Paws & Prose: Using Foreshadowing in Narrative

One of the best tools at a writer’s dispense is the technique of “foreshadowing”. Foreshadowing hints at what is to come next in a narrative and often builds suspense, tension and curiosity. It also gets the reader to try and guess what happens next… and this is what you want to happen because this means they are engaged. They want to know if they are right.

Planting the Seed

What does planting the seed mean in terms of Narrative and plot? Well, seeds when they are planted, grow. Planting the seed is a way to understand how your foreshadowing device can grow in your story. Some of the seeds you plant will be short-lived, they are resolved in the next chapter or in the next scene; some seeds live on longer, only be resolved by the end of the story… but all seeds must be resolved one way or another.

Chekhov’s Gun

Chekhov’s Gun is one device to plant your seed. For those of you unfamiliar to Chekhov’s Gun theory, Chekhov says:

If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.

Chekhov believes that an item that is given prominence in a story must affect the narrative in some way, otherwise false promises have been made to the audience— be it a reader or viewer.

Don’t worry if you do not know what acts are, I will cover that in another post, but briefly, it is the progression of the story — usually, a story follows a three or five act narrative.

Chekhov’s gun is perhaps one of the most well-known and used foreshadowing devices. Whether you read a novel or watch a tv, film, or play, you automatically know that if there is a gun, someone is going to get shot. Your mind, every time you see or read of the gun, is trying to work out how and when it will be used. All you know is it will be used. But it does not have to be a gun.

You’re character finds a dusty rune… great—is the rune a heritage they did not know about? Does it transport them somewhere? Are people after it?

A book has been given to the character in their time of need... cool, how is this book going to change the character’s life? Does it document everything? Does it bring the stories to life?

Any item you give prominence to must affect the story in some way. And you can have more than one. You can have levels on levels of foreshadowing depending on your story and its complexity. It can also be different prominence in characters.

Chekhov’s Gun activity

I want you now to think of an object in your story and think about the way it influences or can influence the story. This includes the character’s reaction at the beginning, middle and end. If you do not have an item, use one from the list below:

• Jewellery: ring, neckless, bracelet, Jewel
• Book
• Crown
• Spade or another garden object
• Blanket or teddy bear
• newspaper
• cup/mug

How did you get on? Let me know in the comments.

Foreshadowing Through Desires

Characters all have desires. They all want something. However, desires and needs are not necessarily the same thing. You may have a character who feels they need to socially climb and desire to marry someone who can raise their status. But what they really need is to feel empowered in a world where they are oppressed.

Characters often express their desires within the first few pages or first few scenes that they are in while speaking to another character, especially on screen.

Scott Calvin wants his son to still believe in Santa; Ariel desires to be human; Josh in Big wishes to be big. They get what they want. What they need is different. Scott Calvin learns to have faith, Ariel needed to reconcile with her father, and Josh realises how demanding adult life can be.

Desire foreshadowing often plays out within the next few scenes or chapters. Recently, I wrote a chapter for one of my secondary characters. This character is upset that women are seen as their father’s daughter, or their husband’s wife and wants more than this.

Don’t you want more than to be seen as the daughter of a goat herder, or the wife of a commoner? We are worth more than that.

Ethel to twin sister Jane – written by Shannon Weston

I had a friend read this chapter and as they got to this dialogue, they messaged me saying they felt the twins were soon going to separate. This friend said they were hooked because they wanted to know if they were right; if they were right, how.

Dialogue is a useful tool. Use it. It also does not have to affect the main protagonist. Some examples are below, including Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.

Desires foreshadowing Example (contains spoilers)

In the very first scene of Pirates of the Caribbean, Elizabeth Swan expresses her desires to meet with a pirate. Shortly after, she meets her first “pirate”, a boy (spoilers in red):

Jump forward a few years, and her life surrounds pirates. Her desire to meet pirates fulfilled within 20 minutes of the film… but this narrative is a trilogy. Yes, there are five of them, but three with her story—her arch. It is her arch that is the trilogy, not the franchise.

By the end of the trilogy, she has not only met a pirate, but she has also become King of Pirates.

What Elizabeth Swan really needed was to feel she had a voice. She lives in a time where suitors are chosen for her. She is the governor’s daughter but her opinions do not matter. Not unless she is at sea.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is an example of dialogue using to foreshadow another character that is not the protagonist. Her servant.

Maleficent’s servant in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil talks about becoming a bear early on in the film. Audiences may have missed this subtle hint as it does not play out until the final act when the servant becomes … you guessed it, a bear.

Another character also discusses the ancestry of fae and the link to the phoenix. This seed also pays off in the final act as a phoenix comes into play.

Statement and Prophecy foreshadowing

Another way dialogue can be used to foreshadow an event is through statement and prophecy. Usually, these techniques are done by a secondary character who is acting as a messenger or bearer of news. Here are some examples of statements that I have concocted

• Setting: Howard is a bookbinder during the industrial revolution
  • Hey, Howard, have you heard? They’ve made a machine that can bind 10,000 books in an hour.
    • This foreshadows challenges for Howard’s bookbinding business
• Setting: Spaceship
  • Just finished watching Apollo 11 for the thirteen-hundredth or sommat time
    • Something is going to go wrong with the spaceship.

Out of context, these are obvious but hidden in action and conversation they can easily be missed by the reader or viewer. Not all statements play out within a few chapters, some go on to be completed by the end of the story — as seen with Maleficent.

In one currently popular TV series, necromancy is performed on a prince – the trade is the life of an innocent child—which the necromancer states. Before it happens, we can guess which child will die in its place.

In Harry Potter, there is a statement that “there will be no child who will not know his name.” This is further foreshadowed in the action when strangers bow to him (book).

