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Author Topic: foreshadow
Christine
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I'm sure we've had this discussion before, but something that came up in my crit group recently made me want to throw it out there again.

I started by looking in the dictionary:

quote:

Main Entry: fore·shad·ow
Pronunciation: -'sha-(")dO, -d&(-w)
Function: transitive verb
: to represent, indicate, or typify beforehand : PREFIGURE

Since this wasn't much, I went ahead and looked up "prefigure" as well:

quote:

Main Entry: pre·fig·ure
Pronunciation: "prE-'fi-gy&r, esp British -'fi-g&r
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin praefigurare, from Latin prae- pre- + figurare to shape, picture, from figura figure
1 : to show, suggest, or announce by an antecedent type, image, or likeness
2 : to picture or imagine beforehand :



Of all the literary devices, I think foreshadow is the most interesting. Done well, it can really drive a story forward because you are constantly on the edge of your seat, wondering if what you imagine will happen will happen. Then when it does, you were ready for it but at the very same time, you never saw it coming.

I know that when I end up using foreshadowing in my stories, it's almsto by accident. I don't know if some of the greats make it happen on purpose, but if they do, HOW do they do that?

So I just thought I'd throw this out there for you guys to chew over...What is good foreshadowing and how do you make it happen?


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spcpthook
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I tend to cheat in my novels. I write the thing out getting characters from point A to point B. Then I go back and look for places to insert foreshadowing. Of course I rarely plan what's going to spew from my keyboard and I rather imagine that anybody who outlines and knows what's coming next would have a much easier time of inserting foreshadowing.
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tchernabyelo
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Yep, the wonder of Word Processors (as opposed to just writing everything longhand) is the ability to go back and insert extra foreshadowing as you edit.

I try and sue it, and I do try and plan it in where I can, but sometimes plots just wander off in unexpected directions so it gets kind of difficult.

And I agree, that mix of being surprised and then realising you shouldn't have been surprised... that's what I look to create.

Of course, every reader has their own perception level for these things; one person will think something utterly heavy-handed, while another will miss it completely. Ultimately, you have to set it at the level you think is appropriate. I tend to try for more subtle, and shrug if people miss it - I'd prefer them to miss it than think I was trying to hit them over the head with stuff.


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pantros
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I'll add foreshadowing to a second draft.

Sometimes I find a way to slip a hint of something yet to come, other times, I'll be proofreading and my foreshadowing alarm will go off and I'll notice that I should write a later scene with more in common with whatever set the alarm off.

Generally I can spot foreshadowing because when I read it the first time, I wonder what the heck this has to do with the story I thought I was reading. Doing it while not invoking that is a fine art.


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autumnmuse
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I find that I tend to go overboard on the foreshadowing, accidentally. I never have to add, only subtract, in subsequent versions. For example, I decided to try my hand at a very simple mystery story. Early in the story my main character eats something that's important to the plot. Later in the story she discovers the unpleasant truth about what she ate. Some people were fine with the level of detail I included, but there were several who saw the end coming from near the beginning, because of certain phrases I'd used, and the fact that the other character does not eat at the same time.

Though that might be less of a foreshadowing problem and more of a plot problem. I think they're related. But, I've certainly not reached a stage in my writing where I'm being too obtuse; I suffer from giving too much information.


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wbriggs
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Maybe it's OK if they get it in advance -- as long as they still care.

Think about romantic comedies. The guy and the girl that spar all the time, and each of them is interested in someone else . . . of _course_ they're going to get together.


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Christine
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I'm not sure if foreshadow is exactly the same thing as hints in a mystery story...they are certainly similiar, but in the case of foreshadow you are trying to actively evoke a sense that something is going to happen whereas with clues in a mystery novel you are trying to actively hide relevant information without cheating and never presenting it. For that matter, clues in a mystery novel are not predictive -- they are hints at something that already happened (usually).

When the music in a horror film gets high pitched you know the person shouldn't go in that room but you don't know what's in there. I think foreshadow hints at a PART of what is going to happen and creatse a sense of real suspense...it's like something OSC always says about suspense: real suspense is created when the reader knows EXACTLY what is going on and is fearful/eager to learn the consequences.


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thexmedic
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I plan out in advance so I stick in foreshadowing at that point, but I still have to know what's to come in order to foreshadow so it usually gets inserted in the 2nd draft of the outline.

As for how to do it... I'm really not sure if this advice is that good, but there are two ways I do it:

1) I stick the same character in the same approximate situation twice, but change everything else (e.g. who he/she is interacting with, what exactly is being discussed, etc). I find that helpful for showing character progression. Still, I'd leave plenty of room between the two occurences otherwise it'll stick out like a sore thumb.

2) I get a little more abstract and have the situation I want to foreshadow enacted in more metaphorical terms (substitue people, place, etc). This you can put closer to the scene you're foreshadowing.

In both cases I like to have the foreshadowing event have a different ending to the real event.

