Saw the following note that J. K. Rowling posted on her diary yesterday, and I most heartily agree. I hate spoilers, and I've really never understood the urge some people feel to ferret them out and to spread them around. To me, it's like sneaking into your parents' closet and finding all your Christmas presents, and then when Christmas comes most of the excitement and magic is gone because you already know what's coming. Some readers have been following Harry's adventures for ten years now. That's a long time to put into the arc of a series, and it really would be infuriating to find out what happens before being transported into that world by Rowling herself one last time. I'm a little worried because of the timing of the seventh book; I really don't want to start reading it until I get back from the reunion, since I know I won't be able to put it down if I do, and we usually only manage one camping trip per year and I don't want to spend the whole time reading. So I'm nervous that by the time I start reading it on Monday, the secrets of its contents will be spilling out on television, in newspapers and especially on the Internet. I may have to eschew contact with the outside world for a few days...
"A couple of weeks ago (April 28th, if you want to go and search the archive) the Potter fansite The Leaky Cauldron posted an editorial on potential spoilers for "Deathly Hallows". It made me laugh, but I was also incredibly moved and grateful.
We're a little under three months away, now, and the first distant rumblings of the weirdness that usually precedes a Harry Potter publication can be heard on the horizon. The Leaky Cauldron's early mission statement on spoilers (ie, don't, and we're not putting them up if you do) is deeply appreciated by yours truly.
I add my own plea to Melissa's for one reason, and one only: I want the readers who have, in many instances, grown up with Harry, to embark on the last adventure they will share with him without knowing where they are they going.
Some, perhaps, will read this and take the view that all publicity is good publicity, that spoilers are part of hype, and that I am trying to protect sales rather than my readership. However, spoilers won't stop people buying the book, they never have - all it will do is diminish their pleasure in the book.
There will always be sad individuals who get their kicks from ruining other people's fun, but while sites like Leaky take such an active stance against them, we may yet win. Even if the biggest secret gets out - even if somebody discovers the Giant Squid is actually the world's largest Animagus, which rises from the lake at the eleventh hour, transforms into Godric Gryffindor and... well, I wouldn't like to spoil it."
3 comments:
Erin, you beat me to it! I just popped over here thinking I might post JKR's comments on spoilers too, and here they were. Great timing!
And I'm with you (and Rowling too, clearly). I don't want this story spoiled either. Even though I read book 6 on the day/night of its actual release (started Saturday afternoon and finished it Sunday afternoon, with a big break in there for real life and church) I stayed far away from the computer during that time and tried not to talk to anyone about HP. I didn't want to click on anything and accidentally see some headline at yahoo that gave the whole thing away. I'm pretty sure security will be very tight, even tighter than usual around book 7, but I think the potential for major mischief is always present. Let's hope everyone honors the author's wishes and also just uses some plain common sense.
I'm also trying to plan my reading strategy with book 7. Believe it or not (gasp) I've not pre-ordered yet. Last time I pre-ordered Amazon and the book didn't arrive until well past 2 in the afternoon, and by then I'd already walked past copies of it at our local Wal-Mart, itching to buy a copy. I don't know if I can make a midnight release party (though I'm sorely tempted, as I've never done it) but I have been thinking this time around I will pre-order at my local Borders. Then even I'm not able to go to the late-night party, I will at least be able to pick it up right around 10 am or so when the mall opens and not have to wait around all day for the mailman while I chew my nails.
Then it's a matter of carving out the whole rest of the day for reading, pretty much. Not always easy to do with my kiddo in tow. :-) I've already warned D. that he will need to give me a bit of a reading retreat weekend, and he's promised he'll try. He knows as soon as I read it once, I will start reading it aloud to him -- that's how we've always done it.
I have a copy on hold at Borders, though since I'm going to Williamsport for the release party, I might pick up my copy there instead...
I love her comment about the giant squid. Gack! Major spoiler alert!! :-P
I always knew there was more to the giant squid than meets the eye!
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