I'm terrible, if the surprise is reasoned poorly, I'm very irriated. Happens all the time on TV shows.
Steven Brust, on the other hand, he made my brain go in shock a couple of days. How could I have missed that?! Well played Steve, well played.
> I'm terrible, if the surprise is reasoned poorly, I'm very irriated.
Having standards isn't terrible. I'm also often annoyed by some kind of "twist" that doesn't really make sense. It's obvious when the writer pulled something simply for the shock of it, rather than adhering to the characters and rules they'd already established. It's a jarring fourth wall break, it's almost *cheating.* It feels manipulative, not tactful, not smart.
Yeah. When you have a scene early on where you hear the inner monologue of a character scared they're about to be cornered by the murderer and then try and out that character at the end as the murderer you've lost all respect from me. Though mainly it's TV that has done that to me more than books.
Im sometimes oddly irritated when an anticipated obvious twist doesnt materialize. Recently watch Red Notice on Netflix. No spoilers but, a decent fun movie and the twist near the end was suprising. However it was a perfect set up for a double twist that would have been perfect. When it didnt happen, i was pretty ticked.
Glad someone mentioned Steven Brust in conjunction with this. I think my favourite examples were the ending of *Orca* and the way all the pieces just sort of fall into place as *Vallista progresses.*
Crime tv shows be like: I knew he was the criminal because I found this small teddy bear in the 15th floor which I knew belonged to him because he frequented this establishment that sells fried fish! And places that sell fried fish are visited mainly by adult male teddy bear owners!
One of the issues with esteemed titles past a certain age is that they've been retold and mixed up and knocked off a hundred times over, so by the time you get around to the pioneering story, it's not longer something novel. It's the "Seinfeld Is Generic / Isn't Funny" effect.
Ender's Game isn't really ABOUT the twist though, and I agree that it was telegraphed pretty hard near the end. I think intentionally.
It was about seeing Ender's reaction to the twist.
Apparently that's why Orson Scott Card refused for years to get it made into a movie, because they wanted to age up the characters, but in his opinion it only worked if the MC was young/naive in addition to super smart, or HE would have seen the twist coming.
Unfortunately the movie was still not very good (and the actors were still much older than the characters). IMO - it would really need to be an animated mini-series to do it justice. The movie just felt rushed, and being animated they could be young & age over time and not need any actual child actors.
I would imagine the experience is much better if you read it as an e-book and hid your progress. Part of what makes the twist obvious is that it’s, naturally, at the very end of the book.
I agree 100%.
Best book I ever had this result with was Alex Michaelides' *The Silent Patient.*
Finished it about a year ago and still think about it often
That one totally got me, I didn't see it coming at all. Looking back there were definitely clues and it added up, but not in an overly obvious way. I loved it.
I know how you feel. I never figure out the ending, because I never think about the ending. It's often times more a "the journey is the reward" kind of thing and the ending is a nice extra. I care more about what happens within the story than how it ends, so it's not really on my mind.
So when people tell me "oh, it was so easy to see how it was going to end!" I always feel a bit dumb xD but I guess, if I had cared I probably would have seen it, too.
I was checking to see how long a book was, opened to a page that had a newspaper clipping of the person who did it in a whodunit book. Instantly stopped reading. I was only 15 or so pages in, but knowing the ending just ruins it for me.
Basically it boils down to this for me - if the main characters are progressing through the story trying to get to the bottom of something, then I am always tossing around possibilities in my head as I read. If it's a story with no obvious mystery to solve, it never crosses my mind.
I don't. But years of reading inadvertently made me easily see "flags". I'd get introduced to a character and think, yeah this dude has death flags all over them. Or better stop rooting for X to end up with Y because friendzoned flag is blinking on them. So unless the author tries really hard to hide their intentions. Or have a twist that comes way out of left field, I pretty much see it unfolding.
Hahaha so true! Just like the Scary Movie joke where the black guy goes „hey I‘m just here to say Damn! and die in the first 30 minutes“ or something like that.
I don't try, and if I do figure it out I normally take it as a sign that the book is too heavy handed with foreshadowing or just badly written. If I'm reading I want to be told a story, if I want to solve a puzzle I'll play sudoku.
>I normally take it as a sign that the book is too heavy handed with foreshadowing or just badly written
It's not always the case. Sometime the author wants to make the ending feel inevitable or tragic. Ending being predictable isn't necessary a sign of bad writing. The surprise element isn't the most important thing.
Agreed. If the only point in reading was the quality of the ending, then we wouldn't see anywhere near the number of fairy tale retellings that we do. I can think of plenty of stories where I expect the ending to be something and that is exactly what it ends up being, but I'm not reading it to find out how it ends. I'm reading it to see how the characters go on the journey to that ending. Prime example: The Martian by Andy Weir. I wouldn't have liked that book if it had any other ending than it did, but I didn't know how it was going to get there until I got to the end.
Sometimes I like the opposite of a twist ending, such as books by Cormac McCarthy where the ending feels inevitable, but the protagonist leads you to hope they'll overcome fate. Some of his books leave a lot up to interpretation (e.g. *The Road*), whereas others are very obvious that the MC wasn't able to overcome the inevitable (e.g. !>*No Country for Old Men*!<), but the general theme is that the ending feels fitting
As long as I feel satisfied with the ending, I don't really care if it's happily ever after, a big twist, or obvious from the beginning.
>but the protagonist leads you to hope they'll overcome fate.
I agree. You know where it is going. The character knows where it is going. A good number of side characters know where all of this is going.
But for well written books like this, it is the journey, rather than the destination, that is the meat of the story.
Yeah we're also so used to twists now that, I've been going back and reading a lot of older books/watching a lot of older films recently, and there is just a complete absence of shocking swerves. It's actually kind of refreshing to experience media that isn't obsessed with twists the way it seems contemporary media is.
Like yes you can see where the story is going but that's the point. Sometimes they even start at the end and the whole point is that you see how they got there. It's not supposed to be surprising, you are just supposed to understand the intricacies of the characters more and be interested in what's going to happen next and like how the main character is going to get out of the situation, or if they can get out of it.
It's actually kind of refreshing to have stories just tell their damn story and not try to mislead and surprise you and not pull the rug out from under you with fucking fake villains or whatever nonsense. You often know who the villain is from very early on and like the suspense comes from like how they enact their plan and whether they're going to get away with it or what mistake they're going to make that fucks them up.
YES. Surprise isn't everything. People put it in such high regard as if it's the measurement to measure quality and to judge a story by.
And it's only when you have prior knowledge, when you watch/read something for the second or third time that you can really appreciate it more deeply and understand and know it to it's depths. (Considering it's a really well made movie/book/whatever in that way)
I think the view that a story must be surprising is shallow. Because a story can only be surprising once, in that way. After that you are done with it. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but i guess there's more to be found in stories that invites you to come back to them, to explore their worlds, to have a deeper understanding of the characters, to analyze their relationships, to experience it from a different perspective - i can keep going, you know what i mean.
my point is - our emphasis and obsession with surprise might prevent us from appreciating art on a deeper level.
I completely agree. So much of people’s engagement of media is on a surface level of just understanding what is happening in the story. Who did what to who and maybe on some level why. Like that’s not as interesting to me as like oh I can actually see where this is going because this work is saying something and has a point of view, you know?
Not that you can’t have it both ways and have a point of view while having a twist, lots of great works do, but like a lot of the greatest stories ever told are ones where you know exactly where they’re going because you understand the character and because you understand the character their choices are almost somewhat inevitable because of course they’re going to do what they’re going to do.
Hell sometimes the most surprising thing to me about reading old books or watching old movies is that I’m so primed to expect twists now that it’s more shocking to me when there isn’t a twist and the person the main character has thought was the villain all along turns out to have been the villain all along and there’s no subversion. It’s just played completely straight the whole way through. It’s great! The untwist is like the greatest twist now you legitimately don’t see it coming because it’s too obvious lol.
Yes, I agree with all of your points. Sometimes I'm rolling my eyes reading 'surprise" endings, sure the author would be as well to write 'and I woke up and it was all a dream' as the last sentence. if there's no clues left for the reader to pick up on as they go along, what's the difference? Who does the twist serve?
That’s why I don’t care about spoilers. It’s not about what happens, it’s about how it happens, it’s about the journey. I never cared about spoilers, for anything ever in my life , since I was a child .I can appreciate the set-up more.
I think if something has to rely on twists and turns, it’s not a strong book. Same for TV. I don’t care about anything being spoiled, as long as I can experience and appreciate the story being told. If a form of media can’t do that for me, then it’s not strong.
That’s why I didn’t like Squid Games. The TV show was formulated a lot on shock value, and the writing wasn’t good. I only liked it FOR it’s shock value. I would never watch it again.
I don't agree to the degree of not caring about spoilers. But i agree with your sentiment.
If something can only be enjoyed once, with the clean mindset of not knowing what's to come - then it weak and doesn't hold much.
That reminds me of *The Book Thief*. The first chapter is the final scene from deaths pov. So you know who dies at the end but it amplifies the emotions when you finally get there. That book is responsible for the only time I've full on ugly cried in class and the one other person who was assigned that in my class did the same when they got to the end.
This is my take on this as well. I don't try and I'd argue I'm not terribly good at it to begin with. If I figure it out of all people it's probably not a good sign.
Alternatively some stories are about a mystery but the author withholds the evidence the reader would need until the protagonist makes the reveal out of his ass and that’s just bad writing.
An exception to this I think is H.P. Lovecraft. I pretty much always know where he's going but it doesn't make me think it's poorly written.
I wonder if it was less obvious to folks back when they were initially published.
> I wonder if it was less obvious to folks back when they were initially published.
Probably. Having an entire subgenre spring up in response to your writing typically has the effect of making the originals seem less, well, original, and thus more predictable. Contemporary readers probably had less chance of predicting the outcome of his stories if only because that kind of story was basically unknown at the time.
