From Ahmed

Trying to avoid spoilers

Ask Michelle Anything
Ahmed Writes…

Hello, it's me again, and i had one huge problem. Once i read any book, i have an iresistible urge to just see what happens but it ends up by heavily spoiling the book for me and ruining the plot, so how can i try and forget about spoilers?

Michelle Replies…

Hello, Ahmed.  Hmm, that’s a tricky one.  When I was younger I had a bad habit of skipping to the last page, to see what happened – which, as you say, ruined the story!  In my case it wore off in time, mostly when I found books that I could really get immersed in, so that I didn’t want to miss a single word.  It’s quite hard to suggest something that would help you, but I can offer two thoughts.  First, this is, as I said, a habit.  And habits can be broken, given time and determination.  For instance, you might try making it just a bit harder to skip ahead, by clipping the remaining pages together with a bulldog clip or an elastic band.  This would mean that you’d have to deliberately free the pages, in order to spoil the story for yourself, which might just make you think twice about doing so.  (Of course, though, this would only work if you’re reading a physical book, not an electronic one.)  My second thought is that you might be tempted to skip ahead because you’re not fully engaged in the story. This might be because it’s just not your kind of book, or you’ve reached a bit that you find boring; or that you find it hard to concentrate generally (and who could blame you, what with social media and rolling news on phones!). Try making yourself read more slowly, to give yourself time to enjoy the writing and the characters, rather than simply concentrating on what might happen next.  All of this is a lot easier said than done, I know!  But you clearly seem to enjoy reading, so I have a feeling that this will pass in time.  I do hope so.  With very best wishes, Michelle


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