Keeping the Mystery Alive by Jessica Brody
December 18, 2012
Dear United States Library of Congress,
I hate to bother you as I’m sure you’re very busy doing...well,
whatever it is that you do (loaning library books to members of congress?), but
I’d like to file an official request to change the description of my book in
your database.
It has come to my attention that the one-sentence description printed
on the copyright page of UNREMEMBERED and filed in your library records reveals
the biggest spoiler of the entire book. Right there on the first page. As my
book releases in less than three months, you can see how this might be
distressing for me.
I apologize for not catching this sooner. I hope it can be resolved so
I don’t end up in the hospital with heart failure.
Sincerely,
Jessica Brody
Residing in Stress City, Population 1.
##
Okay, so this isn’t an actual letter but the story is true
enough. On December 18, 2012, I was just casually looking through the final
proof pages of my book (LONG after they’d been approved) and suddenly my
stomach sunk to the floor. I can still here the thunk it made when it hit.
There it was, spelled out for the
world to see...the BIGGEST spoiler of the entire book, printed in the library
of congress description on the copyright page. This is a reveal that doesn’t
come until pretty much the last 20 pages of the story.
Needless to say, I freaked out. I
emailed my editor immediately to tell her what I’d found, employing an excessive amount of panicked exclamation
marks. In fact, I think they should invent an entirely new punctuation and call
it the Panic Mark. In my mind, it would look something like this. (I would have
preferred to add flames but this is the extent of my graphic design abilities)
Fortunately my editor is
incapable of freak outs (I suppose she leaves them all to me as I do them so
well). She calmly told me she would see about getting it changed before the
book went to print. I gnawed on my fingernails for hours waiting for her
response. My mind was spinning with worst case scenarios. I could already see
my tweet to the world, “Don’t worry, everyone. If you don’t have time to read
UNREMEMBERED, simply read the copyright page. It’s explains everything!” All
this effort I’d spent laying out a mystery within the pages of this book. All
the hours of writing and crafting and carefully laying clues in strategic
places to slowly reveal the truth.
All the time I’d spent hinting these clues to the world via Facebook and
Twitter and Blog posts. All of that...WASTED! I couldn’t bear the thought.
Thankfully for me (and my heart),
it was caught in time and my editor was able to make the change. None of the
books will be printed with that spoiler flashing from the first page like a
beacon of destruction. I can’t adequately describe the relief I felt in that
moment. But wow, was that a close one. WAY too close for my comfort.
Although I like to put little
mysteries in all of my books, my background is in the contemporary genre. I
know it well. I know what works, what doesn’t, how to plot, how to revise, how
to emotionally develop a character. But writing a sci-fi suspense mystery with many spoilers (including the one MAJOR
aforementioned spoiler) has been a new experience for me. And I have to
say...it’s a stressful one!
Spoilers! It’s a word I’ve come
to intensely dislike. And they’re only getting more common as social media
continues to grow. My worst experience with a spoiler was when someone
unknowingly divulged the end of the entire HARRY POTTER series to me. I was one
book away from finishing the whole darn thing (and we all know what a time
commitment a 7-book series can be!) Talk about wanting a memory erased! Memory
Coders...start scrub-a-dubbing!
When I came up with the idea of
writing a story about a girl who was found in the wreckage of a plane crash
with no memories and a large portion of the book was devoted to figuring out
who she is and what happened to her, I was excited! I was inspired by the idea.
It sounded like the kind of book I would like to read. I never thought about
what it might mean when it came to the near impossible task of keeping secrets
from the world. I never imagined how many extra wrinkles I would acquire from
all the cringing that goes on every time I read a new review and pray that it
won’t giveaway everything.
This was not a challenge I
anticipated at all. But it’s been a challenge, nonetheless. And it’s one I’ve had
to quickly learn how to deal with. (Hint: Meditation and “zen” breathing helps.
Wine doesn’t hurt either.)
In the end, we authors can’t
control what people say or write about our books. We can’t hack into every blog
post or Goodreads review that contains spoilers and erase them like little
literary elves. We can’t eavesdrop on every conversation that goes on around water
coolers (“Did you hear about that new book UNREMEMBERED? In the end, it turns
out she...”) and then magically jump out of a supply closet to cover their
mouths while we screech, “SHHHH! Don’t spoil it!!!”
As much as we may want to.
We just have to hope that people will
read our books and more important, that they will like our books—regardless of what was or was not spoiled beforehand.
That’s about as much as we can do. And when all else fails, there’s always the
wine.Thanks so much Jessica for being here and my review is coming up next with the giveaway .
I'm starting Unremembered this week and I'm really looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteThat has got to be a scary moment for you. I have to admit though that I like spoilers - they don't bother me at all or ruin the book/movie/TV show. For a while I looked for them but now I'm in a non-spoiler phase of reading. I want to be surprised. lol
No matter how I feel I NEVER include them in my reviews or spoil for anyone else.
At least you caught everything in time to fix it.