Happy sts and positive vibes to you! How do you tackle foreshadowing in your wip?
Happy weekend to you, too! Glad we both got here, be it with ease or through troubled days.
Hmm, this is a difficult one to answer. Let me preface all of this by saying that I adore foreshadowing. It’s one of my favorite things to include! But the means by which I include it evolve. Daily. So my answer for this could differ immensely next week! I’m constantly trying to improve upon what I love and have learned.
An interesting approach I’m currently trying out is something I learned from the Nonary Games series. That series has one of the best, unpredictable plot twists I’ve ever seen! A lot of these twists come from complex lore and scientific concepts. That would ordinarily put someone like me off! However, the writer learned how to introduce the concepts in simple, relatable ways and then continues to build upon them. So by the time you’re getting to the mind-blowing twist, you understand it because it has a foundation that has built upon brick by brick by brick.
But it’s not just this gradual building that helps the foreshadowing. The biggest thing I’ve learned from this series is the power of hiding the answers in plain sight. So many times, as writers, we assume we have to conceal and disguise everything. This series never backs away from having answers literally sitting in front of you time and time again, only to “misdirect” you - like a magician would. Because you’re so focused on the answer being B, you never even stop to realize that the true answer is A, which you’ve had and known the whole time. It’s a really clever formula, especially when you include characters in the mix.
I think one of the biggest things to remember is not to make characters act differently for the sake of concealing a secret. If they’re not gonna trust someone, if they’re going to question something that doesn’t make sense to them, if they’re going to wonder about that mystery - LET THEM DO IT! Yes, maybe you misdirect their answer or inhibit their understanding, but let them act as they would. It helps make the ultimate reveal feel realistic and not gimmicky, or like the characters could have figured it out thirty-seven chapters before if they had just talked about it.
Here’s the last thing I’ve learned from The Nonary Games: rethink red herrings. So often, when mysteries are involved, “red herrings” are nothing more than answers the characters assume to be true that every reader ever knows is a complete and utter fakeout. You’re bored because you know it’s not gonna be real. It’s too easy, too convenient, too obvious. It might make sense, but you know the author’s going to do something bigger for shock value. No one wants those red herrings!
You have to convince your readers that this is THE answer! If your readers and your characters both put together pieces of a puzzle, they will be so convinced of their answer’s validity that they won’t wonder about anything else. That’s fine: just give them the wrong puzzle to put together. Make the pieces the wrong color. Make them find an answer that is true, but isn’t everything they need. It is during this time, as the characters and audience are intent on solving one tiny puzzle, that you’re busy building a massive one in the background. When they see the totality of the true puzzle? That’s when the reveal hits all the harder.
Hoo boy, I went on a whole tangent. Anywho, I hope that made sense? And if you have not worked through the literal genius that is The Nonary Games visual novel: buckle up.
