Foreshadowing Done Right

Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.

In a lot of stories, we want to foreshadow things. I have a ton of secrets that revolve around my character that affect so many things later in the story, but when I first started writing I had no idea how to do it properly. And I have now come up with tips that can help you add foreshadowing that will make your reader implode because HOW COULD THEY HAVE MISSED IT LKJALDSJFSLDJKFASD!

First off, I have some books I think have amazing foreshadowing:

• Embassy Row Series - Ally Carter
• The Gallagher Girls Series - Ally Carter
• Black Widow: Forever Red - Margaret Stohl
• The Naturals Series - Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• Velvet Undercover -  Teri Brown

I have links to the author’s webpages, and I will probably do reviews on most of these books. They are mostly espionage/crime novels because that is my main interest in novels and such.

Anyways, let’s-a-go!

1: Have A Plan

You don’t need to plan every single thing, every scene, every time someone breathes. Just know the general direction of your story. Know your character’s arcs. Know what will happen to each person, and if you want it to be a shock but also sort of hint at it, look at the next one.

2. Keep It Subtle

You don’t want to blatantly be like “THIS PERSON IS THIS CHARACTER’S CHILD” or whatever any other time than when you get to the reveal. But you need to hint at it. For people like me, this may be difficult for you. Draw parallels to characters if they are related, use the same words to describe them or have them do little, minor things that people won’t notice until the reveal.

If you are going to kill a character, have them mention something about death—it could be something along the lines of “no one will die this time, I promise you that” or just “don’t worry, we will be fine”. This also ups the emotional factor when they actually do die.

3. Stay Away From Cliches

Don’t use terms that people use over and over when foreshadowing, such as “little did she know that her words would prove too prophetic” or stuff like that. Most of the time, they are cliche because they are easy to spot. Also, you aren’t really doing any work. If you stay away from cliches, find ways to foreshadow that are subtle but fit your writing style/layout of your novel, people will be shocked by it. And that’s what we want.

4: Don’t Say Stuff That Doesn’t Work

Let me explain. You need to stick to the voice you are writing in.

If you write in First Person, don’t have them say something that everyone will see as them knowing about this plot twist and then have them completely freak out when the twist comes. If your character doesn’t know it, make sure it doesn’t seem like they know it.

If you write in Third Person, it’s totally up to you on what you divulge to the reader and what you don’t. But if you are trying to keep a character in the dark about it, don’t make it seem like they know what they’re talking about.

And now for a quick list of things you can stick little bits of foreshadowing in:

1: Gestures

In life, the biggest foreshadower is body language. A little finger flick over a pocket or folder may mean they have something in there important. Moving your hand past something may be done to draw their attention away from some secret. You can use gestures or little movements your characters do to show that something will happen.

Say Jenny and Jason go camping and a terrible storm comes up, trapping them.

Jason clutched the flashlight in his hand tightly. “Don’t worry, we will be fine.”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Jenny answered, shaking as she tugged her sleeping bag up around her shoulders.

Jason ignored her as he continued to stare at the top of the tent, his fingers finding a box of batteries and shoving them in his pocket.

What will happen next? Probably something that will cause them to flee. Maybe a branch will tear through the tent. Maybe lightning will hit a tree and start a fire. We get the idea that something will happen just by the fact that Jason isn’t taking his eyes off the ceiling of the tent and he grabbed extra batteries for the flashlight.

2: “Throw Away Lines”

In theatre, we have these things called throw away lines. They can either be lines that have nothing to do with the story, such as two characters exchanging pleasantries. Or they can be important, but should be treated as though they don’t matter in order to enhance the plot. Someone could say “it’s not like (thing) would happen, this is a controlled area,” and then later in the story something similar could happen.

3: Make References

You could have a character do a bit of a lore dump, if your story relies on prophecy or stuff like that. If your characters are facing off against a villain that has defeated important past heroes, you can use little details in the previous story to show what may happen in the future fight between the villain and your protagonists.

Happy Writing!

~Olivia Ann