Skip to main content

Questions tagged [foreshadowing]

This tag should be used for questions that deal with foreshadowing in your own literary work, such as questions about common techniques to show the reader that something will happen or questions about finding resources that help in getting an idea phrases that could help you to foreshadow an event.

5 votes
3 answers
1k views

Misleading readers on the motives/true personality of a character

My protagonist meets a Queen who is incredibly beautiful, acts very flirtatiously and is naive on most topics despite the fact she is a young adult. In short, she fulfils every stereotype of what a ...
BubbleQueen's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
82 views

I'm trying to find enough sensory description for my book

How do I describe when a person falls unconscious with enough sensory details?
Rex's user avatar
  • 1
1 vote
0 answers
61 views

When using false leads when foreshadowing something, how do you maintain narrative coherence?

When using false leads when foreshadowing something, how do you maintain narrative coherence? I want to make people believe that the lead character is the killer by giving false leads when ...
Sayaman's user avatar
  • 14.9k
3 votes
2 answers
184 views

How do you prevent the readers or viewers from guessing the whole plot when you use foreshadowing?

How do you prevent the readers or viewers from guessing the whole plot when you use foreshadowing? I remember watching Monster.Inc when I was young and I was able to guess the whole plot of the movie ...
Sayaman's user avatar
  • 14.9k
0 votes
1 answer
113 views

How late is too late when it comes to foreshadowing?

Spoiler warning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCrNm089jyE I heard that Season 8 of Games of Thrones was a total joke because it didn't foreshadow how one of the major characters in Game of Thrones ...
Sayaman's user avatar
  • 14.9k
9 votes
5 answers
8k views

Is it alright to kill off a character without setting up death flags?

I've always felt weird about death flags in stories. I don't know exactly how I feel about them. For example, a soldier character reminiscing to his buddy while on the frontlines about his wife and ...
user9564371's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
597 views

When is a bad time to foreshadow something that's gonna happen at the end of the movie?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uac5WVx2tYA So this guy mentions Chekhov's gun, and he says when foreshadowing something then the thing that's foreshadowed need to happen before the end of the story. ...
Sayaman's user avatar
  • 14.9k
10 votes
6 answers
2k views

Is it ok to introduce something in a flashback if you forgot to introduce or foreshadow it before?

Let's say you make your character use a special magic wand to kill his opponent, but you forgot to mention and describe what the wand was, can you do a flashback as soon as your character brandishes ...
Sayaman's user avatar
  • 14.9k
1 vote
2 answers
218 views

How can I signal the promise of action, when the start of the novel does not contain action?

The story I am aiming to write has someone thrown into action. However, that is not how they start off at the beginning. I definitely want to show someone whose bitten off more than they can chew, but ...
ProseFerret's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
826 views

Under-the-radar Feelings

So I have this idea for two girls that ultimately are going to get into a relationship. One of them is proudly gay and open about her feelings from the start, cracking jokes and sly compliments about ...
Tasch's user avatar
  • 1,780
13 votes
5 answers
2k views

How to foreshadow to avoid a 'deus ex machina'-construction

The plot in my story revolves around a certain ability of the MC that is normally not available, unless the circumstances are just right. Therefore, it is not mentioned in the story as a solution to ...
Century's user avatar
  • 265
3 votes
5 answers
286 views

Opening chapter foreshadowing or not?

In my story, a homicide takes place. I want to describe this homicide at the start of the story, through the eyes of the victim, to foreshadow what's about to come. But victim and suspect are both ...
psteeg's user avatar
  • 31
8 votes
3 answers
449 views

What is a good way to foreshadow that magic is actually very advanced technology?

In a story I'm working on, humanity had sometime in the past reached a very advanced technological level (far higher than ours), but then had a devastating global war, and afterwards technology had ...
celtschk's user avatar
  • 4,017
6 votes
3 answers
488 views

What are techniques for romantic subtext in a first-person novel?

In a first-person narrative, how do you effectively make it clear to the reader that a second character likes your protagonist, before it dawns on the protagonist herself?
FalseEpiphany's user avatar
7 votes
4 answers
1k views

Should foreshadowing be close to the main event?

This question is a followup to my earlier question. Continuing the dialog with my one critic, I wrote back that I believed that certain "foreshadowing" was necessary. Then I added something like, "...
Tom Au's user avatar
  • 4,405

15 30 50 per page