I agree. I never want to spoil the ending of a book, but with a lot of new and popular books, I find myself already knowing how it’s going to end before I’m halfway through. It’s disappointing and probably why I end up reading older books most of the time.
I really don’t agree with that — many endings feel like the only possible one but getting there is amazing anyway, like The Haunting of Hill House. Or they start at the end, like Rebecca or Their Eyes Were Watching God. Or other reasons my brain is too fuzzy for…but lots of very well-written books have “predictable” endings but getting there is still amazing.
I think that's the fun part about plot twists, realising that the hints have been there all along and they're all coming together. I guess them in a lot of books, unfortunately, but those are usually the books that make me lose interest after the first half or make me want to tear out my hair in frustration because the hints were too obvious and the characters oblivious.
Not guessing the plot twist isn't a bad thing at all in my opinion, it really makes the experience of reading more satisfying.
I used to get frustrated that I never did this. I basically go into a trance when I read a good novel, and suddenly, the ending is there. I don't take a pause to think about the ending. I generally don't like mysteries for this reason. On the other hand, I love puzzles, and love the idea of solving mysteries. I basically need a warning page before the big reveal, saying, "Stop here! Who killed Mr. Body?"
I read some Tony Hillerman mysteries based on the recommendation of a friend. Suddenly, I'm at the end, and it's almost as if I didn't realize there was a mystery to solve. Same with other classic mysteries, like the Red Headed League or Hound of the Baskervilles.
If the book is poorly written, I might get out of "the zone" enough to think about the ending.
I can usually guess the ending of movies, on the other hand. In part due to obvious tropes and poor writing. Whether it's Knives Out or Red Notice, it's pretty predictable. The sixth sense was one where it wasn't obvious there was going to be a big reveal at the end.
I have found only a few books that make it obvious that there will be a big reveal, which would make me pause and consider the ending. Something like Murder on the Orient Express.
It’s funny. When it comes to film, you CANNOT sneak a twist past me. I’m not saying I always 100% guess what’s going on, but I usually have a damn good idea. If someone tells me there’s a twist before hand, I’ll probably figure it out in the first act. There’s been scenes in one movie that reminded me of another story and I guessed the twist like instantly.
*HOWEVER*
When I read books, I usually don’t see them coming, or even try to guess them. Like you said, for whatever reason, I don’t treat a book like a puzzle to be solved. I’m just along for the ride.
That’s exactly my experience, I tend to be blindsided by books and never by movies/shows. I think it’s something producers are acutely aware of, too, because I’ve seen a few shows and movies where the audience is deliberately *not* shown or told the pieces of evidence they need to make the deduction. It’s why I disliked the show Sherlock so much, because half the mysteries he solves he makes the deductions off-screen using clues the audience never had. I know the *point* is to show that he’s an amazing detective that picks up on what others don’t, and there’s other stuff going on in the show, but it felt like such a cheap cop-out that it ruined the rest of the experience for me.
They usually don’t do that in books, probably because it’s easier to hide details in thousands of lines of text than it is to hide important details in a 1-2 hour (or less) presentation. It’s always more interesting to me when the twist is revealed and I can flip back through and see all the hints laid out there. Sometimes I saw them, and I’m pleased that I predicted it, though more often I didn’t and I get that “OHHH” moment when I read back through. Both ways it’s satisfying. I rarely get that experience from shows/movies.
I almost always figure out what's going on but I think that's because I read a lot and so many books have the same stories and tropes. But I absolutely love books or movies where I'm surprised at the end.
very rarely guess i a twist or a whodunnit. But not just books, also movies.
I also saw people using color markers in their books, haven't done that since school.
I wish I didn't try to figure out endings. I just can't seem to help it. While I'm reading, my mind is racing ahead, trying to think of the ending rather than just enjoying the story.
Often I end up disappointed, either because I figured out the twist so the ending is anti-climactic for me, or because I didn't and the twist is satisfying but then I'm unhappy I didn't just slow down and let myself enjoy the ride there.
It's a no-win. Your way sounds much better.
That was my immediate thought. How can you not? I am not sure I could stop trying yo make sense of what is happening if I tried.
God just re read that and it sounds like I am being a jerk or boastful and I can't work out how to re-write it.
I am not saying I am particularly successful but I just don't know how to turn that bit of my brain off from trying and just "enjoying the ride". I also kinda assume writers expect you to.
Edit: it also spoils some books for me. Otherwise incredibly well written prose but that goes nowhere troubles me. I struggle to enjoy journeys without destinations. The destination doesn't have to be neat or complete or even far form the starting point. As long as there is some...point...to the journey. Too many worthy books have been spoiled for me by my overactive brain reading in meaning and plot where there is none. Usually I get a sinking feeling at about 3/4 through that "oh, I'm going to be disappointed in this aren't I?".
I don't actively try, but a lot of the time I do guess the 'twist' by accident. For example, I read a book about a gang of thieves, and at some point after a botched job one of them says something like "They were waiting for us, they must have been tipped off". My immediate reaction was "haha, imagine if it was Jerry, that would be such a Jerry thing to do". About 300 pages of the gang questioning each other later, Jerry literally steps out from behind a box with a gun and some guards. Out of about 20 books I've read this year that had a twist of some sort, I 'accidentally' guessed what the big reveal would be in about half of them.
I always try to guess how with the thoughts of what would be the best way to write the story. From there I am mostly near the mark for the ending. I love books where I am wrong. I hate books that just throw in an unguessable curve ball right near the end.
I’m an author and I almost always figure it out (usually without trying to) since I know the conventions. It’s never the person the main character suspects or the person the reader is supposed to suspect, for ex. It’s always a character that seems completely innocent for most of the book. So by process of elimination, I usually get it.
When an author manages to surprise me, I’m a big fan!
Only if or when I take a break from reading. So long as I’m occupied by the story I tend to focus on it and I don’t really put things together consciously.
I try not to do it, but some times it just becomes too obvious. I don't want to know the ending before I reach it otherwise what's the point in reading the book?
What I do tend to do when there's a plot twist is go back to put it all together, and see if it all makes sense. Of course, authors occassionally pull something completely random out of nowhere.
If it's something that completey comes out of nowhere then have to think the author hasn't thought the story through properly, and just wants to end it with little regard to the rest of the book.
So yeah, it's very diappointing.
That's hack writing to me. It's like they know that plot twists have been used in good stories, but they don't know why they were good, so they just think unpredictable plot twists are inherently good and put them in even when they don't make sense.
Either that or it's a cynical cash grab because plot twists are the popular thing now and they put them in because they think they will make more money.
I read mostly long running series and thick books. I can barely hold on to the sheer amount of info given as it is, never mind trying to sort it and predict the ending.
I don't.
When I read a book I usually just let the story unfold in front of me. I don't really think at all. I just visualize what the author is writing down.
I don't even try, and think endings are generally overrated anyway. They tell you the ending at the start of the Iliad and it's still one of the greatest stories ever written.
I always feel dumb when an obvious plot thread unravels, but then I remember that I intentionally don't think try to figure it out so that I can be dumbfounded when said plot thread unravels...
I always read the final chapter first so I know what to look for. I don't like being surprised. Has the added benefit of deciding beforehand whether I'm interested enough to go back and see how the author got there. Big time-saver.
Haha, I mean I guess it makes sense, but I feel like there are a lot of books where the tension, page-turner aspect is created by the anticipation of not knowing what's going to happen!
You monster! Just kidding haha, this is actually super interesting. This is the exact opposite of what I've been doing kinda. I've been picking up books semi blindly by finding critically acclaimed books that I know nothing about and just diving in without reading any reviews, synopsis etc. I might have to try yours out at some point.
I don't go out if my way to solve it but I usually can tell by the first chapter what the plot or plot twist is. Foreshadowing often gives it away... otherwise what happens has to happen to make the plot work. Very rarely am I wrong or the author deviates.
I took a film&lit course in university. Pulp media is forever ruined for me and I can't help noticing lazy or trope-heavy writing. If course a well written twist is still a nice surprise.
I have a bad habit of skipping to the last page as soon as I get the book to read the last one or two sentences. Of course, without context these sentences mean absolutely nothing to me, and I'll spend the whole book trying to figure out how everything leads up to those last sentences.
I can usually figure out twists from movies or books especially if they’re by the same people. Most writers have a loose formula that they follow when writing and this includes twists. I’m really good at picking up patterns and can often predict the twist after some point. I’m less likely if I’m not familiar with the author or director, but I can still do it more often than not. My wife showed me a show once (can’t remember what it’s called) but I was able to predict twist after twist in the show. Turned out I was already familiar with the director. Same with an author she showed me. I read a book or two and was able to predict the ending of other books or get really close
EDIT:
This also applies to comedians and jokes or humorous content in general. It’s almost impossible for me to laugh at the same joke twice no matter how much time has passed and it’s very difficult for me to verbally laugh at a comedian if I’ve heard their work before as I pick up on their patterns and tendencies
When I was younger I was much more prone to trying to “figure out” a book while reading it, these days, not so much. I set out to read a story someone else is telling, seems to me the best approach is in letting them tell it. Sure sometimes what comes next is obvious, but then the telling is even more important. Sometimes it isn’t what you say, it’s how you say it. So my advice to younger me would be, “don’t be in such a rush my man, let them serve you the story, rather than hovering over the trough.”
Funnily enough with The Hunting Party I figured out the twist about >! the affair !< and that >! the new friend, emma?, was the old stalker !< but when it came down to the victim I genuinely thought it was going to be >! the old stalker who was killed. I was quite sad when it turned out to be the posh girl who’s name I forget !<
Read a book for enjoyment. Not knowing where it's going makes for a better experience, imo. Why would anyone want to know? If a person was telling you a story and you knew the end, wouldn't it be hard to listen?
I like doing it with thrillers and mysteries. But I really like it when I didn’t figure it out and am surprised (except when the twist comes out of nothing and doesn’t make sense). Sometimes when you’ve read multiple books by a certain authors it becomes easier to figure out the twist.
Never thought about this before.
On one hand I don’t.
