An often-ignored part of writing is foreshadowing. In my critique group, this is generally frowned upon--but that usually just means I did it badly, because foreshadowing is really important. It's setting up something so that a plot point, when it appears, looks real rather than contrived.
Whether you write regular fiction, mystery, fantasy, or science fiction, something is going to happen later in the story that needs to be mentioned, at least for a second, earlier in the story. For instance, say a character dies in connection with a food allergy. If you want it to look like a suspicious death, insure that we know earlier in the story that the character has the allergy, and then make us wonder how the fatal tidbit got into his or her food.
In a fantasy setting, a character is more likely to start developing magical powers than have a food allergy. A secondary character slowly discovering their powers and what they can do with them generally makes for a pretty cool subplot. But don't give them these powers right at the climax, with no explanation of how they got them. For instance, say young Declan has the power to manipulate fire, which means that, at the climax, he is able to support our hero Termalaine against the dragon or wicked sorcerer by bending the dragon's flame or shooting gouts of it out of his fingers. A foreshadowing of this ability would be a fascination with candles or the hearth fire, and an unusually warm body temperature. He would probably be the one to start and tend the campfires while he and Termalaine are on the road, and might be able to sense when there's already a fire kindled. Giving Declan an affinity for fire at the start of the story makes his being able to wield it at the climax believable.
Another thing that's wise to foreshadow is the presence of a higher enemy. Say you have two countries, usually at each other's throats, who have obtained an uneasy peace. Both countries have something valuable--some resource or a sacred place--which they guard carefully, and each one wants what the other has. So they're starting to rumble at each other again. But all the while, a third power--which wants both things--is waiting in the wings, fanning the conflict, and building its forces for the correct moment to strike. Again, you don't want to spring this third power out of the blue. A good foreshadowing would be agents of this third country--and these agents can take almost any form--filtering through the first two, and spreading nasty rumors to stir people up. Or, if this third power is something too evil to send its agents openly, people could use it in curses, and describe their enemies as coming from the power's country.
Foreshadowing can also hint at the arrival of a benign force as well. For instance, there is a foreshadowing of the character of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when Mr. Beaver speaks his name for the first time. All the children feel something different, high and wonderful and terrible (just terrible, in Edmund's case) at the same time, which leads you up to the moment you realize who and what Aslan really is.
I came across both an excellent example of foreshadowing and an example of what happens when you don't foreshadow at all fairly recently. The first comes from the excellent series, The Runelords, by David Farland. It starts with the second book, with a nine-year-old girl fleeing from a city under attack by reavers. She seemed like a normal little girl, choking back tears as she flees her homeland. But shortly into her flight, she encounters a creature that was introduced in the first book: a wyld. She bonds with the wyld, and teaches it some rudimentary things--which changes her, just a little. And that little change turns into bigger changes--until the little girl becomes a powerful Earth Warden.
For the bad example, I am relieved to say there is only one book of it so far, though it may become a series. Frankly, I'm astounded that...thing, I almost dare not call it a story--even got published, as it reads like the first draft of a first attempt at writing. Quite simply, he forgot to foreshadow the bad guys at all. And while you're assured constantly that they're evil, you have no idea why. They come out of nowhere, and never have more than a name and a battle plan. I don't even know what they're supposed to look like, or why they decided they wanted the hero's nation.
Foreshadowing doesn't have to be blatant. It can be a grumbled curse from a character so minor he doesn't have a name, or a throwaway comment by a cook over a spit. And you can foreshadow something quite big from a tiny incident. For instance: The smith reached for the hammer, fumbled at it, and then dropped it. "Lord Asp take it!" he yelled, jumping back just too late. Even if this is the only time we hear of Lord Asp before he rides out of the blood, smoke and flames, we already have his name in our minds, and a shiver will go down our spines as we see him for the first time. And the same goes for this: "Ah well then," old Marjorie sighed, giving the hen another turn on the spit. "It's one of those things that can't be helped, lass. In the old days, we used to say that the world would turn right again when the Bright Lady came from her hill; a pretty saying, but not much help now." You, as well as the girl Marjorie is speaking to, understand the portent when the Bright Lady arrives on scene.
So that's my take on the foreshortening technique. Can be simple, possibly even painless...yet believe me, people will notice when you skip on it.
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