Foreshadowing: A literary device, or guessing ahead, by which an author hints what is to come. - Wikipedia .

Right.

I like to drop hints for my readers, inside the context of my fics, to give them an idea of what might happen later on.

I try.

I do.

It just really confuses me when I get readers that point out odd things like one review I had. It went along the lines of:

'You'd think the characters would remember one another given their history... and one character seems to have changed... he acts differently'.


Long story short, two characters met once in the past. My fic is set about four to five years after that encounter. They meet again, and one character gets deja vu, thinking they might know the other character, but can't place their face or first name.

Perfectly plausible right?

At least to me.

I tried to be fairly obvious without being obvious that they knew each other with the foreshadowing in reference to their brief shared past, one character has the dejavu moment, while the other gets real nervous, when they meet again.



So I'm not sure if I wasn't obvious enough or if the foreshadowing, however subtle was just too subtle, for the reader to catch.

If anything it's both frustrating as a writer and incredibly amusing too.

My question to other authors out there is:

Do you foreshadow events in your fics?

How did you use foreshadowing?

Do you think your readers picked up on the hints, or were they confused by them, or did they miss the hints entirely?

~ Pyre

Of course! I foreshadow all the time. How do I foreshadow? Depends. I've never used deja va in this context before, but it's perfect for it. Not only that, it's relatable as everyone gets hit with a deja vu moment.

I am not surprised that you have some readers who either didn't pick up on what you did or understood. I've come to learn that though someone is capable of reading, he/She may lack comprehension skills. I've had numerous cases of readers not understanding something in a story if mine even when it is bluntly stated what happened instead of a foreshadowing case. So don't take it hard. Some people just don't understand. Its aggravating but its gonna happen.

I also try my hand at foreshadowing, it's a fine line dropping hints along the way, but also so much fun.

Of course the matter of how is always dependent on the fic, but for example in my three shot Haunting... (spoilers) which was a ghost story, I started the whole fic with a nightmare scene that foreshadowed events that actually took place towards the end. Also in the very first chapter I had Kagome reminiscence about her childhood friend who turned out to be the ghost haunting her in the end.

Still, try not to be too hard on yourself. Whether we are subtle or to the point, we relinquish the control of the story the moment we put it up. There will always be people who will miss a point you're trying to make completely, but also people who read way more into something than you ever intended to. That's just something we have to accept.

At the end of the day, the story takes life of its own in the mind of the reader. And really, that's the beauty of reading!

Thanks, Chie, and BelovedStranger.

LOL.

You're both totally right.

I just don't know if I should scream or laugh when you know like in those toons where there's a big sign with an arrow that says 'It's here!' or 'Go this way!' or 'X Marks the Spot!'

And peeps still manage to get the directions wrong.

The explanations are there, it's fairly obvious in the writing, but the reader misses it entirely.



I suppose as writers we do need to be more readily accepting of readers from a wide range of age groups, thus the comprehension level.

I suppose that's why you get professional authors that specialise in specific niche or target groups, like teens or adult readers from say Harry Potter to ghost stories like for Steven King.

Hadn't thought of it like that before.

Which also makes sense when you get authors writing G-rated to MA-rated stuff.

It's for a specific audience.

Something to think about.

Thank you!

~ Pyre