As a reader (or viewer), I really enjoy subtle foreshadowing. The feeling of little things I’ve read/seen earlier in the story “clicking” into place is wonderful. When I thump my forehead and say, “Of course! I should have seen it coming… look at all the hints!” makes me really appreciate the cleverness of the story’s creator.

If I pick up on the subtle clues on my own, I feel quite a bit of smug satisfaction that I “got it.” (also enjoyable)

The only time I don’t like foreshadowing is when I’m hit over the head with it. That makes me feel like all the story between the foreshadowing and the foreshadowed is just boring filler.

The only exception to this is when I THINK I know the ending, and the story creator has amazed me with a wonderful twist-ending that is satisfying and not gimicky.

Thanks!

Unless — this is what you’re hoping to hear, I think — it’s in the form of an epilogue of some sort. Which occurs after you’ve wrapped up the story your book is telling. What makes a series fly is the appeal of the character, rather than the specifics of the story. Whatever you leave hanging — and it cannot be the primary through-line of the book — can become the stuff of a sequel, but it must remain a secondardy consideration.

Your book-specific story needs to resolve itself, and do so within the parameters of solid story structure. Which means, most of the foreshadowing takes place in Part 1 (the set-up), but it can also be omnipresent moving forward. Question is, foreshadowing of what? In Part 1, you’re primarily foreshadowing Plot Point One (which concludes Part 1), and also, much more subtlely, the forthcoming events as they relate to the antagonistic force in your story.

You can, and even should, foreshadow Plot Point Two, which is the last new piece of information you can inject into your story. But after that, no more foreshadowing allowed, you need to drive relentless toward your conclusion, and with an accellerated pace.

Thinking too much about your series, and rationalizing the violation of story architecture principles in the name of it, is a potential deal-killer, especially for an unpublished first-entry in that series. Agents and editors rarely, if ever, accept a “series,” per se, they accept a book. And it must stand alone. If the book succeeds, then and only then will the series continue, at least in published form. Which means, you need to write that first stand alone book (even if in your mind it’s the first of a series) according to the best practices of story architecture.

Hope this helps clarify.

Also it’s the biggest challenge to me being subtle. I’m not a subtle person and I have been learning about embedding my foreshadowing into scenes adding to the flow of the story so I hope I’ve gotten it right.

You said that at the fourth plot point you shouldn’t put any new information in. But what if it’s foreshadowing for the next in the series. If it’s subtle enough do you think it will ruin anything?

which was about the importance of the opening page, and how it should tell us what kind of world we live in. Foreshadowing can be a whole lot subtler, like you say, than a close-up of a gun telling us someone will be shot. Sometimes it can be so subtle we only realise it’s there in retrospect (but it gives depth to the event foreshadowed).

It sounds really daft, but a gret example of foreshadowing is the song Two Little Boys (YES, the Rolf Harris one). Think about it and you’ll see. On a purely verbal level, it’s actually really smart

Sharon

Foreshadowing heads to the top of my favorite writing-related discussions list. In movies, I always bump my husband’s elbow when an obvious foreshadowing event takes place. (I know, I’m a total geek!)

I’m psyched that you wrote about this in your own hero way. Again, StoryFix Clean Wipes clears a complicated topic so I can clearly see where to go.

Good on ‘ya, Larry.
P.S. Congrats on the positive review!