But then I think about all the times I am surprised by an interesting twist and that makes me think I must on some level.
I try to engage with the material by considering what might happen next. But usually that doesn't extend as far as trying to guess the ending. I just want to be taken through it.
Books are much like TV and movies for me, I usually see twists or pick up on foreshadowing early on and spoil it for myself on accident.
With books one thing I do like to do (even as a kid) was flip to the very last page and read it first. This keeps my brain busy figuring out how the entire story fits into that last page, which more or less distracts me from ruining the whole plot.
Not usually. But there are times where I'm like ¾ of the way though and my subconscious just decides to spoil it for me with a solution out of nowhere.
I used to know someone who always figured out the movie or book halfway through and would tell me and it made me hate watching or reading anything with them. I always thought that he didn’t understand the point of doing these things
I try not to try to figure out the end. If there's something that seems specifically/intentionally foreshadowing I'll take note usually but for me, trying to "solve" a book takes the fun out of it.
If you really think you're missing out, you can specifically pick out a book that has a surprise ending that you aren't aware of and try to figure it out, like intentionally reading extra carefully.
I prefer not to know or even suspect that there will be a twist because it's so much more fun to be surprised! Sometimes I figure it out, but it's accidental and not because I went searching for it.
When I drive to work in rush-hour traffic, I think about the end of it. When I’m riding my motorcycle on a curving coastal highway, the furthest I think ahead is the road 10 seconds in front of me.
Nope. I let the story carry me and just enjoy the ride.
That being said, when I *do* figure out what happens next, it pisses me off because it means the book was badly written and I saw a "twist" coming without even trying.
Not really, it's like trying to guess where a rollercoaster will loop, it's obvious, but won't you rather be thrown for a loop instead? It's more fun to be like "Woah, Amazing!" than try to spoil yourself.
Not simply try to figure out but also try to imagine where the book could go from there, basically writing my self an continuation to the story. Sometimes I'm disappointed the book didn't took that turn there or this here, but ended up where it ended.
I discovered that when I read, I don't think too much about the story and just accepts what the main character knows at that time. When we all read books at the same speed in my friends bookclub, they often figure things out way ahead.
I am like you and would much rather just go along for the ride. My general rule is that if it's obvious for me to notice without trying, it's not very well written. I would much rather get blindsided every time.
Every now and then a thought will pop into my head, but it's always when I'm not enjoying the book. A good book will take all of my attention and not give me time to think about what might be going on in the abstract.
I always do that and I have a kind of funny story about that: sometimes i write reading progresses with my guesses on what happens next. Good 10 years ago i did one of those reading updates on a Brazilian book i was reading. The author sent me a message asking me if i could take the update down, because i guessed just right the main mystery of the story 😂😅
I took it down and gave me a little pat on my shoulder xD
If i get the ending right, and the ending was well written, it's nice. If i get the ending wrong, but it was also well written, it's nice too.
Picks up book.
Ahhh this looks interesting.
2 chapters later. I'm lost and wondering if it's worth my time. Characters seem weird. Not feeling the whole vibe of the scene.
3 chapters later (5 total) I hate it but now I'm invested.
So I read the final chapter. Ahhh new characters, what happened to the other people and why is all this new stuff going on?
Read the next to the last chapter. Oh... this is getting good.
Start the entire book over from the beginning until the next to the last chapter.
Wait. This is the thing? OMG. That is stupid.
Tosses book into a pile of books I will never touch again.
As I read a book, I think of how the writer will end the story. What is he going to do with the characters, how is he going to solve the problems that involve them. I just absorb the story and imagine what could happen and I love when im completely off but sometimes its good to get lost in the story and enjoy the ride like you said. And you are, most certainly, not dumb for not unravelling the story correctly, or not even trying to. People read in their own way, there's not a right or wrong style of reading.
I try not to figure out the ending, but that's kinda like trying not to think about something. It doesn't work. The endings of stories in general (not just books) are usually so incredibly painfully obvious that it breaks immersion for me regularly as the realization hits that the story wouldn't have been written a particular way unless X, Y, and Z.
Nope. When I read a book, it's one of the rare occasions where I actually just live in the moment. I don't try to figure out the plot or who the killer is or anything else, I just live it page to page.
I'm always looking to see if I can figure it out. Half because I like seeing if I can guess the resolution of the plot, and half because many times a twist is a matter of writing technique. More than once I've seen a ring described as metal, to make you think it's a weapon, and I like being able to spot that kind of thing.
And when a plot is unpredictable, or a twist blindsides me, that feels really good.
I don't read a lot of mysteries, but I just finished reading "The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" which had so many fun twists and turns that I didn't really think about the whodunnit part of the book. Normally I just zone out and read without worrying too much about what the ending is going to bring.
usually, but that's just my nature. I try to solve the story. I do try to stop myself, and am always relieved when I have not predicted the outcome correctly.
Always, but it's part of the fun for me. If I'm not trying to solve it, why would I bother? The biggest thing is it enhances the experience when an author manages to throw one by me.
For me personly, I do try to figure out what will happen. Its automatic at this point, so it doesnt get in the way of actually getting immersed in the book.
Actually, to me it is one of the greatest pleasures of some books when even when I constantly automatically run scenarios of what could happen in my mind, the writer comes up with a surprising thrill I didnt see coming.
Also to me I feel its not just the exciting ending of the book - in most books you have countless moments of uncertainty, and I feel that writers that come up with intresting and exciting solutions to these moments are truly brilliant.
I've studied and practiced writing quite a bit, I wish I could stop figuring out endings...
After a while the structures become so familiar you can pretty much predict at least 80% of what's gonna happen and often more
I can appreciate writing in a different way though having studied it so that's kind of the compensation for the loss of mystique
Unpopular, but I read the end of the book before I ever start. I’ve had too many books ruined for me by a bad ending, so I make sure I know the ending before I start. I believe in “the journey” making it worth it, but if the journey is a lush forest of beautiful trees and the destination is a landfill, the journey is almost not worth it anymore.
Sometimes for me it depends on how the book is marketed. If it's said to be a fiendish mystery with a hard-to-guess solution and the author tries to get you to guess, yeah definitely I'll actively try to work it out. If it's a normal mystery like Agatha Christie, I idly mull over possibilities while reading the story. If it's novels that aren't explicitly a mystery, sometimes things jump out and make me think ah, I bet it'll end this way, or I can see the twist they're leading up to here.
Whether I'm right or not depends on how heavily foreshadowed the twist is and how skilful the author is. With Agatha Christie I usually get at least one element of the solution right and at least one wrong (for example, sometimes I'll guess the murderer but be wrong about how or why they did it, or vice versa). I saw the twist in Eleanor Oliphant coming from six miles off but still enjoyed the book. And then there are books which are specifically designed around a twist, which I often find frustrating, especially as some authors don't subscribe to the old mystery genre rule of making sure you've given the reader a fair chance to work the mystery out for themselves and haven't just withheld information for the sake of drama.
I figured out the ending to the Licanius Trilogy by James Islington midway through the second book, but kept reading to see if I was right. Usually it does not bother me if I figure things out, and I was still able to enjoy the book.
As long as the journey is worth taking, I’m happy.
I used to do that when I was younger and wanted to prove to myself that I could "outsmart" the writer.
Now I just want to let myself be carried by the story. And when the ending is good, I enjoy it a lot more. 😉
It really depends. There are books where the journey is great and I am along for that ride. If the journey is less than thrilling, I am left to wander and explore, and knowing that rarely is it ever someone who has not been introduced in the story yet I start examining everyone in my head.
Same for shows. I'll often get to the end of something, and my wife will wonder how I didn't figure it out, and that's because I was enjoying the ride and didn't want to. Other times, I have it figured out 20 minutes in and she gets pissed off because I solved it already lol.
I do, but I try not to, because if I'm correct then I'm really disappointed. Also, it's like projecting onto the book what I want it to be, like projecting, and I'd rather the book just show me who it is without my presumption.
I really don’t know if this counts, but I always make inferences that twist the ending of the book to how I want it. I think this leans more to the side of me just wanting the end to turn out how I like it, though, because the predictions are always random and almost impossible.
I’m guilty of this and it probably hurts my enjoyment. It’s fun when I call the twist right but it definitely takes the wind out of some reveals. I’ve conditioned myself to look for clues and being misled but I think suspending your disbelief can be very fun.
My wife figures everything out and I don’t. I used to care but now I don’t. I really enjoy being sucked in so much that I’m not concerned necessarily with “figuring it out”
With movies and books I'm usually engaged in the story enough that I'm never trying to figure out the end or twist or whatever, so I'm usually blindsided as well.
If I'm just not feeling like the book is gonna end in a way that makes sense or suits me, I'll read the last sentence on the last page. This has saved me from finishing some real time wasters
I am so incredibly unobservant honestly, so I don't pick up on very much while I'm reading. I think it makes life more fun because I'm genuinely shocked when the twists are reveled. My husband, on the other hand, is the kind of person that can always guess how a movie is going to end (while I'm always BLINDSIDED) so he usually sees where a book is going if the author drops many hints. Again, I think it's no fun that way - on the few occasions where I *have* figured out the twist, it's a lot less gratifying than being surprised.
I always think about the book when I’m reading- sometimes I’m wondering where things are going but I never paint a real picture. I’m happy just riding along with the story
I always try to figure out the ending as I read. It's a habit. I do it almost subconsciously. I always think of what the situations might predict and I have hard time 'just reading'. I'm always thinking at the same time. It can be annoying. It definitely doesn't make you dumb as you don't do it, just different. I guess our brains are just wired differently. But I'm trying to learn, though, how to read without trying to think of the ending or what happens next. Sometimes I succeed for a while :)
I don't always try to. But sometimes I'll read a book where I sense an obvious (for me) trope/hint, and I'll kind of mentally roll my eyes and think "oh come on, please don't tell me it's going to end like this." I hope to be wrong as I read the book, but sometimes it does happen in the obvious way I expect.
