Writing Roots

True villainy is about the choices a character makes. If you want to write a story where your main character descends to become the villain, you need to foreshadow it through the choices they make. Listen for more on how to show these changes slowly through the three acts to properly lay the groundwork for the ending.

First aired October 26, 2023.

Enemies to Lovers is one of BookTok’s favorite tropes, yet it so often executed incorrectly. To create a relationship progression that doesn’t feel forced, you must foreshadow each step of their relationship.

Listen for more on the four steps to progress from enemies to lovers and how to lay the foundation through foreshadowing.

First aired October 23, 2023.

One of the ways you can foreshadow is through the use of an unreliable narrator, specifically one who is descending into madness. Throughout the first part of the story, anything odd can be explained away. Slowly, it is revealed those oddities were foreshadowing, hinting at some plot twist on which the whole narrative hinges.

Hosts Leigh and Ley discuss ways to carry out this kind of storytelling and share examples where it was done well.

First aired October 19, 2023.

Symbolism is a great tool to hint at what it is to come in your story. This is the kind of element your school teachers might have pointed to in classic novels regarding the weather or color of the curtains. Intentional symbolism can set the mood for the rest of your story.

Listen to learn more about different ways you can use symbolism to hint at the ending of your story.

First aired October 16, 2023.

There are many ways to have prophecies in your story act as foreshadowing, even if they aren’t mystical and blatant events. It could be as simple as a character joking about an outcome, or as subtle as a character expressing concern that turns out to be a poor choice of words.

In this episode, we talk about the different ways to use prophecies and narrator omniscience to help guide the foreshadowing in your story.

First aired October 12, 2023.

Dialogue can be a powerful way to foreshadow what is to come, whether intentional to the character or not. It can be anything from a joking comment to an active prophecy. In this episode, our hosts talk about the different ways dialogue can be used to help lay the foundation for what is to come in your story.

First aired October 9, 2023.

Foreshadowing is a tool that takes careful planning and often shows up a few times through the course of the story before the event it foretells takes place. One way to do this is through breadcrumb foreshadowing: laying down a trail for your readers to follow. However, it doesn’t always need to lead to the right answer.

In this episode, we talk about how to foreshadow through misdirection and breadcrumbing.

First aired October 5, 2023.

Foreshadowing has been a popular literary tool for centuries. We see it in Shakespeare’s collection and in ancient Greek tales. Good foreshadowing can help hook the reader and keep them invested in the story, even if they have an idea of the outcome already.

From giving away the ending, such as in Romeo and Juliet‘s opening lines to a retelling of a known historical event, sometimes it’s about the journey more than the destination itself. In this episode, we talk about passive foreshadowing and how to time dropping those hints for the ending.

First aired October 2, 2023.

The post S47E1 – Using Passive Foreshadowing appeared first on Writing Roots.

When we got a series of questions from our listeners regarding writing contests, we decided to get in contact with an expert. Rebecca van Laer is a writing contest judge with Reedsy. She sat down with us to answer your questions and talk about submissions, crafting a story for a contest, and more.

First aired September 30, 2023.

An anthology is a collection of stories or poems, often by a variety of authors, centered around a common theme. These are a great opportunity for new authors to expand their reader base by joining with other authors who share a similar target audience.

Listen for more about anthologies, their purpose, and what to look for when submitting.

First aired September 28, 2023.