Foreshadowing

[Daeron]

So, I just know this term called 'Foreshadowing', because one of the reader DM me, and mention about this.

She said that I dropped several foreshadowing across 20 chapters just to 'make it sense' later. She told me that "Foreshadowing is good, but you should not drag it too long. I must re-read the whole chapters again to make it sense!".

Now my question is, how long should i use foreshadowing in writing?
Based on my search on google, foreshadowing is something like hint, right?

My current writing for that book is 4k - 5k words each chapter.

 

[Dreaming_of_the_void]

In my opinion, the subtler the hint, the longer you can wait before actually writing the event. A lot of books that I love have hints written throughout the 'journey' for a big reveal at the end.

 

[MakBow]

That depends on the book.
For action ones, the foreshadowing shouldn't be dragged out too much
For mystery, the foreshadowing can be much longer than normal since it can be referenced a lot depending on the mystery of course.
Overall, it depends on the genre, at least that's what I think

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

So, I just know this term called 'Foreshadowing', because one of the reader DM me, and mention about this.

She said that I dropped several foreshadowing across 20 chapters just to 'make it sense' later. She told me that "Foreshadowing is good, but you should not drag it too long. I must re-read the whole chapters again to make it sense!".

Now my question is, how long should i use foreshadowing in writing?
Based on my search on google, foreshadowing is something like hint, right?

My current writing for that book is 4k - 5k words each chapter.

You are the author, and depending on your vision/direction for your work, you should be the one who determines how long is your foreshadowing. A single reader's opinion isn't sufficient for you to change your style overall.

And yes, there's no rule about it; we can only look for references.

 

[Ai-chan]

Foreshadowing is the "Ahah!" moment. If readers forgot about the foreshadowing, it has dragged too long. Put it anywhere you want, it's your story. There is no right or wrong, anything you do just becomes your unique style.

Just remember, for a fully completed novel, getting to that "Ahah!" moment is only a matter of hours if not minutes. Is your release schedule that fast? Do you want to pander to your readers?

 

[Daeron]

In my opinion, the subtler the hint, the longer you can wait before actually writing the event. A lot of books that I love have hints written throughout the 'journey' for a big reveal at the end.

The subtler hints are like inserted to characters gestures or conversation right?

That depends on the book.
For action ones, the foreshadowing shouldn't be dragged out too much
For mystery, the foreshadowing can be much longer than normal since it can be referenced a lot depending on the mystery of course.
Overall, it depends on the genre, at least that's what I think

Why would the action one shouldn't be dragged out too much thou? I mean, it can be a hint for something like 'secret villain' right?

 

[AnEmberOfSundown]

A variety works best, I think. You can foreshadow things in the same chapter for that quick payoff dopamine hit, you can have stuff in the beginning of a book that foreshadows the ending so your twist doesn't feel like it came out of nowhere, and you can have things you said in book 1 that don't pay off until book 5 because you only want them to hit to reward people that reread.

Those are the Fun ones.

 

[Daeron]

Foreshadowing is the "Ahah!" moment. If readers forgot about the foreshadowing, it has dragged too long. Put it anywhere you want, it's your story. There is no right or wrong, anything you do just becomes your unique style.

Just remember, for a fully completed novel, getting to that "Ahah!" moment is only a matter of hours if not minutes. Is your release schedule that fast? Do you want to pander to your readers?

Hmm, for now I did release fast, because my aim is to make it completed novel as fast as i can.

Here's the truth about my writing, I was just write based on the context for each chapters that I already made for entire book (including the pivot plot points). Then i write each chapters using the context as my guideline.

So, every action and dialogs of my characters was made by my own logic with the pivot plot as the goal. That's why i actually didn't realized i was dragged the hint too much in each chapters

A variety works best, I think. You can foreshadow things in the same chapter for that quick payoff dopamine hit, you can have stuff in the beginning of a book that foreshadows the ending so your twist doesn't feel like it came out of nowhere, and you can have things you said in book 1 that don't pay off until book 5 because you only want them to hit to reward people that reread.

Those are the Fun ones.

Oh! You mean like multiple foreshadow at once?

 

[Eldoria]

Now my question is, how long should i use foreshadowing in writing?
Based on my search on google, foreshadowing is something like hint, right?

Foreshadowing is a creative author's way of engaging readers in predicting the direction of the story. Also, you can use foreshadowing to give a plot twist. The number of chapters you skip to provide a pay off, revealation, depends on the complexity of the plot.

Take One Piece, for example. Foreshadowing of the Yonkou is given early in the episode through Luffy and Shanks' encounter. But the Yonkou system isn't truly revealed until hundreds of episodes later, specifically in the Marineford arc.

You know your story best; don't let your readers dictate to you.

 

[MakBow]

The subtler hints are like inserted to characters gestures or conversation right?


Why would the action one shouldn't be dragged out too much thou? I mean, it can be a hint for something like 'secret villain' right?

Simple, dopamine.

Dopamine can make people forget the hints you laid out.

So, with actions, you put consistent hints instead do one vague, otherwise, most people won't remember because they think about all the other maybe hype stuff and fun action seem in your novel, forgetting that hint and so if the big bag appeared because of the hint, they won't remember most likely. (As someone who reads a lot of action)

 

[Daeron]

Simple, dopamine.

Dopamine can make people forget the hints you laid out.

So, with actions, you put consistent hints instead do one vague, otherwise, most people won't remember because they think about all the other maybe hype stuff and fun action seem in your novel, forgetting that hint and so if the big bag appeared because of the hint, they won't remember most likely. (As someone who reads a lot of action)

Ah, i see. Never thought about this. Because i'm still working on my action writing right now, maybe the hints i planted will be buried.