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IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise:
Foreshadowing (Version 2)
These exercises were written
by IWW members
and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its
members.
You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that
you found
them at the Internet Writers Workshop
(http://www.internetwritingwor
kshop.org/).
Prepared
by: Patricia Johnson
Posted on: Sun, 27 May 2001
Reposted, revised, on 29 March 2009
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Exercise: In 400 words or less, write a story that uses foreshadowing
as a plot device to hint that something is going to happen, then
fulfill that hint by the end of the story.
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Foreshadowing is a tool we can use to build interest and suspense,
plant a seed in the reader's mind, provide a clue that will keep the
reader turning the pages. Foreshadowing can be presented in dialogue,
action, or description. It could be an omen or prophecy--a mirror
breaking on the first page could presage bad luck, a prediction of a
bad end for someone could come true. Foreshadowing might be one small
detail or action, or a larger event, as long as it echoes through the
plot or a character's development and fulfills itself.
Want to know more about this literary device? In his satiric essay on
writing in the journal The Onion,
John Grisham gives some good basic
advice on foreshadowing. Follow this link to learn and laugh.
(http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/now_that_ive_learned_about).
So, construct a story of 400 words or less that makes use of
foreshadowing
to advance the plot or develop a character, or both. Be sure that the
foreshadowing comes early in the story and is seen to resolve itself in
the end.
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Exercise: In 400 words or less, write a story that uses foreshadowing
as a plot device to hint that something is going to happen, then
fulfill that hint by the end of the story.
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In critiquing, point out the foreshadowing, tell us whether it was easy
to see and whether its promise or threat was carried out. Did the
writer use the device skillfully? Was it obvious or was it subtle?
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Greg Gunther.
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