foreshadowing
Early story clues
Foreshadowing is a narrative technique where early details hint at later events.
A writer plants clues—an ominous remark, a recurring image, a seemingly minor incident—that gain significance as the story unfolds.
The broken mirror in chapter one was foreshadowing her shattered marriage.
Good foreshadowing feels inevitable in retrospect but not obvious on first encounter.
Sign of future calamity
- presageIndicate beforehand
- harbingerOne who foreshadows
- auguryOmen interpretation practice
- prophecyForetelling of future events
sign · warning · premonition · foreboding · foretoken · auspice · prognostication · divination
Solving aid
- indicationSign of what's coming
- suggestionIdea proposed for consideration
- inklingSlight, uncertain awareness
- glimpseFleeting view
whisper · implication · insinuation · subtle · veiled · oblique · trace · undercurrent
Representing concepts through images
- motifRecurring thematic element
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- imageryVivid descriptive language
- narrativeAccount of events
subplot · theme · plot · climax · flashback · denouement · allusion · metaphor
Stretched or strained state
- anticipationState of awaiting something
- dreadIntense anticipatory fear
- apprehensionNervous anticipation of trouble
- buildupGradual accumulation over time
unease · anxiety · mystery · foreboding · cliffhanger · uncertainty · expectation · impending
portent
Sign of future calamity
prophecy · sign · warning · premonition · foreboding · foretoken · auspice · prognostication · divination · soothsaying
clue
Solving aid
- indicationSign of what's coming
- suggestionIdea proposed for consideration
- inklingSlight, uncertain awareness
glimpse · whisper · implication · insinuation · subtle · veiled · oblique · trace · undercurrent · subtext
symbolism
Representing concepts through images
narrative · subplot · theme · plot · climax · flashback · denouement · allusion · metaphor · characterization
tension
Stretched or strained state
- anticipationState of awaiting something
- dreadIntense anticipatory fear
- apprehensionNervous anticipation of trouble
buildup · unease · anxiety · mystery · foreboding · cliffhanger · uncertainty · expectation · impending · looming
ominous
Suggesting something bad approaches
dark · chill · haunting · menacing · brooding · unsettling · oppressive · bleak · dire · grim
- literary devicesmetaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, alliteration
- writing craftcreative writing, diction, fiction writing, pacing, novel writing
- dramaturgydramaturgy, dramaturg, dramatic structure, dramatic technique, dramatic form
- literaturebooks, book, fiction, poetry, stories
- readingfluency, read, comprehension, readers, books
- storytellingstorytelling, story, tale, narrative, narrator
foreshadowingflashback
Involuntary past memory
retrospection · hindsight · looking back · callback · recollection
foreshadowingplot twist
Sudden narrative redirection
surprise · unexpected turn · deus ex machina · misdirection · red herring