Write Like A Pro

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is the warning or indication of a future event. For writers this is the device of giving subtle hints as to what is yet to happen in the plot. Below I will outline how to successfully foreshadow in eight steps. 

Step one: Ask yourself if an incident in your plot needs foreshadowing. Foreshadowing should be reserved for key events in your novel.  For instance in most novels foreshadowing is used to give hints to a huge downfall of the main character that happens later in the plot. A key example of this is Shakespeare's King Lear where Lear casts off his daughters, however the daughters plan to use it to their advantage to gain more power, which foreshadows the conflict between the daughters and their father later on in the plot. 

Step two: Make sure you understand the purpose of foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is used to build suspense or prepare the reader for a later event in the plot that otherwise would seem to be included in the novel for no reason. Make sure the event is big enough to be foreshadowed. 

Step three: Fulfil your foreshadowing. Develop the coming incidents you have teased about or the reader may feel cheated. If you foreshadow that there will be a huge fight or death by mentioning a gun, then make sure you follow through with a built up incident. 

Step four: Plan with structure. Outline significant events in your novel and outline how they are foreshadowed. Ask yourself if it is enough foreshadowing or whether it gives too much away. If you were the reader and you read the foreshadowing would you be able to guess as to what the event might be? If so then you might need to make the plot clues less obvious. 

Step five: Introduce foreshadowing with enough emphasis. The reader should be able to go back and realise there were plot clues without them knowing it. 

Step six: Make sure the payoff or event suits the foreshadowing. Meet expectations you have already clearly put in place to avoid frustrating the reader. 

Step seven: Incorporate revisions. If you have revised your novel and added more events, go back and revise the foreshadowing to avoid the narrative being disjointed. 

Step eight: Get feedback. You as the author are familiar to your own text. You won't notice things that aren't working and will love parts that may not be necessary in your novel. Get someone to check for you what foreshadowing is and isn't working in your novel.