What a cop out to write about foreshadowing, right? But it took me a really long time to realize how some authors must do it. I used to think they had the whole idea thought out, plotted, and mapped beforehand. That must be how they do it! They knew what they were going to do from start to finish! Only recently did I realize how simple can be. It’s not about planning ahead; it’s about looking back later after many key scenes have been written. It all seems so logical. At least deliberate foreshadowing does. Because sometimes things don’t really mean anything. (“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”) But when it is deliberate and the author trusts the reader to pick up on it, an amazing thing happens. You take an idea, a motif, a scene, a theme, a symbol, a fear, an event, and you revisit it. Whether or not it was planned in the beginning doesn’t matter. When a reader’s suspicions of foreshadowing are confirmed, they feel like they are a character in the story. They knew what was going to happen! If only there was a way to tell the other characters sooner! They realize it took them too long to recognize how significant that little piece of foreshadowing was in the beginning. And the reader starts to think that the author had it all planned out all along.
December 30, 2012
Some Thoughts on Foreshadowing
By David Allen
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 30th, 2012 at 3:25 am and tagged with blog, blogging, Reverse Chronology, short stories, short story, stories, story, words, writers, writing and posted in Free Writes and Exercises, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
14 Responses to “Some Thoughts on Foreshadowing”
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December 30th, 2012 at 7:03 am
Never thought of it this way. I usually add in foreshadowing elements during my first edit of a book or I realize I foreshadowed by accident. I find that if I try to do it deliberately during my initial writing, I’m too heavy-handed.
December 30th, 2012 at 10:47 am
I guess I need to change it to “how some authors do it.” It’s not really accurate to say they all do it the way I said. Thanks for reading.
December 30th, 2012 at 7:58 am
I definitely have done it that way: With my first novel, Vivian Falling, I had the main character mention that she went as Ophelia for one Halloween – it was one of her fave characters of literature. Little did readers know her next struggle was with a lake – (I can’t give away the ending here, but it’s a little homage to Ophelia and her insanity.)
Great post.
December 30th, 2012 at 8:09 am
I like your idea that foreshadowing makes the reader feel like they’re a character in the story. I will definitely think of this point when I’m writing now.
As I writer of short stories and essays with editors that keep me on a word count, I’ve learned that I can’t put anything in the story that doesn’t have significance.
I read a lot too, and because I’m a writer, it’s usually easy to pick up the author’s foreshadowing. Yes! I’m a character in the story.
December 30th, 2012 at 10:34 am
I think I’m going to follow this blog because of this post. Nice job.
December 30th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
it is pretty simple, isn’t it? But it always makes me feel all-powerful
December 31st, 2012 at 12:03 am
I never thought about it that way- sort of like writing a prequel, huh?
December 31st, 2012 at 5:17 am
I sometimes drop in something, a loose end, so to speak, that I don’t know how it ties up and revisit it later. Often I’ll forget about them!
January 2nd, 2013 at 2:37 am
Good post. The importance of foreshadowing is often underestimated. I’m always infuriated when the end of a novel bears no relation to what’s gone before–not hints, no tying up, no breadcrumb trail that leads to this point (even if I didn’t notice it as I was reading). Foreshadowing is, for me, what ties a story together, what makes it a proper story, as opposed to just a bunch of stuff happening. I don’t think it matters too much whether a writer lays it all in advance or goes back and inks it in retrospectively, as long as it’s done. Like I said, good post, David!
January 2nd, 2013 at 2:54 am
Perceptive. Personally, some foreshadowing I weave in as I’m writing the first draft, or even at planning stage. But then with the writing I find my characters have a way of changing my plans, and I have to go back and lay in the foreshadowing. So yes you are right, yet also . . .
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:49 am
Kind of makes sense. That’s how life works. It’s only when looking back does one realize that a piece of info was key to an even that eventually culminated in what ended up happening to you. It wasn’t planned. It just happened that way and you can only see it when you look back…Neat!
January 2nd, 2013 at 12:57 pm
I like this post. And I’d like to share my opinion. Being an untrained author I feel that the only way I can TRULY add something as complex as foreshadowing is to just throw it in. And then plan it out after it’s already in the text.
January 3rd, 2013 at 9:40 am
i figured this out a while ago too but for some reason i still think i need to have everything perfectly laid out in my mind before i start writing. it’s literally the only reason I have never actually written out any ideas I have had for stories. I just don’t think they’re good enough even as rough drafts or just an idea
January 4th, 2013 at 3:59 am
I foreshadow quite a bit, and I find I do it as I write my first draft. I have general plots drafted, but I give my characters and story permission to deviate. I think the foreshadowings are the manifestations of their deviance. 0~0