foreshadowings
Narrative advance warnings
Foreshadowings are hints or signs of things to come.
A novelist plants foreshadowings throughout the early chapters—a character's casual mention of a gun, an ominous weather description—that gain significance later.
In retrospect, his nervousness at dinner was one of many foreshadowings of the betrayal.
Sign of future calamity
- harbingerOne who foreshadows
- auguryOmen interpretation practice
- forebodingFearful anticipation of harm
- prophecyForetelling of future events
forewarning · auspice · prognostication · omen · herald · ill omen · warning sign · bad omen
Stretched or strained state
- dreadIntense anticipatory fear
- apprehensionNervous anticipation of trouble
- uneaseMild persistent worry
- forebodingFearful anticipation of harm
anxiety · buildup · sense of doom · dark clouds · gathering storm · creeping dread
Introductory literary section
- setupHow something is arranged
- prefigurationSymbolic anticipation of future
- Chekhov's gunNarrative necessity principle
- dramatic ironyAudience-character knowledge gap
symbolism · motif · leitmotif · foretelling · narrative device · flashforward · anticipation · buildup
Solving aid
- inklingSlight, uncertain awareness
- intimationIndirect indication of something
- signMark conveying information
- indicatorSign revealing status
signal · trace · glimmer · suggestion · allusion · whisper · warning · foretoken
portent
Sign of future calamity
- harbingerOne who foreshadows
- auguryOmen interpretation practice
- forebodingFearful anticipation of harm
prophecy · forewarning · auspice · prognostication · omen · herald · ill omen · warning sign · bad omen · good omen
tension
Stretched or strained state
- dreadIntense anticipatory fear
- apprehensionNervous anticipation of trouble
- uneaseMild persistent worry
foreboding · anxiety · buildup · sense of doom · dark clouds · gathering storm · creeping dread
prologue
Introductory literary section
- setupHow something is arranged
- prefigurationSymbolic anticipation of future
- Chekhov's gunNarrative necessity principle
dramatic irony · symbolism · motif · leitmotif · foretelling · narrative device · flashforward · anticipation · buildup · red herring
clue
Solving aid
- inklingSlight, uncertain awareness
- intimationIndirect indication of something
- signMark conveying information
indicator · signal · trace · glimmer · suggestion · allusion · whisper · warning · foretoken · adumbration
expectation
Belief about future outcomes
foreshadowingsflashbacks
Involuntary vivid memory episodes
retrospections · callbacks · retrospection · hindsight · recollections
foreshadowingsrevelations
Surprising facts made known
explanations · resolutions · denouements · unveilings · expositions
foreshadowingshindsights
Retrospective understanding of events
afterthoughts · postmortems · retrospectives · reflections · reconsiderations