Too Much Heavy Foreshadowing

[Anon2024]

Just wanted an opinion here since I've noticed a bti of this.

There has been a lot of writers, especially in a long series trying to forshadow what will happen later. Things like:

"This person will become the strongest."
"This person might like the hero/heroine."
"There might be something else happening here."

The thing I've noticed about forshadowing is that often it comes with a sort of tone requirement. If the tone is light, the forshadowing is less heavy, but if the tone is heavy and the entire story revolves around that forshadowing, then a long drawn out work is annoying as hell to read. I was thinking about this as I was making a plot for a story, it's that the difference between light and heavy forshadowing can often make or break a story.

Now, forshadowing can be something that people don't even think is forshadowing.
"I want to be hokage"
"I will be PIrate King"
This is light forshadowing where the moment to moment situation is spread out into arcs. We don't really care all that much about those protagonists accomplishing their goal until it gets closer.

Then you have a lot of Korean Manwha that have very heavy arcs that drag on and try to be intense as possible while 'forshadowing' the main character becoming 'the boss.' Same goes with Hajime No Ippo. The intensity is high usually... and then the plot continues to throw us curveballs whenever the main character is getting closer to accomplish what they want.

Maybe it's tonal direction.
I was thinking about the difference between stories I enjoy versus stories I end up hating.

A lot of it goes with the tone, and I guess it comes with the catharsis.

If a writer doesn't give a good enough payoff for the heavy moments, then the length of the heaviness should be shorter otherwise I end up dropping stories. Anyone else think about this as they write, or do you just like to write whatever you feel like?

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

I think about foreshadowing, but I never do heavy foreshadowing. It is usually something only people reading between the lines would pick up, or it is blatant and will happen soon. In many chapters, I foreshadowed something that would occur at the end of the same chapter or in the next chapter. Usually, it is something that isn't intrusive.

In one of my novels, I alluded to vampires from the very beginning. It starts with a character climbing a freezing mountain, and the foreshadowing uses descriptions like "the cold bit at her exposed neck." Well, at the very end of that chapter, she confronts a vampire.

Another example in the same story is how the MC will talk about her dream, but it doesn't take away from the things she has to do in the current arc. And it is like your example of how Naruto will talk about becoming Hokage.

 

[GoodPerson]

Just wanted an opinion here since I've noticed a bti of this.

There has been a lot of writers, especially in a long series trying to forshadow what will happen later. Things like:

"This person will become the strongest."
"This person might like the hero/heroine."
"There might be something else happening here."

The thing I've noticed about forshadowing is that often it comes with a sort of tone requirement. If the tone is light, the forshadowing is less heavy, but if the tone is heavy and the entire story revolves around that forshadowing, then a long drawn out work is annoying as hell to read. I was thinking about this as I was making a plot for a story, it's that the difference between light and heavy forshadowing can often make or break a story.

Now, forshadowing can be something that people don't even think is forshadowing.
"I want to be hokage"
"I will be PIrate King"
This is light forshadowing where the moment to moment situation is spread out into arcs. We don't really care all that much about those protagonists accomplishing their goal until it gets closer.

Then you have a lot of Korean Manwha that have very heavy arcs that drag on and try to be intense as possible while 'forshadowing' the main character becoming 'the boss.' Same goes with Hajime No Ippo. The intensity is high usually... and then the plot continues to throw us curveballs whenever the main character is getting closer to accomplish what they want.

Maybe it's tonal direction.
I was thinking about the difference between stories I enjoy versus stories I end up hating.

A lot of it goes with the tone, and I guess it comes with the catharsis.

If a writer doesn't give a good enough payoff for the heavy moments, then the length of the heaviness should be shorter otherwise I end up dropping stories. Anyone else think about this as they write, or do you just like to write whatever you feel like?

Well, simplicity and minimalism are my preference.

Having a simple general exposure is enough and it makes your title quite tidy, yes?

