Foreshadowing and Setup

Here’s a post at Jane Friedman’s blog: Key Methods for Direct and Indirect Foreshadowing in Your Story

Foreshadowing is a literary device in which future developments in a story are hinted at before they happen, presaging what’s to come. It adds dimension to stories just as shading and shadow add it to visual images: Foreshadowing can heighten suspense and tension, increase momentum, raise a story’s stakes, deepen and develop characters, and pave in key plot developments to give the story more cohesion.

I rather like this paragraph, which packs a lot into three lines. The post then goes on to discuss both direct and indirect foreshadowing. Let me see. Okay, seven categories, click through to read the more extensive discussion.

Direct statements.

This would be things like saying, “I thought everything would be simple until four assassins leaped through my window in the middle of the night.” Chapter break. Or a book with the title Everyone Dies in the End, which, by the way, I have never been able to bring myself to read in case everyone actually does die at the end, so I’d be cautious with titles like that if I were you.

Prophecy.

I’ve always sort of wanted to do a prophecy … which turns out to be not just misleading, but false. Would this be outrageously annoying, like breaking the Happily Ever After rule for Romance novels? I mean, if you have a prophecy in a fantasy novels, is it cheating if the prophecy is simply false? What do you think? Has anyone read a novel where this actually happened, and if so, did it work for you?

Chekov’s Gun.

I would say that this doesn’t include every element of the setting that is described. Sometimes setting is just setting — there to create a feeling that the world has depth and is real. But if an element of the setting is going to be important later, then it should be emphasized — subtly — but it should not come out of nowhere. The Maltese Falcon statue in Jennifer Cruisie and Bob Mayer’s Rocky Start offers a perfect example of a Chekov’s gun element and exactly how to handle that. Oh, the stirring rod in Rihasi is like that too, though the significance becomes apparent much earlier in the story. I pointed to it emphatically during the opening scene.

“Breadcrumbs”.

The example of this I like best from the linked post: clues about an estranged father and mention of the letter the protagonist wrote him that was never answered keeps his unexpected reappearance in act three from feeling like a deus ex machina. I think this is right. If something or someone is going to be important later in the story, then this item or person should be referenced earlier. Not necessarily with a LOT of emphasis, but with enough that readers are likely to notice, rather than reading straight across the reference and then going, “Wait, who?” when the person shows up.

“Echoes”.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss saves Peeta from eating poisonous berries, remembering her father’s warnings about them—an event later echoed at the end with a twist, when she gives them to Peeta so both can eat them to kill themselves together rather than turn on each other, and outfox the rules of the game.

Hmm. while this is an echo, I’m not sure I’m seeing the difference between this and “breadcrumbs.” It looks to me like an earlier reference to something so that the thing doesn’t come out of nowhere later. Maybe there’s a subtle difference I’m not seeing.

Motifs.

In The Sixth Sense, the color red indicates when the spirit world is brushing against the corporeal one.

Really? I totally missed that. Huh. Now I want to go watch the movie again and look for that. On the other hand, if you can see a movie multiple times and completely miss something … I’m just saying … that seems possibly overly subtle?

Mood, Tone, Atmosphere

Tone is important; it is even crucial. I’m not sure I’d consider it a type of foreshadowing unless it’s specific to one scene, or leads from one scene to one specific other scene. If it’s the overall tone of the story, then … it’s just tone. Or not “just.” I mean, tone really is crucial if you’re writing a cozy mystery, gothic romance, or high fantasy. But it’s not foreshadowing. Or I don’t see how.

The linked post finishes this way:

The key to finessing this powerful device is understanding what type to use, and where, to shade in the story’s depth, meaning, and nuance.

I would say: The key to effective foreshadowing (and plot set-up, which is perhaps a type of foreshadowing) is skill; and for me, part of the skill involves thinking, “Oh, gotta back up and add clouds and sunlight earlier in this scene, before we get to this point.” But a lot more is just something that appears without any deliberate thought; the back of my brain does it without conscious input. AND, not quite the same thing, but it’s absolutely astounding how often something I throw into the early part of the story for no special reason turns out to be crucial for an important scene much later in the story. That’s very definitely not conscious intent. I guess it’s the back of my brain remembering this element was back there, and realizing it could be useful right here.

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