that lingers from the climax. I'm not sure how good my twists are, but I think there's a value in having something that the reader doesn't immediately expect, but, upon further reflection, sees how the twist was being built up to throughout the entire book.

I have three words for you: The Icarus Hunt. It's my single favorite stand-alone sci-fi novel (by Timothy Zahn, of course ) and has a huge twist at the end-- but then you go: "Oh, DUH! This and this and this and that all pointed to it!"

Seriously, it's a great novel. Go read it.

I have three words for you: The Icarus Hunt. It's my single favorite stand-alone sci-fi novel (by Timothy Zahn, of course ) and has a huge twist at the end-- but then you go: "Oh, DUH! This and this and this and that all pointed to it!"

Seriously, it's a great novel. Go read it.

I think my favorite literary device is a red herring. I'm still learning how to use them (they're tricky to do well), but preparing a writer for one thing and then actually doing the other is SOOOOO satisfying.

So, in one of my stories, I keep implying that this character is going to be rescued. (She's sure she's going to be at least!) Then when she is actually burned at the stake I hope my readers will be able to experience her shock and horror and complete unreadiness in the face of death. Not the best example, but the best one I can think of at the moment.

Wow. Yeah, I think you'll get your reaction.

You'll have to be careful to not make them hate you, though.

You'll have to be careful to not make them hate you, though.

Actually, I rather hope they do.

Technically, you could call a prophecy foreshadowing, because it reveals what is to happen in the future (A Halfling is to destroy the Enemy) without coming out and saying "Frodo is the one to take the ring to Mount Doom".

In my experience, when a writer includes a prophecy in a work of fiction, this is generally one of the most heavy-handed forms of foreshadowing, and in general the less heavy-handed the better.

Foreshadowing, by dissecting the words, would mean the shadow of something in front of the thing itself. So, a vague reference to something (or someone) before the thing itself actually arrives.

Foreshadowing is the intentional, subtle, deliberate insertion of information which is necessary to the resolution of the plot. That may not be the actual definition but it's the most useful. The key differences between foreshadowing and simple info-dumping is that foreshadowing is supposed to be cleverly disguised. Often foreshadowing does end up taking the form of info-dumping, but the best authors disguise the information by making important at the moment it comes up. Because it seems useful then, but isn't used in a dramatic way which might break the suspension of disbelief, the reader simply accepts the information and moves on. Later the reader is surprised because they though the author was using the information to advance the plot early, but now they realize they were being set up.

Then there's like... if someone's going to set fire to something later in the book, foreshadowing of that would be... like even just a lit candle that the character stares at earlier in the book, or grabbing a box of matches etc.

In that case, foreshadowing is absolutely essential to writing endings with a twist – it's really the main difference between a surprising ending people hate, and a surprising ending people love, in my experience. Interesting.

(Why do I always end up quoting you?! )

But then there was a twist in Rebecca Stead's Liar and Spy (which, overall, I thought was great, by the way) which was also accompanied by quite a bit of explanation...but Liar and Spy already had a pretty slow, thoughtful pace, and I felt like it was better and more elegantly done than the one in The False Prince anyways. In particular, Stead had to explain the thinking behind a character's actions, and she did this by having him tell a story...which I thought was very nicely done.

In a fast-paced book with a twist at the ending, I generally prefer the author to suddenly reveal what's going on...leaving you saying, "Wait! What?!", reading furiously, a bit confused, trying to piece things together...until finally everything's unsnarled and explained in the denouement, once the climax is done.

(* grins * I don't know.... When I joined, I ended up shadowing RunningWolf around by accident.)

If you've foreshadowed effectively, and if it's one kind of twist, you shouldn't actually need to explain it. Like the one at the end of LotR... not a lot of explanation needed for that. You know perfectly why Frodo refused to destroy the ring, and of course Gollum would steal it.

If you would just stop saying stuff that's so true I wouldn't have to keep quoting you!

Oh, argh. Spoiled again. I suppose I should just hurry up and finish LoTR, since it's one of those classics that people have no qualms about posting spoilers for...

1) Do you need it? And how badly do you need it?

2) Does an explanation at this point fit with the tone?

3) Is the explanation interesting? Would the reader be happy to sit through it all even if it were long?

* winces * Oh. I'm so sorry.... >_< I thought to myself 'What book will nobody be spoilered by? Lord of the Rings, that's the second most top selling fiction book of all time, and this is fantasy forum, everybody's read that'. I would have to be wrong. * thumps head * I'm sorry.

Yes, you should finish it. * grins *