 

[Glitched]

I feel like a lot of heavy foreshadowing happens in the synopsis and typically makes the story a drag if its heavy. If you are going to heavily foreshadow, I feel it should be an obvious fsct that happens soon and is then expounded upon as the story goes on.

 

[SailusGebel]

 

[l8rose]

I tend to do accidental foreshadowing. I'll write something out that I didn't realize foreshadows a point later because a reader will make a connection that I didn't even see.

I do also write it intentionally but it's usually spread out through dialogue or random bits of description. Like something said in a conversation that is mentioned in passing and almost completely forgotten by a character because it wasn't important. That's the kind of foreshadowing I find fun.

 

[GoodPerson]

Continuation here.

I feel like a lot of heavy foreshadowing happens in the synopsis and typically makes the story a drag if its heavy. If you are going to heavily foreshadow, I feel it should be an obvious fsct that happens soon and is then expounded upon as the story goes on.

Like what Glitched said, it should be an obvious fact to do that.

Heck, it's even better to not foreshadow it. That kind of title would make the first impression feel boring.

In the case of OP character's stories, then it's a decent exposure. But, you would need to keep the character power unmatched. Like what OPM did with Saitama. He has no opponents, but the story still goes on.

I am aware that OPM title isn't a heavy foreshadowing but, put it like this:

-The MC is overpowered
-Unmatched
-Is a bit oblivious toward threat (Like Saitama).

This a good heavy foreshadowing for me.

 

[2wordsperminute]

I try to sprinkle a bit of foreshadowing here and there. I did one bit of foreshadowing that made it seem like I gave away one of the mysteries pretty early on. But in a way, it was a red herring. Since then, I've tried to stick to small things that, if you think about it a little, don't quite make sense with the current level of explanation. So I guess I also don't like to go too heavy with the foreshadowing.

 

[Sagacious_Punk]

"Heavy foreshadowing" as it's defined here, is all but dead in traditional literature, just like the omniscient narrator POV. It's done nowadays only as a period piece, for comedic effect, or as a specific gimmick.

"Soft foreshadowing", though, happens all the time and it's also called a hook or a promise. You hook the reader by throwing them an interesting, potentially off-handed tidbit (aka make a promise to them this will be important later) and at some point down the line you reveal how the innocuous detail ties to this-and-this to a varying degree of importance (depending on its role in the story). Observant readers love this type of clever structure.

RepresentingEnvy's example above was a very good case of stylistic foreshadowing. And it scores double points if the story is advertised beforehand as a vampire story - 'cause it fits tonally and gives a hook/promise to the reader at the same time.

- - -

That said, my writing colleague at the office (who's very well read) bemoans foreshadowing as a whole. In his view, if you promise the reader something at the start of the book and then spend the next 400 pages "just getting there" (his words), you've just made the reader skim through 400 pages of text to get to the part they truly anticipate. According to him, it's much better to "force" any hooks to have their resolution as soon as possible, in the most sudden and/or unexpected manner. That way you keep the reader constantly engaged and they will read each sentence carefully to not miss any development.

I do not share this sentiment, even though its paradigm provides interesting food for thought.

In my case I like going into stories knowing what happens at the end "beforehand", aka stories with strong promises (that are fulfilled, natch). I take enjoyment in reading how this "known story" is told, rather than how it's resolved. 'Cause there are no original stories anyway. Only original tellings. It's all about love, death, and the changing of seasons, to quote Marylin Hacker.

Cheers,
Sagacious

 

[Glitched]

Also titles. Please don't tell the entire story in the title unless it is that kind of story(Ie, memes the title on purpose).

 

[Voidiris]

I think Chekhovs gun/arsenal and Chekhovs soldier/army are for these reasons the best way of foreshadowing something.
In the moment they seem unimportant/neat/redundant but later they are extremely important, reading the work a second time could become thus a different experience.
Or more symbolic foreshadowing like that a sick character holds a (false) Axolotl as her only friend, foreshadowing that all her hopes of getting healed are false.