There is also a prophecy that says he will die and kill the dark lord. Here is a shorter version of it:

Prophecies tend to be vague so that when they come to play in the end, there can be a twist of some kind—before I read the book, I thought Lucius was the one “marked equal” due to how the film portrays it. I personally always find this interesting as I try to predict the way the prophecies are twisted.

Dialogue activity.

Have a look at your favourite book, film or TV series. Pay particular attention to the dialogue and see how it foreshadows the story. Use my example of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil if you are a Disney fan but you should find something that foreshadows through the dialogue…

If you choose a film or TV series, then it may be better to choose one you know very well. Books may be easier to scan for hints of foreshadowing in dialogue. Let me know what you find in comments.

Bad Seeds

There are good ways to foreshadow and there are bad ways to foreshadow. You want your audience to be able to sort of guess the direction but not be too sure about it. However, you do not want to mislead them. The seed has to do what it has promised, even if it does it in a way that adds a twist to the plot. But you do not want it to be:

Too obvious

I was reading a book, I forget which, where there was a spy. A specific character was the only one with a foreign accent—it was too obvious that that character was a spy – especially as they seemed to know they were looking for a dark-haired lady with a foreign accent. And no, it was not a red herring.

Having the foreshadowing this obvious can, and probably will bore the reader, because there is no question or doubt.

What would have been better would have been someone who blends in but is also a little eccentric. Someone who doesn’t prod for information but manages to get it anyway.

Their oddness can be shown in little things, like body movement or the fact that they are always there. Lurking, befriending everyone. The fact that their desires are not as plain as the other characters

Misleading

In the Harry Potter franchise, it is said that Neville Longbottom could have been the other chosen one but Voldemort personally chose Harry. Imagine your disappointment, after seven books and eight movies, if the end result was Neville killing Voldemort. Sure, he helped, he killed Nagini. But if in the end, Voldemort died at Neville’s wand… you’d have felt disheartened that you followed a boy to a magical school and he didn’t really do what was promised in the end. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen.

In fact, I cannot bring to mind any that does mislead at present, I am sure there will be stories like that but they are obviously buried in my subconscious or I have been really lucky.

Can you think of any?

Atmospheric and Symbolistic foreshadowing

Books and screenplays work with atmosphere and symbolism. Did you know that a white fade out in cinematography means “death”? Simually, snow means change.

Pirates of the Caribbean uses the noose as its symbolic foreshadowing (and chekhov’s gun) moment. At the beginning, Jack sails past hanging pirates, and Elizabeth has a conversation with Norrington about “a sudden drop”. By the end of the film, Jack is about to be hung until Elizabeth causes a distraction.

Books often use weather changes to foreshadow. A storm may mean the character is about to hit a chain of bad luck. Ravens and crows often symbolise death. Although many of these have been done to death, you can still play with them to make them less clichè. Perhaps the crows still mean death, but not in the way the character thinks.

Atmosphere and symbolism examples

Charles Dickens was brilliant when it came to symbolism and atmosphere – let’s look at the opening of A Christmas Carol:

Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a doornail.

Dickens

“Marley was dead, to begin with,” This is a statement and an atmosphere. The short sentence adds gloom, especially as we know a character is dead. But the other part, the end of the sentence promises that he won’t be for long.

The atmosphere is continuously built upon. This character is so dead that so many have witnessed it and another character, Scrooge, confirmed it… and his confirmation sealed the fate. Then, just to finish off the scene, he adds a little foreshadow with the phrase “as dead as a doornail”. This phrase means void of life… so what is this foreshadowing?

1. This story may have haunting in it – and it does
2. The character may have a brush with death – he sees his own death, so yes.

It also symbolises what will happen next. Marley is dead but he is not void of life—for the time being. He is scrooge’s worst nightmare from the moment he appears as the doorknocker.

Dickens successfully layered his first paragraph with foreshadowing, some which can be seen coming, and others that can only be hinted at.

Make sure the seed sprouts

If you have planted a seed, hinted at a future event, then you need to make sure the seed sprouts. It needs a conclusion. This leads back to misleading, but it can be the smaller parts of the story. Maybe the story focuses on a person coming of age but you hinted at the importance of a neckless…

Let’s say the neckless was originally going to be the downfall of the character but in a new draft, the story went in a different direction. However, you forgot to remove the neckless is removed from every single scene and so, the readers are left wondering why it was even mentioned.

So how to make sure they sprout?

1. DON’T plan to foreshadow in your first full draft, but—
2. DO make a list of any items you have mentioned when reading your first full draft.
3. In your second draft, decide if these items are needed, and if they are, how they can be used.
4. Make a note of where they are, which scene or chapter, so you do not forget by the time you are on draft eight.
5. After your second draft, check that the seeds have played off.
6. DO check your dialogue. Does anyone foreshadow something by expressing desire or stating something? If not, can they?
7. Make a note of any foreshadowing you add, what chapter or scene they are in or developed in, and ensure there is a conclusion that sprouts.

Conclusion

Foreshadowing is a useful technique for writers to make use of. It offers hints that engage the audience as they try to work out where the hint takes the story. Sometimes, it promises something, such as Dicken’s first line in A Christmas Carol, that the audience wants to know how it happens.

Dialogue, objects and symbolise can all be used to utilise foreshadowing. However, whichever way foreshadowing is used, it must pay off by the end of the narrative. That does not necessarily mean end of the chapter, or episode, sometimes not even the end of the book. It just needs to be executed by the time the characters involved finish their journey.

When writing a narrative, foreshadowing should not be on your mind until you have a full, comprehensible draft so that you can track all the objects, symbols and dialogue in your read-throughs.

If you are writing prose, and you found this helpful, do have a look at my post on the Third Person Narrative. How did you get on with the activities? Do let me know in the comments.