What would you do if a commenter guessed your big plot twist well in advance?

[ar-ninetysix]

God, what a hilarious attitude to take to a reader being right.. just BANNING them

They only got to their conclusion bc they were invested in your story that much, let 'em keep reading it lol

[Darth_Biomech]

a big surprising plot twist and once that's spoiled there's nothing else to keep your audience invested,

I'll repeat myself - there's a lot of READERS who think that way.
Hence why there is always so much drama, hate and screeching around spoilers to the popular franchises. I remember it was quite popular back in the day for trolls to troll people by posting gifs and screencaps from the camrips of Avengers Endgame, and how much anger, cursing and even legit death threats it reliably generated. You go try to tell those people that they shouldn't care about spoilers.

[Cavechan]

Hm, I don't think this has happened in my main comic yet. Though there was a time when the amazing @Azifri asked multiple questions that were answered literally 1-2 updates later. 8D

If someone guessed a plot line, I may play along, throw in fake hints or ignore it. Depends on what it is. Actually, a commentor did predict something and I did just ignore it one time. lol

I'm also surprised at some things people have NOT commented about/predicted yet. There was one thing I thought would be very obvious but nobody noticed. Once we get to that reveal, I think people will be like "OHHH". But it's not for a long time yet.

[Iris-Grimoire]

Basically that. It's the journey, not the destination. The big whodunnit moment isn't the cathartic moment, it's when the detective explains all the evidence and how it connects to the crime, and the person is floored at how they were bested.

[azzy-m]

I'd do the whole mind games and misleading the readers thing but I don't have the energy nor the mental capacity for it.

[IndigoShirtProd]

I don't think that parallels to what @HGohwell was saying. The MCU is vast there was a lot keeping people invested in that storyline, not just what happened in endgame. I think what they're trying to say is that if a story only has one big plot twist, and not multiple albeit smaller revelations, then the story lacks substance. There should be more than a possible plot twist to keep people invested.

And no one said people shouldn't care about spoilers, There aren't many people who want their investment to go to waste in an offhanded, unsatisfying way. But, if fans come to the right conclusion and talk about it, it's not a spoiler.

[faisalhussein394]

If they find out, just accept it but don't confirm them to be correct, that would just expose it to everyone else.

Seriously, many author's biggest worries (including myself) is if the readers who are so invested in their work would find out but should we change it to prove them wrong?

The answer for me is "No".

Because if we do that, we're going to have start everything from scratch to avoid so many questions.

Even if they know they are correct and we continue without noticing it, then this will at least give them a satisfaction IMO.

[vothnthorvaldson]

I put both 'confirm the guess' and 'do nothing'.
It may sound paradoxical, but what I mean is if possible, I'd confirm the guess to the specific person (privately - so only if the possibility is there and the person is fine with it), but would not confirm it publicly.

This being said, my story has multiple subplots rather than a big one, and has a huge lot of foreshadowing for each subplot, so I'd say, people guessing things in advance is rather unimportant, and almost reassuring. I'm more worried that readers might get lost!

[vothnthorvaldson]

Sometimes I panic when people make comments because they think something is suspicious (and it's not), but I already drew the next 5 pages, so I don't believe I should think about it anymore.

I'm answering as a reader: I feel there is no need to worry in these situations. The fact readers may be lead unintentionally the wrong way for a little bit, is, in my opinion, a welcome consequence of having a rich, not too linear story. I find it very immersive, because that's pretty much what happens all the time in real life: a lot of guessing and imagining relations on things that are just random chance or unrelated events.

[HGohwell]

there's a lot of READERS who think that way.

There is a vocal minority of readers that think that way.

Avengers Endgame

What happened in Endgame wasn't a plot twist. It was, as the title suggested, an ending. A real plot twist ending is something like Shutter Island or Sixth Sense, perhaps weaker but still sorta The Wickerman. Perhaps I remember wrong, but nothing I saw in Endgame was something that dramatically shifted the plot and made me look at everything that had happened so far differently. It was a painful ending, sure, but there's difference between general spoilers and plot twist spoilers. And Endgame also had, what was it in the end, 20 something movies with these characters building connections with them and hence not relying on a giant plot twist to make it interesting so actually sorta proving my point.

Plus, you didn't ask about people posting spoilers of your ending, you asked about people commenting on big plot twists in advance. There is a difference between general spoilers and plot twists. Yes, people care about spoilers, but I bet lots of those people still went to see Endgame. And how many people still watched Madoka Magica even knowing the twist premise? If anything the plot twist drew people into that.

I'm saying, once again, if knowing the plot twist ruins the entire story it wasn't a well constructed story to begin with. It's fur coat and no knickers. I would happily spoil one of my big upcoming plot twists right now and still be confident most of my readers would stick around.

[Kelheor]

Oh good gods thank you!

[Tornex]

Do nothing, letting the community make guesses and theories is part of the fun, especially in mysteries but it's applicable to any genre, really.

[pilot-obvious]

If it's a major plot twist, I won't do anything. But I always love to read guesses and fan theories about what happens next. It's part of the fun to me and it makes me happy to see readers so engaged in the content.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I'd probably just make dumb jokes to throw them off. Though I don't have many readers with comments like that. Probably because as of yet DS hasn't set itself up as that kind of story, it's been fairly straight forward 'beat up bad guys" so far.

[IdiotWithPencil]

I would do nothing since a predictable twist is better than destroying the story just to "subvert expectations" *looks at the fire from GoT

[NickRowler]

Do nothing. Banning them, erasing comments, and gas lighting them will just make you look like an asshole.

I had a short comic which someone guess the twist at the end and I was sort of happy because it meant they were paying attention. Having set ups to your plot twist is important, even if it is a surprise, there should be evidence to back up why it happens. I was able to guess the plot twist in the infamous film The Boy because there is a scene where the MC knocks on the wall and it's hallow. This is also why I think the plot twist in Frozen isn't good.

[jmhenry]

Easiest thing to do is nothing, let it feel like a theory to them. If you're like me, and can't help but respond to every reader comment, you might say something like "Ohh, that's interesting!" or "I like your theory, commenter!". Readers are smart cookies, and part of the fun of creating is seeing if one or two get close to guessing your plot. At least to me anyway ^^;

(Sorry, Kiweevil, meant to reply to the topic!)

[Freemints30]

Why should I care? Let them guess right , that 's the whole fun of being a reader in the first place. Most theories are stuff they want to happen and if it turns out to be true then you have made a well constructed plot for people who pay attention to detail.

However if everyone is guessing it like it was the most obvious thing, maybe just throw in a red herring here and there or play some mind games but overall it doesn't really matter its just a theory. Banning and deleting only confirms their theory and if very very dickish, punishing readers who pay attention and are invested and discourages both. I think conforming directly will ruin the fun a bit in my opinion but really if your audience is big enough you will always get one person saying your plot twist in a sea of far of guess to very close guesses.

[Kiweevil]

It's chill haha no biggie

[asaku]

Thats good, it means that your plot is so smart that only a single person was able to correctly figure it out, on the other hand tough, if everybody is able to guess the twist it means that you did something wrong