November is half over, and we are on the downward slide for NaNoWriMo 2020. This is a good time to think about where you are taking your story.
Good foreshadowing is crucial. Suppose you have been working from an outline. In that case, you should have a few clues embedded in the first quarter of the story to subliminally alert the reader that things are not what they seem. These are little warning signs of future events.
For those who wing it, this happens on a subconscious level, but it does happen. Clumsy foreshadowing or neglecting to foreshadow are things we do when laying down our story’s first draft.
Recognizing those signals can be a challenge unless you have a plan.
When a possibility is briefly, almost offhandedly mentioned, but almost immediately overlooked or ignored by the protagonists, that is foreshadowing.
Some readers will miss the suggested possibility just as…
View original post 633 more words
Donot! Forshadow!! That is spoiler territory. I am a reader, but whenever I read something like “He did not know yet, what was to come” or “They felt secure, but that was about to change.” or even worse: “She did not think this would be the last she saw them” I wonder if the author knows what he is doing to their reader.
We live and walk the world of the book alongside the hero. This break of perspective does two things:
It slaps me out of their perspective and suddenly I as the reader get more knowledge than the character. Which excludes me from enjoying the view on the world as the character has it and this alienation does not let me reenter the story. I am no longer part of the story (by proxy). Which is a huge NoNo. Readers want to be absorbed by the stories. Do not ruin that! If the character suffers bad things as a nasty surprise so should I. That doesn’t mean that there cannot be a warning, but if you want to surprise the character surprise the reader, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are absolutely right about clumsy info dumping in advance. Good foreshadowing is a darkening of the skies, a hint that disaster looms, not a blatant spoiler. It is seamless, a part of the atmosphere, and heightens the tension. Thank you for commenting!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I srnsed I was on a rant not against you but against a lot of authors who are just too lazy to do it right.
LikeLiked by 2 people
❤ Thank you for the reblog, Chris 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person