To Suck or Not To Suck? [Writing Tips]

|23| Foreshadowing

Requested by: TheDrunkenChipmunk

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Sorry for the long wait, Ray.

What is foreshadowing?

Foreshadowing is a literary device used in stories to let the readers know that something is about to happen, rather it be sooner or later.

A great example that I'm going to use would be The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe.

If you're familiar with this short story, then you probably know what I'm getting at. If not, then let me give you a quick summary.

An unnamed narrator kills an old man, who he claimed had a "vulture eye", that possibly held some type of power(?) He dismembers him and hides him in the floorboards. He doesn't really feel guilty about it until the police are over, sitting on the exact spot the man is buried under. He starts to hallucinate when he hears the heartbeat of the old man, and it steadily gets louder and louder. It gets to the point where he can't take it anymore, and confesses to killing him, telling them to rip up the floor boards and they'll see.

Terrible summary, but that's not the point.

The point of it is to explains the foreshadowing. As the heart got louder, it helped us learn that something dramatic was about to happen. If the sound of the heart beating and making him go mad as a result ended with the heart stopping for no apparent reason, that would be stupid.

That short story is foreshadowing at its finest.

Nowadays, I don't see much foreshadowing used in the world of Wattpad and that's a sad thing, because it's great.

You're probably wondering how you can use foreshadowing in your story, and I'll tell you that it's very simple.

First, I'll tell you what you don't want to do.

You don't want to clearly write at the end of a chapter: "What could possibly go wrong?" Now that may work in cartoons, but it seldom works in stories because it's too obvious. You've gotta make your readers know that something will go wrong without telling them. It's an age old tale of cause & effect, really.

If a character in your story was to compete in a chili dog eating contest, after you'd describe how they were feeling by writing such.

They gripped their stomach, they felt nauseous, they casually mumbled "I don't feel so good".

That leads the reader to come to the conclusion that they're about to get sick.

Foreshadowing is not stating the obvious. Foreshadowing is dramatic irony: the readers know something the character does not. The readers know that what the character has done will have bad consequences that the character might not be aware of just yet.

This leads to a more enjoyable reading experience, because the reader is constantly running through possibilities of everything that could go wrong when the truth finally comes out, and the questions that they'll have are great because it keeps them invested.

When looking to foreshadow an event, you want to make sure you have that event in mind. Then you carefully plot out the things that will lead up to it.

Here's an example.

Event being foreshadowed: A surprise party is being thrown for one of the characters.

Key events leading up to it:
-Friends are acting secretive
-Phone calls are being whispered
-Someone casually asks the character to come out with them on the day of the party
-They ask questions like "What's your favorite cake?" and so on leading up to the party

These are just a few, and this isn't the best example, but there are so many ways people can foreshadow.

I'm telling you, foreshadowing will really help the basis of your story in the long run. Getting straight to the point is boring, but beating around the bush to an extent keeps the reader interested.

To Suck

Being too obvious when trying to foreshadow. Foreshadowing is as simple as having a character break eye contact, and leave a room.

Not To Suck

Try your best to add a little dramatic irony to your story, because if every character is aware of everything going on, where's the fun in that?

Coming up:
-Original characters
-Starting a story
-Descriptions

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