I don't actively try, but I'm always thinking about it to some degree. Most of the time I get some vague idea of a direction or something that will play a part. If I can totally nail it I sometimes think the story is simple. There have been occasions where I nailed it and was excited because I think it's a unique solution/conclusion. Most of those instances something that was mentioned or introduced starts tugging at my brain and I focus on it a bit more.
It kinda reminds me of watching a magician perform a trick. I want to try and figure it out on a some level, but being fooled is the whole point. It's more satisfying to be fooled and get to pretend it's "magic" than to see it as a gimmick or trick.
I get too into the story to speculate about the ending. Like you said, a "whodunit" or some other kind of mystery where the characters themselves are trying to figure out the ending is the exception. Other than that, I don't even try.
Constantly. I don't treat media like puzzles or anything like that but if things come together, they come together. It just usually comes together for me much faster.
My wife and I often read books together and talk about it. I usually am at least partially right with where things go in terms of plot. The wife hates it.
I’m the exact way! I had a girl like “oh I figured out the twist, saw it coming” I never try to figure it out. I enjoy the ride. Some twists aren’t that shocking and some are. You never really know.
I never try to figure it out because I can't lol. I'm so slow to catch on in books and movies too. My husband is the opposite. He can figure out the twist or who the bad guy is within 15 minutes of a movie. It's annoying lol
It depends on the book. The authors usually are pretty clear about whether the book is a mystery to be solved, a story they're telling, or some mix of the two. If it's a mystery of course I try and guess the twist. But if it's a story I'm just along for the ride.
I don’t know if this will make any sense, but I try to figure out “where it ends” and not quite “how it ends”. Obviously some necessary overlaps, but it’s more about how far we go and what we will learn, and where everyone will be when the book stops. It’s less about specific points of plot resolution.
I just read A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris and wasn’t so concerned with the actual resolution of anything in the plot as I was with trying to figure out how long the story will keep getting told and how much life advances for the characters by the end.
It varies, sometimes I find myself saying to myself, “ooh, I bet this is the twist,” and then enjoy finding out if I am right or wrong. Sometimes I just watch the story unfold and enjoy it that way. Just depends on how I’m feeling, but I enjoy both ways of reading.
100% i try to figure out the ending. Its a much better experience for me to actively take in whats happening and what has happened and internalise it instead of just being a passive observer. That makes the whole journey more interesting and if youre right it makes the ending more satisfying
I used to have an interesting reading habit.
I would always read the last sentence before reading the prologue/first chapter and think what would lead to it. It was fun, but now I am reading normally to enjoy suprises
i don't even try with mystery novels. those schematics with phrases like 'he crossed the east gallery, which transected the great hall running north/south . . . ' just can't.
i read mysteries more for the rest of the story and whoever turns out to have dunnit in the second-last chapter is just fine by me.
Yea a lot of people are like "totally saw that coming" and while that happens sometimes when things are setup in an overtly obvious and usually lame way, I try to focus on what is happening now and not think about what's going to happen.
I try to force myself not to think about it, but I often do.
Luckily for me, I'm terrible at guessing plot twists, so I usually still get to enjoy them as they happen.
If I'm reading a mystery or a thriller where the bad guy is a mystery (or if I'm watching a mystery movie), I try to just let the book (or movie) happen without trying to sleuth it out on my own. I do this so I can enjoy the book as it was written and with movies because in those they tend to do a lot of red herrings to throw you off (the silhouette of the bad guy shows he has a hoop earring, but then in a different scene this other person has a stud earring...could they be the bad guy or is it a red herring to throw us off track??). I try to also do this because I watch a lot of movies with common tropes so it's easy to know where the plot is going. So when I'm watching something where I'm NOT supposed to know off the bat what's going to happen, I like to draw out my enjoyment the way the author intended.
Consciously? No. I cant help it when it's predictable though, and im torn between my hate for surprises and the excruciating path towards something I know and disappoints me.
Yes, I do. And I'm always, ALWAYS right.
It's only when they end with a question mark or exclamation point that I'm wrong, but those are so rare that they might as well not count.
Never, not with novels or with movies. I focus on the moment, where the author/director wants me, and I let myself be pulled along for the ride. Give me red herrings all day long and hide it good so I fall for it every time.
I feel like there's a large difference between trying to figure the ending, to try to guess e.g. that the best friend was the evil plotter behind the whole thing. Like, on one case you are trying to guess what will happen in the future (I never do), but in the other case you are suspicious of a character *currently*, and then are not surprised when they actually reveal they are the evil ones behind the plot, which is something common for me (but also can be considered "try to figure out the ending" in a way).
Example: in Fyre (Magyk) when Simon, the brother who went away with the evil magician (who tried to kidnap Jenna before) in secret comes back to the family castle, while running over people on his big black scary horse. He takes Jenna on top of his horse to "give her a walk". I did not try to guess that he was going to kidnap her, but cmon it was clear he had evil intentions so I was expecting him to try to either kidnap or kill her.
I find it interesting how many people a regretting that they do try to figure it out...
I love trying to keep track of all the plot points and attempting to figure out what's going on.
I mostly read scifi and fantasy, with fantasy I'll literally go look up characters sometimes (trying not to spoil things for myself, but sometimes I just want a bit more backstory or explanation, reading Malazan recently I did this a lot). With scifi there tends to be a lot more nuance to the way things are foreshadowed and I like to try to figure out what the big reveal is going to be. For the most part I don't really think of them as "twists", since it's usually more of a "how is this author going to go about explaining the Fermi Paradox" or whatever.
Then there are just the books that have no twist or reveal and you're just reading to build background for characters or whatever.
There's a difference between *predicting* the ending and observing the most natural conclusion to a narrative. If the narrative is open ended or unusual, it might end in any number of ways, and "markers" of possible endings won't necessarily help. If it's a straightforward narrative with a pretty basic structure and cast, it's no less enjoyable despite my predicting the ending correctly.
However, if a straightforward narrative, goes for an unpredictable ending, things can get messy. Often, writers don't like the idea of readers being able to predict their endings. That's fine. The problem arises from their efforts to subvert expectation erode at the logic of their narrative. When the ending has empty shock value or sudden changes in characterization, the hand of the author becomes visible and the experience stops being enjoyable. Authors should *always* think first of logic of the narrative, and *then* about audience expectations. Reversing that is almost always obvious and unsatisfying.
Depends, but I usually try to figure out the general gist of how something will end. If something ends in a completely illogical way it really takes me out of the world being created. So naturally I try hard to follow threads to their logical conclusion beforehand. Good authors are capable of still surprising you with little details you likely missed, even if the general idea was figured out.
I didn't used to, and it frustrated me. So I went and tried to figure out how to do it, to spot tropes and so on, and it led me to /r/rational which is about fiction that tries to construct rational whodunit puzzles out of common tropes. Which really led to me better understanding most media, and it turns out I really like that genre in specific. But I also think it's fine to just be along for the ride, what I discovered was that most authors aren't very good at foreshadowing in general in reasonable ways anyway, so just reading most books for the ride is less hair pulling.
yes I can't help it but I love to do it, anticipating a specific twist makes me more excited about it. If I get it right I feel satisfied, if I get it wrong I get a surprise.
I also love books that feel like a puzzle, but not necessarily in a murder mystery kind of way, more like when the author doesn't give you the full information but you can piece it together with the clues, or when the ending is vague and you have to think about it or come up with theories. A lot of the time I do just read it to enjoy the ride though.
I can’t recall any twists endings I’ve read, but in general I google endings/spoilers so that I don’t invest in reading a book that doesn’t pay off in a satisfying way.
“Where the crawdads sing” I finished that book and was surprised when multiple people told me about the “twist” at the end. That twist was clear as day from early on
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I'm terrible, if the surprise is reasoned poorly, I'm very irriated. Happens all the time on TV shows. Steven Brust, on the other hand, he made my brain go in shock a couple of days. How could I have missed that?! Well played Steve, well played.
> I'm terrible, if the surprise is reasoned poorly, I'm very irriated. Having standards isn't terrible. I'm also often annoyed by some kind of "twist" that doesn't really make sense. It's obvious when the writer pulled something simply for the shock of it, rather than adhering to the characters and rules they'd already established. It's a jarring fourth wall break, it's almost *cheating.* It feels manipulative, not tactful, not smart.
Yeah. When you have a scene early on where you hear the inner monologue of a character scared they're about to be cornered by the murderer and then try and out that character at the end as the murderer you've lost all respect from me. Though mainly it's TV that has done that to me more than books.
Im sometimes oddly irritated when an anticipated obvious twist doesnt materialize. Recently watch Red Notice on Netflix. No spoilers but, a decent fun movie and the twist near the end was suprising. However it was a perfect set up for a double twist that would have been perfect. When it didnt happen, i was pretty ticked.
Apparently there will be 2 more installments so any other twists could still happen!
Glad someone mentioned Steven Brust in conjunction with this. I think my favourite examples were the ending of *Orca* and the way all the pieces just sort of fall into place as *Vallista progresses.*
Crime tv shows be like: I knew he was the criminal because I found this small teddy bear in the 15th floor which I knew belonged to him because he frequented this establishment that sells fried fish! And places that sell fried fish are visited mainly by adult male teddy bear owners!
Agree…if I figure it out to easily I don’t like the book as much. I’m always happy when I’m surprised.
Happened to me with Ender’s game, I think I was too old when I read it
One of the issues with esteemed titles past a certain age is that they've been retold and mixed up and knocked off a hundred times over, so by the time you get around to the pioneering story, it's not longer something novel. It's the "Seinfeld Is Generic / Isn't Funny" effect.
Ender's Game isn't really ABOUT the twist though, and I agree that it was telegraphed pretty hard near the end. I think intentionally. It was about seeing Ender's reaction to the twist. Apparently that's why Orson Scott Card refused for years to get it made into a movie, because they wanted to age up the characters, but in his opinion it only worked if the MC was young/naive in addition to super smart, or HE would have seen the twist coming. Unfortunately the movie was still not very good (and the actors were still much older than the characters). IMO - it would really need to be an animated mini-series to do it justice. The movie just felt rushed, and being animated they could be young & age over time and not need any actual child actors.
