After three chapters they were certain, and told me their suspicions about the protagonist's origins. They were correct, despite the character not having any part in the first book.

Now, should I be worried about the ease at which they guessed the identity of my protagonist at such an early state? There are various clues regarding her identity, many of which are obvious to attentive readers of the first book, but not so to the supporting characters. In essence, the story does not depend on the readers not figuring out who the protagonist is.

Should I be worried about readers figuring it out, or is it OK as long as the story makes sense from the characters' perspectives?

[David Adams]

I remember reading somewhere that spoilers, although I detest them as a matter of principle, don't actually detract from a viewer's response to a book. This is especially true if the spoilers allow the reader to pick up on clues that they might otherwise miss, like the fact the protagonist is rubbing the scar on their finger, the finger that they mentioned in an earlier book as being sliced open. I don't know if that's a real spoiler by the way since I made it up but just on the off-chance it is, by sheer happen-stance, I blanked it.

Worst case scenario... you make your readers feel smart. I don't see how that's an issue.

I had a similar thing with Lacuna. One of my beta readers said that they saw Sheng's betrayal coming a mile away and that it was far too obvious; yet none of my other readers picked up on the clues I left. Another reader said he correctly guessed the "wham ending", Liao discovering that she's pregnant, very early in the book. Apparently the biggest giveaway I made was I subtly implied, post fade to black, that the sex they were having wasn't protected. Both said they enjoyed the book regardless and I complimented them on their acuity.

In a way it's not bad. For example, in Harry Potter, aside from the last book you just *knew* Harry and the gang were going to survive, no matter how bad it got... I mean, really. You knew that right, deep down? Did it detract from the reading pleasure? No.

I think you'll be fine.

[Jeroen Steenbeeke]

I remember reading somewhere that spoilers, although I detest them as a matter of principle, don't actually detract from a viewer's response to a book. This is especially true if the spoilers allow the reader to pick up on clues that they might otherwise miss, like the fact the protagonist is rubbing the scar on their finger, the finger that they mentioned in an earlier book as being sliced open. I don't know if that's a real spoiler by the way since I made it up but just on the off-chance it is, by sheer happen-stance, I blanked it.

Worst case scenario... you make your readers feel smart. I don't see how that's an issue.

I had a similar thing with Lacuna. One of my beta readers said that they saw Sheng's betrayal coming a mile away and that it was far too obvious; yet none of my other readers picked up on the clues I left.

That's quite an interesting point right there. The two proofreaders I mentioned happen to have quite a knack for figuring out plots and the various holes in them. It's likely that many other readers won't pick up all the clues.

In a way it's not bad. For example, in Harry Potter, aside from the last book you just *knew* Harry and the gang were going to survive, no matter how bad it got... I mean, really. You knew that right, deep down? Did it detract from the reading pleasure? No.

If anything it made it hard to stop reading because I had to be sure. The same goes for reading the Sword of Truth for example. I'm currently at book 4 and there's at least 7 more novels that feature the same cast, but I still worry about the main characters despite knowing they'll probably be alright.

I think you'll be fine.

I think so too, but having others confirm it is always good.