Foreshadowing in Your Story

[J.Z.Castillo]

Do you like it? Do you use and abuse it? What type of foreshadowing do you like to use?

Personally, I love foreshadowing, it's like dropping hints and just having the selected few who are able to see them figure it out. Almost like an inside joke. I use lots of symbolism to clue in the audience on what's to come, also I feel like symbols are so abstract they really are not necessarily giving anything away since they can be interpreted differently... but one of those interpretation is correct.

Anyway, how do you feel about that? Do you use other literary and story-telling tools more than others in your story?

[LoboSong_Hitaka5Ever]

I love love LOVE the really surprising ones tbh. It just gives me such a thrill when it suddenly hits you and you're like "holy shit I didn't even notice that before!" XD I've used foreshadowing before myself, but it usually just never occurred to me until later that I had even done so, which I think is fun on a personal level. Its like "damn, how did I miss that? I'm writing this thing, what?!"

TLDR: I think foreshadowing is great and it makes me happy

[spooktacularprize]

I love foreshadowing, and when you go back and see something that you missed knowing what the current story is, it's always a great thing to understand how point A tied to point B. I do use foreshadowing, but for me it's this grueling thing of "how much foreshadowing is enough to give away a few things to some extra savvy readers, but not enough to blatantly be obvious as to some major plot points?

I plan on dropping a satisfying amount of hints in my comic, but some of it might not even be blatantly obvious as foreshadowing until the latter parts are revealed. Other parts are obviously foreshadowing, but (hopefully) not obvious as to exactly WHAT they're foreshadowing. For me it's about finding that balance, and in other stories that do it; it's always a great treat to see how it unfolds.

[AnnaLandin]

Well, yes, I like foreshadowing. It's a very basic storytelling tool, and is often 100% necessary to make the story feel like it all hangs together.

If you don't foreshadow or build up to things, it feels like events are just happening at random, which makes for a messy story. Foreshadowing - even if the readers don't pick up on it at the time - will help make the story flow better, and when you do drop that big twist or big reveal, the reader can look back at what's happened up to that point and go "OOooh! So that's what that was about!".

[El_Psy_Congroo]

I love adding "layers" of any kind to stories. whether its symbolism or outright foreshadowing. There's this quote that I like by author Gene Wolfe:

"My definition of a great story has nothing to do with "a varied and interesting background." It is: One that can be read with pleasure by a cultivated reader and reread with increasing pleasure."

[shazzbaa]

Yeah, echoing @AnnaLandin; I feel like foreshadowing is a really broad idea! Like, foreshadowing can be the hints that won't make sense until it all comes together, or the symbolic clues of what's to come, but it can also be as simple as "okay I need to let the audience see hints that this villain is dangerous and itching to fight so that when the heroes encounter him, the fight won't feel random and out of the blue."

Foreshadowing is often a practical thing, making sure your audience has the information that they'll need. If you have a character who's gonna, idk, abandon the team at a crucial moment, you gotta foreshadow that! Because when it happens, you want the audience to think "oh no, of course, she sounded so frustrated with the team, of course she's leaving now!!" and not "wtf? why is she leaving." Foreshadowing her change of heart isn't just for fun, it's vital for the story to work!

Foreshadowing can also apply to tone or themes -- like, hinting at unsettling rumours in the innocuous opening of a story so that the sudden dark turn later on is intriguing and builds on growing fears, rather than just giving you confused mood whiplash.

Basically "foreshadowing" covers a whole bunch of important things that lots of stories need!

[WakaXO]

Oh yes I love foreshadowing! If done well it ties everything together, and gives the reader something new to discover with every read through. I also like the use of symbolism in stories, it gives an extra layer of interest, it's always fun to try and interpret the meaning behind the symbols used. Both foreshadowing and symbolism are fun tools to use in ones story, they are like a game of cat and mouse between the author and reader. Also there is nothing more satisfying than the eureka moment when you piece things together in a story!

I will have a good amount of foreshadowing in my comic, there will be a buttload of it in the 4th chapter. 😆

[zetina]

The topic started and I'm just thinking "have I even thought of foreshadowing and actually done it?" but as I read on it seems that I have. I haven't added foreshadowing while consciously thinking what it is - just been doing what feels right.
How does foreshadowing usually come to you guys?
Do you calculate it or do you realize after the fact that you've put it in? I'm interested in the thought process of crafting it.

[Momomori]

I love subtle details in behavior or background context. I personally love that Ohh! face palm moment. it's the best... plot twists are best! (As long as it isn't predictable but still believable.)

[scythe]

Pretty much my entire first chapter is one long exercise in foreshadowing, and yes, I also use symbols and cues in the background. Not as much as I'd probably like to, but they're definitely in there.

