Foreshadowing?

Why do we do it as writers, why do we demand it as readers? Why do we cry foul and Ass Pull if something isn't shown to us subtlety or blatantly implied. And why is it if it's too obvious we attack it as trite and cliche.

If we are going to have a character turn to the dark side, why do we need to show them enjoying violence, or struggling with some demon. Or If they were evil all along why do we need to make them seem dark, or something like that? Why does the audience need to be clued into future events when no else is? And why do we feel so betrayed when where not clued in?

If a good guy suddenly reveals that he was evil all along and nobody knew it he's called a good actor, but the person who wrote the character a bad writer. What's wrong here?

This is not complaining, this is not saying we shouldn't use foreshadowing. It's just I've never heard a real good answer, mainly because I've never heard anyone ask the question. I've come up with my own answers in my head but I want to know what you think.

So why do foreshadow, why do you feel it needs to be done, and when is it okay to not foreshadow an event at all?

edited 24th May '12 12:16:28 AM by Vyctorian

Who are you calling 'we'?

We as writers, we as readers, we as being. Why else 'we'. Unless your using it to go "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!~"

Thing is, I don't include myself in that whiny "we as readers", so I both take some offense to you doing so and am baffled as to what I'm supposed to say on the subject.

Let's put this in baseball terms. (Why? Why not!)

Foreshadowing is when the pitcher winds up for the pitch. The movement of the leg, where his hands go during the motion, even how fast he does it all are indicators of what is going to happen in the payoff. The payoff is striking the batter out. In fiction a character succumbing to the dark side is the same as a batter striking out, it's the payoff of foreshadowing his inner struggles and temptations.

In baseball the unexpected can come as a negative. For instance you hit the ball and it goes way high way out into the outfield, people start building up an expectation that you hit a home run. When the unexpected flyout happens at the fence people rebel and don't like it. It wasn't shown as a possibility (the ball was high and going far) and it didn't fit with what they were expecting. Foreshadowing and hinting in general are the same exact way.

edited 23rd May '12 7:46:55 PM by MajorTom

Major Tom is right. I took a stage combat class and we learned something very similar to the baseball example. When we fight on stage, we can't just throw a punch out of no where. First we have to do something called the 'anticipation'. We have to throw our arm back, preparing for the punch, and it needs to be visible to the audience. That way they can see it coming. Then when the punch is thrown, that's the 'pay off'. Without the build off, the punch goes by to quickly and the audience misses it, and then they'd have no idea what's coming.

Foreshadowing's the same thing. It builds suspense, and by the time the event happens, the audience is able to enjoy the pay off. A few surprises now and then is okay, but having too many and you break the audience's willing suspension of disbelief. That is, if your characters are always turning out to be secretly evil, or pulling out a gun that has never been shown, or etc every five seconds, no one will be able to follow the plot or get invested in the characters. Audiences also don't generally like to be kept in the dark, especially since the story is being told for their benefit, so they want to know some important plot points before the characters do.

In addition, it also gives the impression that the writers know what they'll doing and put a lot of thought into the plot, as opposed to just writing off the seat of their pants and making things up as they go.

I imagine that's mostly because people frequently screw up when writing "twists" that make no logical sense and don't add anything to the work other than a surprise ending. Adding foreshadowing doesn't directly prevent this, but most writers who put enough effort to place foreshadowing all over the place are writers whose plot makes sense. Also what Wacky said. Too many twists out of nowhere and you don't have much reason to be invested in a story. It's hard to maintain tension when you know from experience that literally anything could happen and diffuse the situation.

Basically, making up stuff at random because you got yourself cornered is bad writing, and bad writers tend to not use foreshadowing.

OP: Fiction is different than real-life. In real-life there is no foreshadowing, but in fiction if something major isn't foreshadowed it disappoints many readers.

Not in the same way fiction is foreshadowed.

edited 24th May '12 11:10:42 AM by Akagikiba2

...things in real life are foreshadowed all the time.

It's just in real life, we don't GET the bird's eye view and self awareness that fiction grants us.

The CSI syndrome.

The murderer will be a person introduced in the first10 minutes who does not move the plot along in any way, and is on screen for just a few seconds at that point.

"This is John, my neighbour/postman/pool boy..."

Things in real life can be foreshadowed in terms of subtle clues to what may be going to happen, but not in the same way as you find in fiction where symbolism and linguistic devices are used for foreshadowing.

True, not in the same ways, but to say there is no foreshadowing (which the person I was responding to said), is ludicrous.

Actually, I'm not sure there can be foreshadowing in real life, because there is no reader. Clues to upcoming events within the context of the setting, that can be picked up by characters inside the fourth wall, aren't really foreshadowing.

Real life doesn't need foreshadowing as such because everything follows a mostly logical path; historians can piece together why many events happens when they have the full view because, despite human idiosyncrasies, there is a logical flow.

IRL if you punch a dude or cheat on your exam or kiss your girlfriend/boyfriend, you don't know exactly WHAT will happen next, but you know SOMETHING will, regardless of how much you've thought that action through.

Foreshadowing in fiction attempts to replicate this same sense of logical progression (x caused y which prevented z) from a similar scale as we get in fiction (i.e. without the full view that history provides, following just a few "characters"). Humans may be very complex,and occasionally our actions are counter-intuitive, but rarely is something we do done without any forethought or idea of the consequences.

Foreshadowing does exist in real life, though it's not infallible. When you're on a road and about to cross a railroad track, but then the train crossing signal starts flashing and ringing and those two big bars come down, you know a train's about to come. If your best friend says "I've got something to tell you", then you know you're friends about to tell you something. And if the TV Guide tells you that your favorite show's going to be on at 6, come 6 o' clock, if you turn your TV on to the right channel, then you know that your favorite show is starting. Also, if you get a tingly feeling in your nose, you're likely about to sneeze. In real life, foreshadowing's called foresight, and it's a personal skill that needs to be trained.

Again, that's not foreshadowing, because you are not simultaneously a viewer and a character of the 'story' of your life. Foreshadowing, as I see it, is planting clues for the audience. Things in-universe that the characters pick up on (or miss picking up on) are not foreshadowing. So I'd say foreshadowing is impossible in real life.

edited 26th May '12 2:29:51 PM by nrjxll

Closest real life has is your partner saying "Darling, we're going to be guests on the Jerry Springer show."