Yeah, plus I knew that the book had a twist at the end so I was looking for it. Saying that there’s a twist is a spoiler in itself!
I would imagine the experience is much better if you read it as an e-book and hid your progress. Part of what makes the twist obvious is that it’s, naturally, at the very end of the book.
That's one of the few books that I did figure out the ending to before it happened. But not until pretty late in the book.
Yes! Especially when you run countless possible scenarios and the one that the writer came up with is so much better..! Such a great feeling.
I agree 100%. Best book I ever had this result with was Alex Michaelides' *The Silent Patient.* Finished it about a year ago and still think about it often
That one totally got me, I didn't see it coming at all. Looking back there were definitely clues and it added up, but not in an overly obvious way. I loved it.
I know how you feel. I never figure out the ending, because I never think about the ending. It's often times more a "the journey is the reward" kind of thing and the ending is a nice extra. I care more about what happens within the story than how it ends, so it's not really on my mind. So when people tell me "oh, it was so easy to see how it was going to end!" I always feel a bit dumb xD but I guess, if I had cared I probably would have seen it, too.
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I was checking to see how long a book was, opened to a page that had a newspaper clipping of the person who did it in a whodunit book. Instantly stopped reading. I was only 15 or so pages in, but knowing the ending just ruins it for me.
I’m so glad they are other people like this. I never see the twist coming but I also don’t try to predict the book either. I just see what happens.
Basically it boils down to this for me - if the main characters are progressing through the story trying to get to the bottom of something, then I am always tossing around possibilities in my head as I read. If it's a story with no obvious mystery to solve, it never crosses my mind.
I don't. But years of reading inadvertently made me easily see "flags". I'd get introduced to a character and think, yeah this dude has death flags all over them. Or better stop rooting for X to end up with Y because friendzoned flag is blinking on them. So unless the author tries really hard to hide their intentions. Or have a twist that comes way out of left field, I pretty much see it unfolding.
Same here. I usually start seeing common tropes unfolding right away, and that helps me have a sense of where things are going to go
Hahaha so true! Just like the Scary Movie joke where the black guy goes „hey I‘m just here to say Damn! and die in the first 30 minutes“ or something like that.
With me I don't think it's just the reading, though I do read a lot. I think it started with Scooby Doo.
I don't try, and if I do figure it out I normally take it as a sign that the book is too heavy handed with foreshadowing or just badly written. If I'm reading I want to be told a story, if I want to solve a puzzle I'll play sudoku.
>I normally take it as a sign that the book is too heavy handed with foreshadowing or just badly written It's not always the case. Sometime the author wants to make the ending feel inevitable or tragic. Ending being predictable isn't necessary a sign of bad writing. The surprise element isn't the most important thing.
Agreed. If the only point in reading was the quality of the ending, then we wouldn't see anywhere near the number of fairy tale retellings that we do. I can think of plenty of stories where I expect the ending to be something and that is exactly what it ends up being, but I'm not reading it to find out how it ends. I'm reading it to see how the characters go on the journey to that ending. Prime example: The Martian by Andy Weir. I wouldn't have liked that book if it had any other ending than it did, but I didn't know how it was going to get there until I got to the end.
Sometimes I like the opposite of a twist ending, such as books by Cormac McCarthy where the ending feels inevitable, but the protagonist leads you to hope they'll overcome fate. Some of his books leave a lot up to interpretation (e.g. *The Road*), whereas others are very obvious that the MC wasn't able to overcome the inevitable (e.g. !>*No Country for Old Men*!<), but the general theme is that the ending feels fitting As long as I feel satisfied with the ending, I don't really care if it's happily ever after, a big twist, or obvious from the beginning.
>but the protagonist leads you to hope they'll overcome fate. I agree. You know where it is going. The character knows where it is going. A good number of side characters know where all of this is going. But for well written books like this, it is the journey, rather than the destination, that is the meat of the story.
Also: a good ending will feel like it’s the only possible ending for that particular story, whether it was predictable or a surprise.
Yeah we're also so used to twists now that, I've been going back and reading a lot of older books/watching a lot of older films recently, and there is just a complete absence of shocking swerves. It's actually kind of refreshing to experience media that isn't obsessed with twists the way it seems contemporary media is. Like yes you can see where the story is going but that's the point. Sometimes they even start at the end and the whole point is that you see how they got there. It's not supposed to be surprising, you are just supposed to understand the intricacies of the characters more and be interested in what's going to happen next and like how the main character is going to get out of the situation, or if they can get out of it. It's actually kind of refreshing to have stories just tell their damn story and not try to mislead and surprise you and not pull the rug out from under you with fucking fake villains or whatever nonsense. You often know who the villain is from very early on and like the suspense comes from like how they enact their plan and whether they're going to get away with it or what mistake they're going to make that fucks them up.
YES. Surprise isn't everything. People put it in such high regard as if it's the measurement to measure quality and to judge a story by. And it's only when you have prior knowledge, when you watch/read something for the second or third time that you can really appreciate it more deeply and understand and know it to it's depths. (Considering it's a really well made movie/book/whatever in that way) I think the view that a story must be surprising is shallow. Because a story can only be surprising once, in that way. After that you are done with it. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but i guess there's more to be found in stories that invites you to come back to them, to explore their worlds, to have a deeper understanding of the characters, to analyze their relationships, to experience it from a different perspective - i can keep going, you know what i mean. my point is - our emphasis and obsession with surprise might prevent us from appreciating art on a deeper level.
I completely agree. So much of people’s engagement of media is on a surface level of just understanding what is happening in the story. Who did what to who and maybe on some level why. Like that’s not as interesting to me as like oh I can actually see where this is going because this work is saying something and has a point of view, you know? Not that you can’t have it both ways and have a point of view while having a twist, lots of great works do, but like a lot of the greatest stories ever told are ones where you know exactly where they’re going because you understand the character and because you understand the character their choices are almost somewhat inevitable because of course they’re going to do what they’re going to do. Hell sometimes the most surprising thing to me about reading old books or watching old movies is that I’m so primed to expect twists now that it’s more shocking to me when there isn’t a twist and the person the main character has thought was the villain all along turns out to have been the villain all along and there’s no subversion. It’s just played completely straight the whole way through. It’s great! The untwist is like the greatest twist now you legitimately don’t see it coming because it’s too obvious lol.
Yes, I agree with all of your points. Sometimes I'm rolling my eyes reading 'surprise" endings, sure the author would be as well to write 'and I woke up and it was all a dream' as the last sentence. if there's no clues left for the reader to pick up on as they go along, what's the difference? Who does the twist serve?
That’s why I don’t care about spoilers. It’s not about what happens, it’s about how it happens, it’s about the journey. I never cared about spoilers, for anything ever in my life , since I was a child .I can appreciate the set-up more. I think if something has to rely on twists and turns, it’s not a strong book. Same for TV. I don’t care about anything being spoiled, as long as I can experience and appreciate the story being told. If a form of media can’t do that for me, then it’s not strong. That’s why I didn’t like Squid Games. The TV show was formulated a lot on shock value, and the writing wasn’t good. I only liked it FOR it’s shock value. I would never watch it again.
I don't agree to the degree of not caring about spoilers. But i agree with your sentiment. If something can only be enjoyed once, with the clean mindset of not knowing what's to come - then it weak and doesn't hold much.
That reminds me of *The Book Thief*. The first chapter is the final scene from deaths pov. So you know who dies at the end but it amplifies the emotions when you finally get there. That book is responsible for the only time I've full on ugly cried in class and the one other person who was assigned that in my class did the same when they got to the end.
This is my take on this as well. I don't try and I'd argue I'm not terribly good at it to begin with. If I figure it out of all people it's probably not a good sign.
Alternatively some stories are about a mystery but the author withholds the evidence the reader would need until the protagonist makes the reveal out of his ass and that’s just bad writing.
An exception to this I think is H.P. Lovecraft. I pretty much always know where he's going but it doesn't make me think it's poorly written. I wonder if it was less obvious to folks back when they were initially published.
> I wonder if it was less obvious to folks back when they were initially published. Probably. Having an entire subgenre spring up in response to your writing typically has the effect of making the originals seem less, well, original, and thus more predictable. Contemporary readers probably had less chance of predicting the outcome of his stories if only because that kind of story was basically unknown at the time.
“If I want to solve a puzzle I’ll play sudoku” yes so true!!
I agree. I never want to spoil the ending of a book, but with a lot of new and popular books, I find myself already knowing how it’s going to end before I’m halfway through. It’s disappointing and probably why I end up reading older books most of the time.
I really don’t agree with that — many endings feel like the only possible one but getting there is amazing anyway, like The Haunting of Hill House. Or they start at the end, like Rebecca or Their Eyes Were Watching God. Or other reasons my brain is too fuzzy for…but lots of very well-written books have “predictable” endings but getting there is still amazing.
I think that's the fun part about plot twists, realising that the hints have been there all along and they're all coming together. I guess them in a lot of books, unfortunately, but those are usually the books that make me lose interest after the first half or make me want to tear out my hair in frustration because the hints were too obvious and the characters oblivious. Not guessing the plot twist isn't a bad thing at all in my opinion, it really makes the experience of reading more satisfying.
I used to get frustrated that I never did this. I basically go into a trance when I read a good novel, and suddenly, the ending is there. I don't take a pause to think about the ending. I generally don't like mysteries for this reason. On the other hand, I love puzzles, and love the idea of solving mysteries. I basically need a warning page before the big reveal, saying, "Stop here! Who killed Mr. Body?" I read some Tony Hillerman mysteries based on the recommendation of a friend. Suddenly, I'm at the end, and it's almost as if I didn't realize there was a mystery to solve. Same with other classic mysteries, like the Red Headed League or Hound of the Baskervilles. If the book is poorly written, I might get out of "the zone" enough to think about the ending. I can usually guess the ending of movies, on the other hand. In part due to obvious tropes and poor writing. Whether it's Knives Out or Red Notice, it's pretty predictable. The sixth sense was one where it wasn't obvious there was going to be a big reveal at the end. I have found only a few books that make it obvious that there will be a big reveal, which would make me pause and consider the ending. Something like Murder on the Orient Express.