But, I'm new to this foreshadowing game so... The best I can say is that those are the ways I've used foreshadowing and my wife liked it.

Hope this helps


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MaryRobinette
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quote:
What is good foreshadowing and how do you make it happen?

I would love it if someone could answer this. I find foreshadowing an extremely difficult thing to do well. Most examples I can think of are so heavy-handed that they tell you the whole plot. The best example I can think of, unfortunately, is a movie. Ironically, Back to the Future, has some of the best foreshadowing. I didn't catch any of it the first time, but on the second viewing there are so many clear hints of what is going to come. I'm trying to think of a good example in fiction. I know there are some, but I can't think of them.


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pooka
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Life of Pi is on my mind a lot lately, sorry. I've never heard anyone complain that the reader wasn't prepared for the ending.

(Possible Spoilers)

The early chapters lay a fascinating groundwork (now that I'm rereading them). I mean, practically the whole novel is foreshadowing for the 98th chapter. I think it's the 98th chapter. And yet it is still surprising. I say spoilers only because The Sixth Sense was spoiled for me just from a reviewer saying it had a twist ending. Though I had read somewhere that Pi had a half twist ending-- and it still surprised me.


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Ray
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Actually, a good example of foreshadowing is in the movie, Ever After. The disappearing items, the family going broke, the constant spending, and the rich punk who wants Danielle, are all necessary components for the moment when Danielle is betrayed by her stepmother. Until that moment, they're just constant problems that may be critical, but the audience is too attached to the bigger love story to notice their importance.

The root of foreshadow is "shadow." We know shadows are there, but we never pay attention to them and we don't have to, which is how foreshadowing should be. If the story's quest is to discover who is operating the Doomsday Device, you need to MC to meet a relative of the operator early on. The relative mentions the operator's name, but the conversation is really about where a Subway restaurant is. So the reader knows about So-and-so, but because the MC is trying to find Subway, that's where the attention goes.

For a good case of foreshadowing, I recommend Treasure Box by Card. Who the real antagonist was blew my mind, but it felt right even though that person had shown up once before.

There are other, subtler forms of foreshadowing. But because those are usually done with metaphors and symbols, they usually mean nothing to me as a reader. An excellent case of this kind of foreshadowing is in Lord of the Flies, a book I hated, but it's loaded with this type of foreshadowing if any are interested in how it's used.

I've got a question though. It's not about foreshadowing, but it is related. I call it foretelling, although if it has a different name, please inform me.

Basically, a story goes on from one character's head, and then at the end of the narration--or somewhere in the middle, depending--a sentence is put in with information the character doesn't know, although it affects his story.

An example: Mary discovered she was out of sugar to bake a cake. The party wasn't for another two days, but she wanted to be as prepared as she could before she had to start cooking. So she gathered the money and headed for the store. If she knew who was working there that day, she wouldn't have been so hasty.

The reason not to have that sentence is because it's a POV break. If the character doesn't know something, then the reader shouldn't until the character discovers it. But if used at the right moments, I think that these foretellings can be very effective tools, especially when the current circumstances are rather mundane. What do you think?


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MightyCow
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Most of the time, those foretellings strike me as a cheap trick to build suspense. Dan Brown does that ALL the time, and it gets really annoying when it's used often.

It can probably be done well, but when it is, you don't notice it as such. When you do notice it, it seems like someone saying, "I promise it will get exciting at some point, if you just keep reading through the boring stuff, something is going to happen."

I'd rather just read interesting things all the way through, so I don't need to be artificially hooked to keep reading.


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Tanglier
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I like my foreshadowing to put a danger on the table, but not give it expression away. For example, a guy who throws a remote at the television because he is embarrassed that his team lost in act one, rapes his wife because she embarrassed him at cocktail party in act three.

I also like my foreshadowing to come in indirect stories the characters tell, by the way. Like stories other characters tell about someone else. The Wayward Bus does this very well. Steinbeck, on the whole, does this extraordinarily well. Even in Of Mice and Men, the foreshadowing of the mouse Lenny kills is about as subtle as a brick, but still effective.

[This message has been edited by Tanglier (edited June 24, 2006).]


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Ray
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I hate seeing them over and over, too. The thing is, I've noticed them sprinkled about with many of my favorite authors. Card does it in Ender's Game; there's a moment that goes something like "Ender didn't know it was his last day of Battle School." And Robert Jordan has it in one of his later Wheel of Time novels (don't feel like finding which one), and in this instance, a group of the women were traveling and nothing else of importance. It wasn't until the end of the chapter when they reached a town they'd stay in for a spell when Jordan throws in a sentence saying that something of importance would happen to them in three days. Both times, they didn't feel like intrusions but really set up the moment for the next couple of chapters.

I guess my real question is, when does foretelling work and why?

I'm not going to argue that of the two, foreshadowing is more effective over the long run. But I'm simply curious about when it works.


