In a post for BookBaby, Scott McCormick shares tips for making the most of foreshadowing, the art of hinting at what might happen later in your story. Foreshadowing gives the reader information that your characters lack, creating suspense and dramatic irony. Foreshadowing also helps you set up plot twists and add tension to a scene. McCormick uses examples from Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Alfred Hitchcock to illustrate how foreshadowing can be used to good effect.
You can use foreshadowing in a number of ways.
- Dialogue. Characters can suggest future events in dialogue, by giving out explicit warnings or sharing bad vibes. If a character like Indiana Jones says “I hate snakes,” you can be sure he’ll find some before the end of the movie.
- Description. You can also draw the reader’s attention to specific details that may seem mundane until they pay off later. J.K. Rowling used this technique frequently in the Harry Potter series, as background details like newspaper articles and information about the school grounds signal future events.
- Titles. A book’s title is another way to foreshadowing what will happen in your novel, from Murder on the Orient Express to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, or “The Fall of the House of Usher,” or Snakes on a Plane. With a title like that, you know there are going to be some MFing snakes on a MFing plane.
- Imagery, symbolism, and metaphor. A character’s clothing or symbols in the background can give the readers clues to characters or events.