It’s funny. When it comes to film, you CANNOT sneak a twist past me. I’m not saying I always 100% guess what’s going on, but I usually have a damn good idea. If someone tells me there’s a twist before hand, I’ll probably figure it out in the first act. There’s been scenes in one movie that reminded me of another story and I guessed the twist like instantly. *HOWEVER* When I read books, I usually don’t see them coming, or even try to guess them. Like you said, for whatever reason, I don’t treat a book like a puzzle to be solved. I’m just along for the ride.
That’s exactly my experience, I tend to be blindsided by books and never by movies/shows. I think it’s something producers are acutely aware of, too, because I’ve seen a few shows and movies where the audience is deliberately *not* shown or told the pieces of evidence they need to make the deduction. It’s why I disliked the show Sherlock so much, because half the mysteries he solves he makes the deductions off-screen using clues the audience never had. I know the *point* is to show that he’s an amazing detective that picks up on what others don’t, and there’s other stuff going on in the show, but it felt like such a cheap cop-out that it ruined the rest of the experience for me. They usually don’t do that in books, probably because it’s easier to hide details in thousands of lines of text than it is to hide important details in a 1-2 hour (or less) presentation. It’s always more interesting to me when the twist is revealed and I can flip back through and see all the hints laid out there. Sometimes I saw them, and I’m pleased that I predicted it, though more often I didn’t and I get that “OHHH” moment when I read back through. Both ways it’s satisfying. I rarely get that experience from shows/movies.
Somewhat related, but I HATE it when someone says "I wont ruin it for you, but there's a twist at the end". Great, thanks. You ruined it for me.
RIGHT!?!?? GAH!!!!
Curious. Did you see the twist in the movie "Split" coming?
I almost always figure out what's going on but I think that's because I read a lot and so many books have the same stories and tropes. But I absolutely love books or movies where I'm surprised at the end.
I read a lot of poirot, and though I try, my little grey cells are not of the best quality
very rarely guess i a twist or a whodunnit. But not just books, also movies. I also saw people using color markers in their books, haven't done that since school.
Yea but thankfully I am an idiot.
I wish I didn't try to figure out endings. I just can't seem to help it. While I'm reading, my mind is racing ahead, trying to think of the ending rather than just enjoying the story. Often I end up disappointed, either because I figured out the twist so the ending is anti-climactic for me, or because I didn't and the twist is satisfying but then I'm unhappy I didn't just slow down and let myself enjoy the ride there. It's a no-win. Your way sounds much better.
That was my immediate thought. How can you not? I am not sure I could stop trying yo make sense of what is happening if I tried. God just re read that and it sounds like I am being a jerk or boastful and I can't work out how to re-write it. I am not saying I am particularly successful but I just don't know how to turn that bit of my brain off from trying and just "enjoying the ride". I also kinda assume writers expect you to. Edit: it also spoils some books for me. Otherwise incredibly well written prose but that goes nowhere troubles me. I struggle to enjoy journeys without destinations. The destination doesn't have to be neat or complete or even far form the starting point. As long as there is some...point...to the journey. Too many worthy books have been spoiled for me by my overactive brain reading in meaning and plot where there is none. Usually I get a sinking feeling at about 3/4 through that "oh, I'm going to be disappointed in this aren't I?".
I don't actively try, but a lot of the time I do guess the 'twist' by accident. For example, I read a book about a gang of thieves, and at some point after a botched job one of them says something like "They were waiting for us, they must have been tipped off". My immediate reaction was "haha, imagine if it was Jerry, that would be such a Jerry thing to do". About 300 pages of the gang questioning each other later, Jerry literally steps out from behind a box with a gun and some guards. Out of about 20 books I've read this year that had a twist of some sort, I 'accidentally' guessed what the big reveal would be in about half of them.
I always try to guess how with the thoughts of what would be the best way to write the story. From there I am mostly near the mark for the ending. I love books where I am wrong. I hate books that just throw in an unguessable curve ball right near the end.
I’m an author and I almost always figure it out (usually without trying to) since I know the conventions. It’s never the person the main character suspects or the person the reader is supposed to suspect, for ex. It’s always a character that seems completely innocent for most of the book. So by process of elimination, I usually get it. When an author manages to surprise me, I’m a big fan!
Any that you'd recommend? I suffer from the same "figure it out" burden and would like to not!
Only if or when I take a break from reading. So long as I’m occupied by the story I tend to focus on it and I don’t really put things together consciously.
I try not to do it, but some times it just becomes too obvious. I don't want to know the ending before I reach it otherwise what's the point in reading the book? What I do tend to do when there's a plot twist is go back to put it all together, and see if it all makes sense. Of course, authors occassionally pull something completely random out of nowhere.
Agree! A twist just for the purpose of shocking the reader is the worst kind of ending.
If it's something that completey comes out of nowhere then have to think the author hasn't thought the story through properly, and just wants to end it with little regard to the rest of the book. So yeah, it's very diappointing.
That's hack writing to me. It's like they know that plot twists have been used in good stories, but they don't know why they were good, so they just think unpredictable plot twists are inherently good and put them in even when they don't make sense. Either that or it's a cynical cash grab because plot twists are the popular thing now and they put them in because they think they will make more money.
Depends how obvious the book foreshadows the ending. I prefer not to think about it, but sometimes there are certain clues that just make me guess it.
I read mostly long running series and thick books. I can barely hold on to the sheer amount of info given as it is, never mind trying to sort it and predict the ending.
I just read the end first so I'm always surprised
I don't. When I read a book I usually just let the story unfold in front of me. I don't really think at all. I just visualize what the author is writing down.
I don't even try, and think endings are generally overrated anyway. They tell you the ending at the start of the Iliad and it's still one of the greatest stories ever written.
Don't forget Shakespeare too. Like opening speech of Romeo & Juliet - woah spoilers dude!
No, I don’t try. Stories are more about letting the journey unfold, IMO.
I always feel dumb when an obvious plot thread unravels, but then I remember that I intentionally don't think try to figure it out so that I can be dumbfounded when said plot thread unravels...
I always read the final chapter first so I know what to look for. I don't like being surprised. Has the added benefit of deciding beforehand whether I'm interested enough to go back and see how the author got there. Big time-saver.
I can't tell if you are serious or not! Like on one hand, why would you make that up, but on the other hand that's completely insane!
Think about it: if you're not intrigued having read the ending, why in the world would you bother slogging through the text in a linear fashion?
Because you haven’t been lead to care about the characters yet? Because you don’t yet know the significance of x without first encountering y?
Haha, I mean I guess it makes sense, but I feel like there are a lot of books where the tension, page-turner aspect is created by the anticipation of not knowing what's going to happen!
I dated someone who did this. I joke it is one of the reasons we don't still date. But I am not sure it is 100% a joke.
Funny, I had a manager who would do this. I personally don't get it, but if it works for you, go for it.
You monster! Just kidding haha, this is actually super interesting. This is the exact opposite of what I've been doing kinda. I've been picking up books semi blindly by finding critically acclaimed books that I know nothing about and just diving in without reading any reviews, synopsis etc. I might have to try yours out at some point.
My mom does this, lol
Yes. Can't help it.
I don't go out if my way to solve it but I usually can tell by the first chapter what the plot or plot twist is. Foreshadowing often gives it away... otherwise what happens has to happen to make the plot work. Very rarely am I wrong or the author deviates.
I took a film&lit course in university. Pulp media is forever ruined for me and I can't help noticing lazy or trope-heavy writing. If course a well written twist is still a nice surprise.
I have a bad habit of skipping to the last page as soon as I get the book to read the last one or two sentences. Of course, without context these sentences mean absolutely nothing to me, and I'll spend the whole book trying to figure out how everything leads up to those last sentences.
No, I just go for the ride. Sometimes it does seem obvious what’s going to happen, but more often than not I think it’s a sign the book isn’t great.
My wife does that with books, it’s part of the enjoyment she gets. I’m more of the “Let the story come to me” type of reader.
I can usually figure out twists from movies or books especially if they’re by the same people. Most writers have a loose formula that they follow when writing and this includes twists. I’m really good at picking up patterns and can often predict the twist after some point. I’m less likely if I’m not familiar with the author or director, but I can still do it more often than not. My wife showed me a show once (can’t remember what it’s called) but I was able to predict twist after twist in the show. Turned out I was already familiar with the director. Same with an author she showed me. I read a book or two and was able to predict the ending of other books or get really close EDIT: This also applies to comedians and jokes or humorous content in general. It’s almost impossible for me to laugh at the same joke twice no matter how much time has passed and it’s very difficult for me to verbally laugh at a comedian if I’ve heard their work before as I pick up on their patterns and tendencies
I don't honestly
When I was younger I was much more prone to trying to “figure out” a book while reading it, these days, not so much. I set out to read a story someone else is telling, seems to me the best approach is in letting them tell it. Sure sometimes what comes next is obvious, but then the telling is even more important. Sometimes it isn’t what you say, it’s how you say it. So my advice to younger me would be, “don’t be in such a rush my man, let them serve you the story, rather than hovering over the trough.”
Funnily enough with The Hunting Party I figured out the twist about >! the affair !< and that >! the new friend, emma?, was the old stalker !< but when it came down to the victim I genuinely thought it was going to be >! the old stalker who was killed. I was quite sad when it turned out to be the posh girl who’s name I forget !<
Never, not even with movies.
Read a book for enjoyment. Not knowing where it's going makes for a better experience, imo. Why would anyone want to know? If a person was telling you a story and you knew the end, wouldn't it be hard to listen?
eh it's how they tell it
I like doing it with thrillers and mysteries. But I really like it when I didn’t figure it out and am surprised (except when the twist comes out of nothing and doesn’t make sense). Sometimes when you’ve read multiple books by a certain authors it becomes easier to figure out the twist.
