Foreshadowing in Your Story

[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...)

[mkrenez]

I'm a big fan of foreshadowing! It lets you add the unexpected to shock readers. I'm using foreshadowing in my story now, but not to the point that it reveals that much. Readers may guess character fates with clues from what they say, but it's always great to add a twist to development.

[spadesart]

I like it where you'll not notice it until the second readthrough and you're like OH

on the topic of me using it i'm surprised nobody's commented on the purple rings in my character jack's eyes because it's definitely an abnormality in the canon of the story

[sefra114]

I definitely am a fan of using foreshadowing! I like it where it can be subtle, and also when it leads to big shocks. I like to use it in ways that will make a re-read of the story extra fun. I can't say how much is in my webcomic Oni x Fox, because I gotta keep the surprises for later, haha!

[shazzbaa]

i'm surprised nobody's commented on the purple rings in my character jack's eyes because it's definitely an abnormality in the canon of the story

Hmm! I'm.... actually kinda pondering whether or not this would be foreshadowing! Like... is there a reason to believe that's weird, within the story, or are we supposed to suspect that green hair is normal but purple-ringed eyes aren't? Is there an indication anywhere that eye colour is important?

To me, those sorts of things are where foreshadowing comes in. Someone mentions that eye colour is important, or to look out for strange-coloured eyes, and THEN we'd notice "huhhhhhhhh what's up with Jack's eyes then,,,,," Or someone asks Jack what's up with his eyes, and THEN we start really noticing any unrelated information about eye colour that gets mentioned elsewhere. Your comic has a lot of really distinctive, colourful designs, and there's a lot that we quickly adjust to as being normal -- so to introduce this guy and just let us take in his design only tells us "this is a colour of eye that exists in this world."

Which is probably why nobody has commented on it, I'd guess!

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.

I definitely put it in on purpose. My comic has, uh, a lot going on, so if I don't sit down and figure out "okay here are the things I need to foreshadow/set up/hint at and we need to see that by X point in the story" then I would end up forgetting to mention important details until right before the relevant scene.

I scribbled this a while back to show a friend how I tend to conceptualise this stuff with my comic:

Both of these are establishing/setup things, but it's the same basic idea -- I know where the payoff is gonna be, so I look at the rest of the outline to figure out when would be a good scene to drop a little hint about something. I make the same notes about character dynamics, too -- I've gone so far as to write down every scene that particular characters were in, in order to figure out how they should be coming across in each scene and when I should start dropping hints of upcoming shifts so that they don't come out of the blue.

That's maybe more writing out stuff than is strictly Necessary but it's the only way I can hold all this stuff in my brain!!

[mintycanoodles]

I love foreshadowing but I'm not terribly good at it. I like putting visual hints in there but I think they're so buried no one's ever going to notice them but me lol

[vongcw]

Yeah - I love foreshadowing. I think every movie/book I've loved has had wonderful foreshadowing... Except Lord of the Rings. That one was totally random lol.

Neil Gaiman my all time favourite author is quite a genius with it.
Then recent movie I watched, 10 Cloverfield Lane, used foreshadowing to the nth degree and that was really cool.
Most detective films, especially the recent Sherlock Holmes ones are good with it too.

[zetina]

It's nice to see it in visual form!
and now that i think about it, i realize i've been doing this too? but it all stays floating in my brain instead haha
thanks, it's been helpful in understanding my own process too <'D

[KSlinger]

Yeah, I enjoy foreshadowing and tend to find myself passively analyzing most of the comics I read/films I watch. I think working on my own comic has made it impossible for me not to identify foreshadowing elsewhere because for every frame/shot I see I'm trying to understand the creator's reasoning behind it, knowing there has to be one (more often than not).

Sadly even if I find all the clues I'm still not particularly good at interpreting the overall message. I'm more about hearing what other people think and going 'ohh, so that's why blah blah blah' or 'nah, because in these scene blah blah blah'. I was really good at er...literary analysis? in school- you know there you read a poem and try and interpret it- so I suppose it just carried over.

Unfortunately I think foreshadowing is a bit more complicated than most people give it credit for and personally I find it quite intimidating. Having a vague idea of how a scene will go is all well and good but actually refining a scene and ordering the dialogue and staging it right so that those minor details (that you are well aware of and every else is not) are included in just the right way is a different kettle of fish. As a 'gardener' rather than an 'architect' when it comes to my creative approach, the level of intricacy and organisation required for foreshadowing frustrates me. As a result I often lay down the guylines in current material for a variety of future scenarios and events that may never happen- throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks. These suggestions may later be interpreted as red herrings, I suppose, but to me it's just a part of world building. I don't need to explain why someone is wearing a particular item, but I could.

In West two major instances of foreshadowing have already happened. It will be interesting to see if anyone realises it later.

[NickRowler]

I like using it, but I think I abuse it. Tho I don't know if my foreshadowing is too obvious. I also like creating red herrings.