F - Forshadowing

This post is by Ana Belen. Thanks sooo much Ana Belen! I really appreciate you writing this! :)

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F- Foreshadowing

by Ana Belen

Foreshadow:

Verb: To show, indicate or present in advance.

In writing, foreshadowing would be to hint at something beforehand. It may be that the author foreshadow s the true colors of an apparent “good-guy” to be anything but!  Or perhaps through foreshadowing, the author may hint at the fact that nothing is what it seems…

For example an example of sinister character foreshadowing:

 In the movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Jadis, the Queen, appears to Edmund to be a kind lady who offers him the position of heir to her throne. But her sudden loss of temper by shouting at him, followed by her quick recovery of a smile and smooth words, foreshadows she is simply manipulating him for her own gains.

As an example of plot foreshadowing:

The movie, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, foreshadows its sequel by ending the film with left our information. In it, the President asks Ben Gates to bring him a photograph of page 47 in the fictitious “President’s Secret Book”. The viewer knows nothing of the content of the page and waits in suspense for it to be revealed, but the movie ends with the President saying to Ben “Let’s have a look at that page.” So, (and this isn’t a perfect example) this foreshadows the fact the next movie will be about that page.

As a better example of plot foreshadowing, the book, The Mysterious Benedict Society, begins by telling of a so-called “Emergency” which is published everywhere and everyone seems to believe it. This idea has everyone in complete panic because it says that the entire world system and economy is messed up and needs to be changed completely! But a few, who happen to not listen to the news by watching television or listening to the radio, know this is not true.  This foreshadows the fact that someone is making this up, and sending that idea by way of TV and radio.

Foreshadowing is a difficult topic to write about as it is very dependent on the personality of the author, the genre of the book, as well as its mood and theme. In addition to that, there are MANY variations of it.

For me, (and as may be the case with many teen authors,) I have, so far, never used foreshadowing with conscious purpose in the storyline, but rather, my imagination and the storyline itself weaves it in subconsciously.

For those who write “by the seat of their pants”, as they say, fore shadowing tends to take great precedence in their work. I have written a few things in this way, and noticed that I give little hints at what is truly going on, or who the real ‘bad guy’ is, but, because the story develops as it goes, I give the reader only little bits of information at a time, until, suddenly, it all comes out!

I have also, after finishing my first draft, gone back and wrote in foreshadows, to enhance the work and give it depth.

Because of the little amount of experience that I have in pre-planning to foreshadow certain things, I have been searching around for examples and opinions on this subject.

The following was taken from grammar.about.com:

Note: I have not read the books these excerpts are taken from.

FICTION:

-Foreshadowing can be, in fact, a form of 'back writing.' The writer goes back through the copy and adds foreshadowing to prepare the reader for later events. . . .

"This does not mean that you are going to give away the ending. Think of foreshadowing as setup. The best foreshadowing is subtle and is woven into the story--often in multiple ways. In this fashion, foreshadowing helps build tension and gives resonance and power to the story."

(Lynn Franklin, "Literary Theft: Taking Techniques from the Classics." The Journalist's Craft: A Guide to Writing Better Stories, ed. by Dennis Jackson and John Sweeney. Allworth, 2002)

NON-FICTION

- "With nonfiction, foreshadowing works well, so long as we stay with the facts and not impute motivation or circumstance that never happened. . . . No 'he should have thought . . .' or 'she might have expected . . .' unless we back it up factually."

(William Noble, "Writing Nonfiction--Using Fiction." The Portable Writer's Conference, ed. by Stephen Blake Mettee. Quill Driver Books, 2007)

PERSUASIVE WRITING:

"Foreshadowing can work not only in narrative forms, but also in persuasive writing. A good column or essay has a point, often revealed at the end. Which details can you place early to foreshadow your conclusion?"

(Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer. Little, Brown, 2006)

I will close on a note of warning: Be careful not to reveal too much information! If you do, your climax won’t be as grand and you will kill much of the reader’s suspense. On the other hand, be creative, and think much about how to please your readers as much as possible.

Though, as I have already stated, I am not the most proficient in writing with  foreshadowing, it is for me the thing that makes a book GREAT and thrilling to read, versus simply good.

So USE IT, but carefully!