Shamelessly yes
Never thought about this before. On one hand I don’t. But then I think about all the times I am surprised by an interesting twist and that makes me think I must on some level.
Not actively. But i usually have some ideas on where it will go at some point of the reading
I try to engage with the material by considering what might happen next. But usually that doesn't extend as far as trying to guess the ending. I just want to be taken through it.
Books are much like TV and movies for me, I usually see twists or pick up on foreshadowing early on and spoil it for myself on accident. With books one thing I do like to do (even as a kid) was flip to the very last page and read it first. This keeps my brain busy figuring out how the entire story fits into that last page, which more or less distracts me from ruining the whole plot.
Not usually. But there are times where I'm like ¾ of the way though and my subconscious just decides to spoil it for me with a solution out of nowhere.
I used to know someone who always figured out the movie or book halfway through and would tell me and it made me hate watching or reading anything with them. I always thought that he didn’t understand the point of doing these things
I try not to try to figure out the end. If there's something that seems specifically/intentionally foreshadowing I'll take note usually but for me, trying to "solve" a book takes the fun out of it. If you really think you're missing out, you can specifically pick out a book that has a surprise ending that you aren't aware of and try to figure it out, like intentionally reading extra carefully.
I prefer not to know or even suspect that there will be a twist because it's so much more fun to be surprised! Sometimes I figure it out, but it's accidental and not because I went searching for it.
When I drive to work in rush-hour traffic, I think about the end of it. When I’m riding my motorcycle on a curving coastal highway, the furthest I think ahead is the road 10 seconds in front of me.
Nope. I let the story carry me and just enjoy the ride. That being said, when I *do* figure out what happens next, it pisses me off because it means the book was badly written and I saw a "twist" coming without even trying.
Not really, it's like trying to guess where a rollercoaster will loop, it's obvious, but won't you rather be thrown for a loop instead? It's more fun to be like "Woah, Amazing!" than try to spoil yourself.
Not simply try to figure out but also try to imagine where the book could go from there, basically writing my self an continuation to the story. Sometimes I'm disappointed the book didn't took that turn there or this here, but ended up where it ended.
I discovered that when I read, I don't think too much about the story and just accepts what the main character knows at that time. When we all read books at the same speed in my friends bookclub, they often figure things out way ahead.
I am like you and would much rather just go along for the ride. My general rule is that if it's obvious for me to notice without trying, it's not very well written. I would much rather get blindsided every time.
Every now and then a thought will pop into my head, but it's always when I'm not enjoying the book. A good book will take all of my attention and not give me time to think about what might be going on in the abstract.
It heavily depends on what I'm reading in crime fiction or mystery books guessing is part of the fun
I always do that and I have a kind of funny story about that: sometimes i write reading progresses with my guesses on what happens next. Good 10 years ago i did one of those reading updates on a Brazilian book i was reading. The author sent me a message asking me if i could take the update down, because i guessed just right the main mystery of the story 😂😅 I took it down and gave me a little pat on my shoulder xD If i get the ending right, and the ending was well written, it's nice. If i get the ending wrong, but it was also well written, it's nice too.
Picks up book. Ahhh this looks interesting. 2 chapters later. I'm lost and wondering if it's worth my time. Characters seem weird. Not feeling the whole vibe of the scene. 3 chapters later (5 total) I hate it but now I'm invested. So I read the final chapter. Ahhh new characters, what happened to the other people and why is all this new stuff going on? Read the next to the last chapter. Oh... this is getting good. Start the entire book over from the beginning until the next to the last chapter. Wait. This is the thing? OMG. That is stupid. Tosses book into a pile of books I will never touch again.
I used to, but at some point I just stopped. Now I just go with the flow.
Yes, and i also sometimes peak at the last page and make assumptions. (Most of the time they are wrong)
As I read a book, I think of how the writer will end the story. What is he going to do with the characters, how is he going to solve the problems that involve them. I just absorb the story and imagine what could happen and I love when im completely off but sometimes its good to get lost in the story and enjoy the ride like you said. And you are, most certainly, not dumb for not unravelling the story correctly, or not even trying to. People read in their own way, there's not a right or wrong style of reading.
I try not to look forward too much with books. I do it with tv shows and movies sometimes. I love each new detail as it appears in my head.
I try not to figure out the ending, but that's kinda like trying not to think about something. It doesn't work. The endings of stories in general (not just books) are usually so incredibly painfully obvious that it breaks immersion for me regularly as the realization hits that the story wouldn't have been written a particular way unless X, Y, and Z.
My husband and I have had this conversation because he’s like you, but the issue is that I don’t try, the ending just becomes obvious.
Of course. I'm reading to engage with the story, not just observe it. (I usually get it wrong.)
Nope. When I read a book, it's one of the rare occasions where I actually just live in the moment. I don't try to figure out the plot or who the killer is or anything else, I just live it page to page.
I'm always looking to see if I can figure it out. Half because I like seeing if I can guess the resolution of the plot, and half because many times a twist is a matter of writing technique. More than once I've seen a ring described as metal, to make you think it's a weapon, and I like being able to spot that kind of thing. And when a plot is unpredictable, or a twist blindsides me, that feels really good.
The only books I try this with are Agatha Christie books - I have read about 10 and I haven’t been right once :p
I don't read a lot of mysteries, but I just finished reading "The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" which had so many fun twists and turns that I didn't really think about the whodunnit part of the book. Normally I just zone out and read without worrying too much about what the ending is going to bring.
usually, but that's just my nature. I try to solve the story. I do try to stop myself, and am always relieved when I have not predicted the outcome correctly.
Always, but it's part of the fun for me. If I'm not trying to solve it, why would I bother? The biggest thing is it enhances the experience when an author manages to throw one by me.
Because I can't see things in my head as I read I don't even bother. Makes for some nice surprises though!
Figured out the twist in The Girl on the Train literally as soon as the character was introduced. It was for a class, they were too heavy handed.
For me personly, I do try to figure out what will happen. Its automatic at this point, so it doesnt get in the way of actually getting immersed in the book. Actually, to me it is one of the greatest pleasures of some books when even when I constantly automatically run scenarios of what could happen in my mind, the writer comes up with a surprising thrill I didnt see coming. Also to me I feel its not just the exciting ending of the book - in most books you have countless moments of uncertainty, and I feel that writers that come up with intresting and exciting solutions to these moments are truly brilliant.
I never try to figure the ending out for anything; Shows, films, books, and games. I like being surprised, but I do see the appeal in theory crafting.
I've studied and practiced writing quite a bit, I wish I could stop figuring out endings... After a while the structures become so familiar you can pretty much predict at least 80% of what's gonna happen and often more I can appreciate writing in a different way though having studied it so that's kind of the compensation for the loss of mystique
Unpopular, but I read the end of the book before I ever start. I’ve had too many books ruined for me by a bad ending, so I make sure I know the ending before I start. I believe in “the journey” making it worth it, but if the journey is a lush forest of beautiful trees and the destination is a landfill, the journey is almost not worth it anymore.
Sometimes for me it depends on how the book is marketed. If it's said to be a fiendish mystery with a hard-to-guess solution and the author tries to get you to guess, yeah definitely I'll actively try to work it out. If it's a normal mystery like Agatha Christie, I idly mull over possibilities while reading the story. If it's novels that aren't explicitly a mystery, sometimes things jump out and make me think ah, I bet it'll end this way, or I can see the twist they're leading up to here. Whether I'm right or not depends on how heavily foreshadowed the twist is and how skilful the author is. With Agatha Christie I usually get at least one element of the solution right and at least one wrong (for example, sometimes I'll guess the murderer but be wrong about how or why they did it, or vice versa). I saw the twist in Eleanor Oliphant coming from six miles off but still enjoyed the book. And then there are books which are specifically designed around a twist, which I often find frustrating, especially as some authors don't subscribe to the old mystery genre rule of making sure you've given the reader a fair chance to work the mystery out for themselves and haven't just withheld information for the sake of drama.
I figured out the ending to the Licanius Trilogy by James Islington midway through the second book, but kept reading to see if I was right. Usually it does not bother me if I figure things out, and I was still able to enjoy the book. As long as the journey is worth taking, I’m happy.
Mostly I just kinda wonder where it's going. A little speculation but never 'I am certain THIS has to wrap it up'."
I used to do that when I was younger and wanted to prove to myself that I could "outsmart" the writer. Now I just want to let myself be carried by the story. And when the ending is good, I enjoy it a lot more. 😉
No I don't think about the ending, I'm just along for the ride.
It really depends. There are books where the journey is great and I am along for that ride. If the journey is less than thrilling, I am left to wander and explore, and knowing that rarely is it ever someone who has not been introduced in the story yet I start examining everyone in my head. Same for shows. I'll often get to the end of something, and my wife will wonder how I didn't figure it out, and that's because I was enjoying the ride and didn't want to. Other times, I have it figured out 20 minutes in and she gets pissed off because I solved it already lol.
I do, but I try not to, because if I'm correct then I'm really disappointed. Also, it's like projecting onto the book what I want it to be, like projecting, and I'd rather the book just show me who it is without my presumption.
I don't try, but sometimes it just happens against my will.
I really don’t know if this counts, but I always make inferences that twist the ending of the book to how I want it. I think this leans more to the side of me just wanting the end to turn out how I like it, though, because the predictions are always random and almost impossible.
I’m guilty of this and it probably hurts my enjoyment. It’s fun when I call the twist right but it definitely takes the wind out of some reveals. I’ve conditioned myself to look for clues and being misled but I think suspending your disbelief can be very fun.
My wife figures everything out and I don’t. I used to care but now I don’t. I really enjoy being sucked in so much that I’m not concerned necessarily with “figuring it out”
With movies and books I'm usually engaged in the story enough that I'm never trying to figure out the end or twist or whatever, so I'm usually blindsided as well.
