Advice for writing plot twists and foreshadowing them
Credits: @/michael.bjork on TikTok
Transcript:
How to foreshadow a plot twist without giving it away. Here’s one way I like to do it: get the reader to believe a lie and then, when you start dropping hints, use the hints to reinforce the lie.
Here’s an example. Let’s say your hero is a young wizard. As they explore an ancient crypt, they find a mysterious spell on the wall and out of naivety, they cast it, summoning a shadowy creature that wrecks havoc across the countryside.
What is the creature? An older, wiser wizard says it’s a demon from another realm- and that is the lie you tell your reader. It is not a demon but your reader is new to this world and has no reason to doubt this explanation.
After they believe the lie, you can start hunting at the truth. Maybe the creature only attacks people the hero knows, maybe it knows the hero’s darkest emotions, and maybe its eyes are hazel, just like the hero’s.
But as you drop this hints, don’t let them raise questions. Instead, use the hints to reinforce the lie, such as by establishing that demons have a strange intimate connection with their summoner. That way (hopefully), your reader will never question anything until you reveal that instead of summing a demon, the hero actually created the creature out of the darkness of their own heart.