24 Days To Nieman

Jon Franklin in Writing For Story: The technique is foreshadowing, and it's one of the most powerful pieces of magic in the storyteller's bag of tricks.

Foreshadowing is the technique by which the writer unobtrusively inserts details early in the story that will allow him to conduct his dramatic scenes without the necessity of explaining background details. This is what a good jokester is doing when he carefully sets up his situation in the narrative that precedes his punch line…

The principal was codified by Anton Chekhove, the late-nineteenth-century Russian playwright and master short-story writer. Chekhov's Law specifies that if the opening of a story mentions a shotgun hanging over the mantel, then that shotgun must be fired before the story ends.

Foreshadowing may also serve an out and out educational purpose, to be used when the writer needs to introduce a concept that he knows the reader is going to have a tough time dealing with, either because it's emotionally unpalatable or because it's unfamiliar and complex.

You could, of course, set aside a dozen paragraphs or so at the top of your story and give a mini-lecture on the subject at hand. You could … but you won't, not if you want to sell your story.

What you'll do, instead, is teach as you go, tucking concepts into the action, positioning your reader's mind to understand. A phrase here, a sentence there, and by means of foreshadowing your educational message will unfold with your story.