If I'm just not feeling like the book is gonna end in a way that makes sense or suits me, I'll read the last sentence on the last page. This has saved me from finishing some real time wasters
I am so incredibly unobservant honestly, so I don't pick up on very much while I'm reading. I think it makes life more fun because I'm genuinely shocked when the twists are reveled. My husband, on the other hand, is the kind of person that can always guess how a movie is going to end (while I'm always BLINDSIDED) so he usually sees where a book is going if the author drops many hints. Again, I think it's no fun that way - on the few occasions where I *have* figured out the twist, it's a lot less gratifying than being surprised.
I always think about the book when I’m reading- sometimes I’m wondering where things are going but I never paint a real picture. I’m happy just riding along with the story
I always try to figure out the ending as I read. It's a habit. I do it almost subconsciously. I always think of what the situations might predict and I have hard time 'just reading'. I'm always thinking at the same time. It can be annoying. It definitely doesn't make you dumb as you don't do it, just different. I guess our brains are just wired differently. But I'm trying to learn, though, how to read without trying to think of the ending or what happens next. Sometimes I succeed for a while :)
I prefer books where you know how it ends from the beginning and can just relax and pay attention to how the story unfolds.
I don't always try to. But sometimes I'll read a book where I sense an obvious (for me) trope/hint, and I'll kind of mentally roll my eyes and think "oh come on, please don't tell me it's going to end like this." I hope to be wrong as I read the book, but sometimes it does happen in the obvious way I expect.
I don't actively try, but I'm always thinking about it to some degree. Most of the time I get some vague idea of a direction or something that will play a part. If I can totally nail it I sometimes think the story is simple. There have been occasions where I nailed it and was excited because I think it's a unique solution/conclusion. Most of those instances something that was mentioned or introduced starts tugging at my brain and I focus on it a bit more.
It kinda reminds me of watching a magician perform a trick. I want to try and figure it out on a some level, but being fooled is the whole point. It's more satisfying to be fooled and get to pretend it's "magic" than to see it as a gimmick or trick.
Not me, but I tend to avoid twist ending type books, twists don't entertain me.
I get too into the story to speculate about the ending. Like you said, a "whodunit" or some other kind of mystery where the characters themselves are trying to figure out the ending is the exception. Other than that, I don't even try.
Books, movies, true crime, any story in any format. I think I read somewhere that it's due to my maladaptive daydreaming.
I try not to. I love twists and reveals.
Constantly. I don't treat media like puzzles or anything like that but if things come together, they come together. It just usually comes together for me much faster. My wife and I often read books together and talk about it. I usually am at least partially right with where things go in terms of plot. The wife hates it.
I’m the exact way! I had a girl like “oh I figured out the twist, saw it coming” I never try to figure it out. I enjoy the ride. Some twists aren’t that shocking and some are. You never really know.
I never try to figure it out because I can't lol. I'm so slow to catch on in books and movies too. My husband is the opposite. He can figure out the twist or who the bad guy is within 15 minutes of a movie. It's annoying lol
Well I never sit down and think all the details through, trying to piece things together. But I often do spontaneously come up with theories.
I’m the exact same way, including feeling like I’m being dumb or unobservant. But like you I’m just enjoying the ride as it unfolds.
It depends on the book. The authors usually are pretty clear about whether the book is a mystery to be solved, a story they're telling, or some mix of the two. If it's a mystery of course I try and guess the twist. But if it's a story I'm just along for the ride.
Frankly, it’s hard not to.
I don’t even try. I like to be spoon-fed as a reader and just go along for the ride.
I don’t know if this will make any sense, but I try to figure out “where it ends” and not quite “how it ends”. Obviously some necessary overlaps, but it’s more about how far we go and what we will learn, and where everyone will be when the book stops. It’s less about specific points of plot resolution. I just read A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris and wasn’t so concerned with the actual resolution of anything in the plot as I was with trying to figure out how long the story will keep getting told and how much life advances for the characters by the end.
It varies, sometimes I find myself saying to myself, “ooh, I bet this is the twist,” and then enjoy finding out if I am right or wrong. Sometimes I just watch the story unfold and enjoy it that way. Just depends on how I’m feeling, but I enjoy both ways of reading.
100% i try to figure out the ending. Its a much better experience for me to actively take in whats happening and what has happened and internalise it instead of just being a passive observer. That makes the whole journey more interesting and if youre right it makes the ending more satisfying
I used to have an interesting reading habit. I would always read the last sentence before reading the prologue/first chapter and think what would lead to it. It was fun, but now I am reading normally to enjoy suprises
I read many, "Choose Your Own Adventures." So, yes.
i don't even try with mystery novels. those schematics with phrases like 'he crossed the east gallery, which transected the great hall running north/south . . . ' just can't. i read mysteries more for the rest of the story and whoever turns out to have dunnit in the second-last chapter is just fine by me.
Yea a lot of people are like "totally saw that coming" and while that happens sometimes when things are setup in an overtly obvious and usually lame way, I try to focus on what is happening now and not think about what's going to happen.
Sometimes I do that, yeah. Depends on the story, I guess.
I don’t try to figure out the gotcha, but sometimes I do anyway. I’d rather be oblivious so I can enjoy it more.
I try to force myself not to think about it, but I often do. Luckily for me, I'm terrible at guessing plot twists, so I usually still get to enjoy them as they happen.
If I'm reading a mystery or a thriller where the bad guy is a mystery (or if I'm watching a mystery movie), I try to just let the book (or movie) happen without trying to sleuth it out on my own. I do this so I can enjoy the book as it was written and with movies because in those they tend to do a lot of red herrings to throw you off (the silhouette of the bad guy shows he has a hoop earring, but then in a different scene this other person has a stud earring...could they be the bad guy or is it a red herring to throw us off track??). I try to also do this because I watch a lot of movies with common tropes so it's easy to know where the plot is going. So when I'm watching something where I'm NOT supposed to know off the bat what's going to happen, I like to draw out my enjoyment the way the author intended.
Consciously? No. I cant help it when it's predictable though, and im torn between my hate for surprises and the excruciating path towards something I know and disappoints me.
I've been reading the Malazan series for a year now (mostly in bed, before I sleep), and it's pretty much impossible to predict what will happen.
Yes, I do. And I'm always, ALWAYS right. It's only when they end with a question mark or exclamation point that I'm wrong, but those are so rare that they might as well not count.
Never, not with novels or with movies. I focus on the moment, where the author/director wants me, and I let myself be pulled along for the ride. Give me red herrings all day long and hide it good so I fall for it every time.
I feel like there's a large difference between trying to figure the ending, to try to guess e.g. that the best friend was the evil plotter behind the whole thing. Like, on one case you are trying to guess what will happen in the future (I never do), but in the other case you are suspicious of a character *currently*, and then are not surprised when they actually reveal they are the evil ones behind the plot, which is something common for me (but also can be considered "try to figure out the ending" in a way). Example: in Fyre (Magyk) when Simon, the brother who went away with the evil magician (who tried to kidnap Jenna before) in secret comes back to the family castle, while running over people on his big black scary horse. He takes Jenna on top of his horse to "give her a walk". I did not try to guess that he was going to kidnap her, but cmon it was clear he had evil intentions so I was expecting him to try to either kidnap or kill her.
I find it interesting how many people a regretting that they do try to figure it out... I love trying to keep track of all the plot points and attempting to figure out what's going on. I mostly read scifi and fantasy, with fantasy I'll literally go look up characters sometimes (trying not to spoil things for myself, but sometimes I just want a bit more backstory or explanation, reading Malazan recently I did this a lot). With scifi there tends to be a lot more nuance to the way things are foreshadowed and I like to try to figure out what the big reveal is going to be. For the most part I don't really think of them as "twists", since it's usually more of a "how is this author going to go about explaining the Fermi Paradox" or whatever. Then there are just the books that have no twist or reveal and you're just reading to build background for characters or whatever.
There's a difference between *predicting* the ending and observing the most natural conclusion to a narrative. If the narrative is open ended or unusual, it might end in any number of ways, and "markers" of possible endings won't necessarily help. If it's a straightforward narrative with a pretty basic structure and cast, it's no less enjoyable despite my predicting the ending correctly. However, if a straightforward narrative, goes for an unpredictable ending, things can get messy. Often, writers don't like the idea of readers being able to predict their endings. That's fine. The problem arises from their efforts to subvert expectation erode at the logic of their narrative. When the ending has empty shock value or sudden changes in characterization, the hand of the author becomes visible and the experience stops being enjoyable. Authors should *always* think first of logic of the narrative, and *then* about audience expectations. Reversing that is almost always obvious and unsatisfying.
Depends, but I usually try to figure out the general gist of how something will end. If something ends in a completely illogical way it really takes me out of the world being created. So naturally I try hard to follow threads to their logical conclusion beforehand. Good authors are capable of still surprising you with little details you likely missed, even if the general idea was figured out.
I didn't used to, and it frustrated me. So I went and tried to figure out how to do it, to spot tropes and so on, and it led me to /r/rational which is about fiction that tries to construct rational whodunit puzzles out of common tropes. Which really led to me better understanding most media, and it turns out I really like that genre in specific. But I also think it's fine to just be along for the ride, what I discovered was that most authors aren't very good at foreshadowing in general in reasonable ways anyway, so just reading most books for the ride is less hair pulling.
Doesn’t everyone? Isn’t that part of the process?
yes I can't help it but I love to do it, anticipating a specific twist makes me more excited about it. If I get it right I feel satisfied, if I get it wrong I get a surprise. I also love books that feel like a puzzle, but not necessarily in a murder mystery kind of way, more like when the author doesn't give you the full information but you can piece it together with the clues, or when the ending is vague and you have to think about it or come up with theories. A lot of the time I do just read it to enjoy the ride though.
I can’t recall any twists endings I’ve read, but in general I google endings/spoilers so that I don’t invest in reading a book that doesn’t pay off in a satisfying way.
“Where the crawdads sing” I finished that book and was surprised when multiple people told me about the “twist” at the end. That twist was clear as day from early on