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Tanglier
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quote:
I guess my real question is, when does foretelling work and why?

When the foretelling concerns a decisive moment later in the story. For example, in the Great Hunt(hell, even in the Karate Kid), Rand's killing move and its vulnerabilities are discussed in a by the way manner a few chapters before. I think that Jordan's later novels are sloppy meandering messes, but The Great Hunt is a fantastic action novel. I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed Tolkien. It may be one of the best pure action novels I've ever read, better in that regard than even G.R.R. Martin's novels. Martin's novels are better in every other way, though.


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trousercuit
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Here's an instance where it doesn't work: Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain. He kept alluding to the same horrible future incident over and over, with things like, "Little did I know, it was the worst thing I could have done."

Bleah. If that wasn't bad enough, at the end of the book, everything turned out fine. The ominous incident never happened. Double bleah.

[This message has been edited by trousercuit (edited June 25, 2006).]


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Louiseoneal
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Ah, Crichton. State of Fear was the finest propaganda novel I have ever read.

Crichton somehow manages to reverse the power differential between big corporations and environmentalists, gives scientists who say global warming exists more reason to lie than scientists who say it doesn't, and then a thinly-disguised Martin Sheen gets eaten alive by cannibals.

There are seasoned magicians who could learn things about sleight of hand from Crighton. The only thing more fun than reading State of Fear is reading climatologist's critiques.

I skipped the fun of reading the Davinci Code, but I have enjoyed history channel programs featuring historians who rip it apart line by line.


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Survivor
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Nobody was discussing State of Fear, so perhaps you shouldn't have brought it up.
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Kolona
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Interesting thought, Christine: Are hints considered foreshadowing or just close relations? First thing that came to my mind was the movie, The Sixth Sense. The ending was a surprise, yet the hints were there -- or were they foreshadowing?

[This message has been edited by Kolona (edited June 29, 2006).]


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trousercuit
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They were clues.

Maybe the difference between a clue (or hint) and foreshadowing is how much "fore" it gets.


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Christine
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They were dead giveaways, IMHO. Sigh...am I really the only person who saw the end of "The Sixth Sense" coming a mile away?

Either way, no, they were not foreshadow.


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mommiller
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I saw how Sixth Sense was going to end ahead of time too.

That is not to say, that I did not find the journey enjoyable.

There is a subtle difference between foreshadowing and clues though, I like mysteries. Clues, to me are evidence, such as it was presented in Sixth Sense. Most of the time, authors use such a heavy hand in their presentations of either clues or foreshadowing, that any sort of subtlety is lost.

[This message has been edited by mommiller (edited June 30, 2006).]


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Corky
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How about when Q shows James Bond what the new gadgets can do before he leaves for his next mission (in the movies, at least--I haven't read the books)? Does that count as foreshadowing?

It seems a rather mechanical way to let the audience know that something interesting is going to happen later on, but the fun is in seeing how Bond gets creative when he actually uses the gadgets.

I think it goes along with that rule (though I can't remember which way the rule goes): either "if someone is going to use a gun in the final scene, it has to be described as being on the mantel in the first scene" or "if a gun is described as being on the mantel in the first scene, someone had better use it by the final scene"--either way, wouldn't this apply to foreshadowing?


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trousercuit
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That's called "Chekhov's gun." I think it's usually regarded as a principle in writing tight stories, but it seems to apply here as well.
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Survivor
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I'm interested in this discussion, but right now I don't have anything to contribute.

I view narrative from the opposite direction, after all. What happens must make sense in the context of what has already happened, it doesn't have to make sense in terms of what is going to happen. If there is a gun on the mantlepiece, I don't expect it to go off, I wonder how it got there.

But when the gun goes off, I like already knowing that it was right there over the fireplace.


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Novice
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I wanted to divorce my husband when he blurted out how The Sixth Sense was going to end, long before the end. And when he said it, I knew he was right, but I would never have figured it out. IMO, the devices used in that movie were foreshadowing, very subtle and very well done, and prominent enough that everyone later said, "I should have seen that coming."

I think that's the key, to have the reader be able to say, "OH, yes, I should have been able to guess." But not have them saying all along, "I suppose I'm going to have to take all these hints and put them together and figure something out." (Worse yet, for the reader to add, "I would, except I'm not really interested enough to put that kind of effort into this book.") The hint can't look like a hint, it's got to look like part of the story. I know what good foreshadowing is, to me, but I haven't yet learned how to execute it within my own writing.


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pooka
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John Grisham is terrible at putting a gun on the mantlepiece that never goes off. In The Chamber it would be the mother. In The Rainmaker it would be Buster Prince or whatever his name was. In The Testament it would be the missionary organization that owns Rachel's temporal assets. In each case, these entities, after being introduced, disappeared for virtually the entire book, if not entirely- when they had the power to make the book as interesting as the original {i]Italian Job[/i].
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