Uh Oh – Foreshadowing
There is an art to foreshadowing in fiction, and as a reader, I’m aware of when it is clumsily handled. I’m sure you are too. As a result, I work hard in my writing to bring it on gradually, but there are times when I stick it right in the reader’s face and then build the story around it.
An example of me confronting the reader abruptly is in my book, Betrayed. Here is the first couple of paragraphs of the story:
CHAPTER ONE
It was still. No breeze. The air, dead, smelled of red dirt and decay. A hawk circled overhead, cawed once, and glared at him. At least Brian thought it did. He wondered vaguely if it was an omen, a message from the spirit world George often talked about. A warning, perhaps. Fitting if it was, Brian thought. If they survived, he would ask him.
He lay prone in the dirt and glanced behind him. Brett was not visible. That was good. He wanted his brother safely behind the big boulder. Hidden.
Brian wasn’t afraid to die. He just didn’t want to die. Not yet, anyway. Fifteen was too young. However, he made a promise to watch over George and Brett, and that he would do. If it came to it, he would protect his two brothers any way he could, including sacrificing his own life.
—
The plot of Betrayed is right there. This is what the book is about, in addition to several other storylines, but the meat of the book of the book is found in the opening paragraphs.
The reader knows a fifteen-year-old named Brian (a recurring character in my books) might die along with two other guys (his brothers, also recurring characters in my books). They may or may not come out alive. The reader doesn’t know the who, the what, the why or the where until he or she gets further into the story, but the reader is already set up for suspense and a mystery.
That’s foreshadowing in a nutshell.
Taken directly from a website, Literary Devices: Foreshadowing is a literary device that writers utilize as a means to indicate or hint to readers something that is to follow or appear later in a story. Foreshadowing, when done properly, is an excellent device in terms of creating suspense and dramatic tension for readers. It can set up emotional expectations of character behaviors and/or plot outcomes. This can heighten a reader’s enjoyment of a literary work, enhance the work’s meaning, and help the reader make connections with other literature and literary themes.
The links are included by Literary Devices to help explain further. For any writer or reader, this website can be valuable to you, so check it out.
John Cheever is an American author who wrote both short stories and novels. I was introduced to him in one of my English classes in undergrad, and his short story, The Swimmer, is one of my favorites. The entire story is foreshadowing at its finest. It just builds and builds until the last word and period.
His character, Neddy Merrill, has it in his head to “swim home.” Not an easy task, since he is nowhere near a lake or river. He is sitting poolside with his feet dangling in the water. His idea is to swim from one backyard pool to another until he reaches his own.
Weird? Yes! Unusual? Absolutely! But that is Neddy’s quest. Along the way, the weather builds up from sun to cloudy and from cloudy and cool until the end of the story when the reader finds out it is fall, not summer, and the pools in question are not bright and clean, but dirty and not in use because of the season.
But throughout the story, Cheever uses the weather and various characters’ expressions and words to foreshadow the end of the story.
The trick of foreshadowing is to not give it all away, but introduce it bit by bit, letting the reader work for it. Done well, foreshadowing can make for an enjoyable read.
Another example of foreshadowing is from my book, Fan Mail, and once again, this bit takes place at the beginning of the story.
CHAPTER 1
The boys, victorious in the soccer match against their cross-city rivals, walked away from their end-of-game team huddle when the first of the explosions rocked the ground they stood on. No one knew what the explosion was, only that it came from the stadium parking lot. Several explosions, actually. Two at least, maybe a third.
The stadium shook. The press box, not the newest of structures, fell down on one side and those in the box scrambled, pushing and shoving to get out.
Stunned, the crowd was silent.
At first. Then, in panic and confusion, they ran, sometimes climbing over one another, knocking down whoever was in their way.
—
In this passage, the foreshadowing isn’t clear like it is in Betrayed. The reader knows something is up, but again, doesn’t know the why or the who. Rather, I took time rolling out the story, but the endings of my short chapters propel the reader forward.
I write short chapters to not only move the story along, but to create a sense of urgency in the reader to keep going, keep the pages turning. I call them “Patterson Chapters,” because I stole the idea from James Patterson who readers say I emulate. But my chapters are constructed in such a way as to foreshadow the coming action.
You can find the links to all nine of my books, including Betrayed and Fan Mail on my author website at https://www.jrlewisauthor.com
Let me know your thoughts by commenting on this post in the comment section below. And as always, thank you for following along on my writing journey. Until next time …