Also, I find it's a good tool to inspire dialogue, particularly in places where you know the characters need to be interacting, but you're not exactly sure what they'd be saying to each other, look forward in your story and see if you can't foreshadow a future event which is relevant to them.

[TheVoidchildProject]

Foreshadowing is often a practical thing, making sure your audience has the information that they'll need.

I agree with this. And I'll go so far as to say it's a necessity for a well drawn up narrative to plant clues and hints of upcoming beats in a lot of stories. The lack thereof is what often causes the deus ex machina trope to appear. When suddenly and for no warning a character makes use of l, let's say, "the power of flight" without any explanation for why the hell they're suddenly able to do that.

[doublethickcustard]

I love foreshadowing, and I love it in all comics and literature. It definitely makes stories seem better planned and thought out, not to mention it makes it more readable more than once. Our readers are so used to it in our comics that they pick it apart everywhere trying to figure out what's going to happen which is wonderful and makes me more inclined to add extra things I know atleast someone will notice. I like putting foreshadowing in dialogue and situations but I add things into art a lot as Im going. It's good when at the end so many things can fall into place for a reader.

Sometimes it backfires spectacularly. I drew up this page as a happy easter-egg for fans of the characters in the last comic and heart attacks ensued when a lot of people read into it as foreshadowing another character being stabbed. On face-value I was just being humorous in adding genitals to the snowman. But maybe it was foreshadowing? Maybe it was coincidental, maybe it was just a crude snowman squint who knows! what I do know is that snowman has a fine twig and berries.

[igneriss]

I love foreshadowing, and I use it a lot. One of the best moments for me as a creator was when one of my readers re-read my series and noticed how different is the meaning of what characters said or done, knowing what happens later. I couldn't help but smile at my laptop's screen when reading her message : D

[punkarsenic]

foreshadowing is the best, man.

it leaves puzzle pieces around the story for the reader to collect together, so when the twist comes, it all comes clear and its more exciting and fun.

my favourite kind is the little hints that seems mundane until it all comes clear - think rtd era dr who. 'torchwood' kept popping up in the background, here and there, no biggie, until one day it was suddenly important and you get that moment where you nod your head like, 'ohhhh' and its awesome.

that being said, i'm not the best at using it. foreshadowing requires heavy planning and despite my best efforts i kinda figure it out as i go along - i try to add foreshadowing, but i'm unsure how successful i am.

[Mikayi]

I love foreshadowing. I do it but I think I end up with a suddle kind of foreshadowing. It's not very blunt but it's there a bit hidden. So when it comes up its something that was said before. It's very fun to use.

I think a lot of good stories use it. The fun part us remembering where it came up in the story and having that moment to see if you figured it out before hand or if it's a shock. I think that's what I love about stories because it makes you want to know where it will all lead. And keeps you reading

[respheal]

Come into my parlor~ -leads you into a room where a wall is covered in Chekhov's Guns-

I lurrrrrrrrrrrrve foreshadowing. I probably overdo it a bit because I love it so much xD My favorite thing is probably foreshadowing mixed with a little fridge horror, where you have all these pieces and they come together to show the whole put-together puzzle and it's like, "oh crap that's what's actually going on."

[Strontium]

@respheal gestures to my Chekhov's Armory

I love foreshadowing. Both the normal story-building kind and the more extreme "something random ends up being pivotal" type - nearly everything I devote time to in my story is either plot relevant in some way or something I think is fun. I definitely want to make a PDF of every hint along the way when the comic is over! It'll be mind blowing!

[Vanni2u]

Foreshadowing is defitenly one of the best ways to make a story very interesting for me. It's fun when it's placed creatively and not too much to the point that it loses it shock value, I'm looking at you Zero Time Dilemma.

[sarrowsmith10]

I enjoy foreshadowing, but I think some stories let it get out of hand. Like the creator is always like, "this thing is important for later in the story!" but then never go back to it. Or so much is happening in the story that is never explained and just leads to confusion. I think novice writers gets really excited to add these extra things, or hints, or mysteries or whatever, but never follow up with them or simply don't use them properly. It's the problem of Chekhov's gun. I think if you are going to foreshadow something, hint at something, are leave a cookie early in your story for later, you need to very carefully think it through and wrap it up. Or it just seems very sloppy.

[Ringarune]

I luv to foreshadow, mainly because it can peak a readers interest and keep them guessing. Some of the stuff I do is very subtle and you wouldn't be able to tell there was any foreshadowing until that part shows up, and then other stuff is more blatant, like for example I have 2 characters that really hate each other, but the reader has no idea why (although tbh that's not really foreshadowing that much...)