What does foreshadowing mean?

Well, since a writer’s life always consists of learning, and furthering their experiences, I decided to get back to some basics, just in case I missed something (which is highly likely).

While doing a bit of research into various writing techniques, I came across this one: Foreshadowing. What does foreshadowing mean? Good question.

I suspect most of you might already have an understanding of this term (as it is taught in many English Composition classes). But in case you don’t know, the formal definition of foreshadowing is:

“The act of providing vague advance indications.” (from Dictionary.com)

Eh, somewhat too quick to the point for me. Let me give you my version of it:

The act of foreshadowing means to provide tidbits of information, to your reader, in such a way as to imply that something may occur later on in your story. For instance:

     John sat in the oak rocking chair, with his eyes shut, as he listened to his wife drone on, and on, about her day. Her spells could last hours on end, if he let it. Soon after, he knew from experience, she would begin ending her story, and starting in on him: about how he didn’t do what she asked today, how he didn’t take the trash out, how he forgot something at the grocery store, and others too numerous to list. 
     Today was the worst bout of them all. She had gotten into an argument with their youngest son, Daniel, and she was ready to take it out on someone.
     “Are you listening to me, John?” she bellowed. Her eyes filled with anger.
     John didn’t say a word as he gritted his teeth. He wanted this to end, but it wouldn’t. His knuckles whitened with his grip on the rocking chair’s handles. His head pounded. He knew he would blow up any moment now, but he chose not to say anything.
     “John! Listen to me when I’m talking to you.” She barked.
     Instead of replying, John jerked his head towards her with an equally vile look. He glared at her for a few seconds, then simply rose from his chair and walked back inside, towards the kitchen; he could hear her yelling after him.

What, do you suppose, is going to happen later in the story? Would John be so fed up as to do something unspeakable to his badgering wife? Would he break? Would this entire incident make the front-page news later on?

Does anything have to happen at all? No, of course not. This is the beauty of foreshadowing. John’s entire incident could merely be a bad mood, and nothing will come of it (this would be known as a red herring). On the other hand, John could go into a violent, and crazed killing spree later on.

Well, that’s all I wanted to share with you tonight. If you find yourself asking, "what does foreshadowing mean?" then I hope you'll remember this post. I’m off to do some more writing!

Comments

[Diana]

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