 

[Anon2024]

That said, my writing colleague at the office (who's very well read) bemoans foreshadowing as a whole. In his view, if you promise the reader something at the start of the book and then spend the next 400 pages "just getting there" (his words), you've just made the reader skim through 400 pages of text to get to the part they truly anticipate. According to him, it's much better to "force" any hooks to have their resolution as soon as possible, in the most sudden and/or unexpected manner. That way you keep the reader constantly engaged and they will read each sentence carefully to not miss any development.

I was actually thinking about this.
Generally speaking I hate it when the author promises something then doesn't deliver, but at the same time I also hate when the person continues to get close to the goal but then is constantly delayed over and over again by some plot devices.

A good example is Akame Ga Kill manga. They're always so close to cornering Esdeath only for her to pull out some bullshit new power to overturn their plans. That's why I find that guy and his writing to be atrocious. HE forshadows the war, we know what has to happen at the end but then everytime the end gets near over the story it's stretched out. And then the final death is stupid after everything that happened.

 

[K5Rakitan]

I tend to do accidental foreshadowing. I'll write something out that I didn't realize foreshadows a point later because a reader will make a connection that I didn't even see.

I do also write it intentionally but it's usually spread out through dialogue or random bits of description. Like something said in a conversation that is mentioned in passing and almost completely forgotten by a character because it wasn't important. That's the kind of foreshadowing I find fun.

Big same.

 

[Sleds]

I'm like @RepresentingEnvy I do light foreshadowing that could be see if people read between the lines or just if they don't forget easily what was said.
I made a small light foreshadowing in my chapter 38, it was really used in chapter 96 and was revealed in chapter 132. Some get it, a lot doesn't. I was kinda sad to be honest

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Foreshadowing like that is fine for me as long it’s given in the first chapter, beyond that point it’s just annoying

 

[dummycake]

I FUCKING hate when they do a flashforward, it gives me zero motivation to keep reading the story
"oh wow, how did they ended up in this horrible situation? keep reading to find out!"
I was already going to fucking read it you stupid idiot
now that you showed me the characters "DYING" I have no intention to keep reading this garbage to see your 1000 IQ twist that I've never seen 1000 times before

also I FUCKING hate when they write "and this action is going to have consequences in the future, but the characters don't know yet!"
you just fucking ruined it!!!!!! WHY!!

 

[LilRora]

Personally, I don't generally like any kind of foreshadowing, be it soft or hard, unless it's revealed by the characters themselves. That last part is important, because revealing in narration is among those I don't like.

There's a lot of ways to go about writing a story, but for me, if the author says anything in narration regarding the character's goals, it's already a red flag. A huge majority of those stories are set up so that whatever goal it is, it is designed to be the very end of the story - often as much as hundreds of chapters away. That, in a way, makes whatever's in the middle just a big lump of filler, because while it's connected to the story, it's not actually what was promised.

I think this is also why stories like survival, system apocalypse, or subverted isekais are as popular as they are - from the very beginning, they set the reader up to anticipate the journey, not its ending.

 

[georgelee5786]

I hate when stories baby the reader like so

 

[beast_regards]

Web Novel issue.

The Web Novels need to foreshadow heavily and / or provide the significant spoilers in order to draw interest.

They are zero initial (reader's) investment, so they can't play coy with the development, hints, suggestions, spoilers etc. because not only the reader could leave at any moment, he could seriously interfere with the creative process. They are expected to run endlessly, or meet the sudden end at the hands of Internet "critics"

So, you would see something like this very often.

In case of the anime or manga, it's similar. While the manga itself does require initial investment (assuming you are buying the paperback), the source material often did not.

Majority of anime and manga are adaptation of Light Novels. Light Novels are a rewrite of the Web Novels, one that got through traditional publishing (in Japan). The many Light Novels originated as the Web Novels which won the contest at the Royal Road like conditions, got selected, rewritten, edited, and published. There are differences in characters and some plot points, but the structure would remain the same.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

I do aftshadowing.
When you get to the end, everything is different and you go, "Ohhhhhhhhh..."
Then you want to reread the book because everything is cast into a new light.