INTERVIEW: Karen Kasaba and Daniel David Wallace on Foreshadowing and Cliffhangers

Fifth post in the series, USING CINEMATIC TECHNIQUES TO ENHANCE READER ENGAGEMENT

Last month, as part of his popular Find Your Next Reader Summit, I spoke with writer and teacher, Daniel David Wallace about Foreshadowing and Cliffhangers, and other ways to use cinematic techniques to enhance reader engagement.

Karen Kasaba: Now this is a literary technique, but I'm inviting you to consider the way that it's used in film, and that is foreshadowing, and cliffhangers.

Foreshadows are clues the reader can feel smart guessing about — as long as they're paid off. Cliffhangers are those unresolved moments that come at the end of a scene or a chapter to create tension or suspense, and raise the emotional stakes.

I'll talk about some ways to foreshadow to start with. One is dialogue or inner thoughts from your character. What comes to mind for me in terms of dialogue is when Quint in Jaws is telling the story of the Indianapolis, and about the sharks circling the men in the water, and that's portentous towards what's going to happen later, and also really raises the stakes, because it shows the danger of the situation they're in.

And then even just the title or a chapter title is something that you can use to foreshadow, like the title of the Wizard of Oz, is like the book opens in Kansas. And so who's the Wizard? Where's Oz? We want to keep reading to find that out. An omen or an ominous event like the visual technique that's used in The Godfather, where oranges appear before every major death. And so that's something that you can even do in your writing is have imagery that shows up that way that may or may not relate, but is juxtaposed with things that are happening.

And then also the atmosphere. Going back to Oz – the foreboding weather, or the dark sky before the tornado is foreshadowing that change is about to happen.

A warning is also a foreshadow. A very explicit warning is in both the title and the dialogue in Get Out, where the main character Chris is told to ‘get out’ early in the film. Good advice, that's even emphasized in the title.

And, Daniel, do you enjoy using foreshadowing?

Daniel David Wallace: Oh, I could talk about this for so long. Yes. You know there's so many different types of foreshadowing, there's so many things to talk about, but often in a novel, I find that without some level of foreshadowing, the reader just misses the reveal, misses the outline, you know. You check back in, and readers say, "Oh, wait! He was his father. I didn't realize, that seems very strange to me, what I thought that he was just saying. He was just trying to scare him or something.”

The reader doesn't even notice the twist, the reveal, the surprise. In order for them to feel it, they have to have it prepared and prepared and prepared so that they're ready for the big moment. They're ready for the shark.

One of the former speakers of this event, Charlie Jane Anders, has a book called Victory is Greater Than Death, and the villain has this terrible, really horrible superpower, super sci-fi power, and she shows that power being used at least 3 times before the actual confrontation with the villain.

You've seen it described. You've seen it used, you've seen it used again, and then it's the final confrontation with our hero and her friends versus this villain, and you're really afraid for them, because you've seen it used over and over again, whereas if he suddenly said, "By the way, I got this special laser. It's really bad, you know.” Really? What does it work like? Is he just making it up? But you've never asked that in the book, because you've been shown, and the characters have been thinking, what would he do if he hits me with a laser. If it happened to me? It's very powerful because it's been prepared for you. Is that a fair answer?

Karen Kasaba: I love thinking of it as essential and preparation for the reader to really understand what the stakes are and what's going on in the story. So that's a great example. It would mean nothing to see that mysterious power just pulled out of a hat and used all of a sudden.

Foreshadows like these are most effective when they're not overused.

The good thing is that you can check the proportion during revision. So maybe she put in 5 examples of the power being displayed, and then well, we only need 3. So that comes out when you're going back over your draft to make sure that the payoff balances the setup, so that it's building. And I love that term of ‘preparation’ for that.

Sometimes foreshadowing, if it's obscure or just kind of coy, like just a weird little hint, then the reader is going to fill in the blanks. If they're feeling misled, they're going to think it's something much worse than it actually is. So it's important to have the right proportion and to not be misleading for the reader.

Daniel David Wallace: Yeah, so right? Yeah.

Karen Kasaba: Here's some examples of cliffhangers. One would be the unanswered question and an example of that is The Graduate where Benjamin and Elaine are riding in the back of the bus, and we don't know if they're going to stay together.

And then there's physical threat. James Bond movies are great for that. He's always heading toward a saw blade and about to die and has to get himself out of it.

Another is a shocking revelation. And I'm thinking about Severance, at the end of Season One, when we found out something really surprising about Helly.

There's also keeping a secret, withholding information like in Ripley, where he's lying about who he is. He's killing people. Is he going to get caught?

Then there's also a choice or a decision. I'm thinking about Thelma and Louise looking out at the cliff before they drive toward it. Where are they going to go, are they going to turn around?

So those are the cliffhanger moments. And what do you think of when you think of cliffhangers, Daniel?

Daniel David Wallace: Oh, yeah, I mean, it's a great way to think about this in novels, particularly, I think chapter endings are really good moments for cliffhangers. Or where there's multiple POVs, and one that seems like a sort of devastating situation for one character, and then we switch POVs, and maybe the other character can come and help.

Like Brandon Sanderson, in one of his great fantasy novels, The Way of Kings. He has a moment where one character is in huge trouble, and they're sort of strapped on this plateau, and they're surrounded by enemies, and then you switch to the other character. The other character is preparing to flee the battle, and then looks over and sees this, and has to decide what to do. Go back and help, but, you know, lose the chance to escape or or run for his own life. And it's a great moment.

Karen Kasaba: Those decision moments can change the course of the entire story depending on what they choose. So it's high stakes. Another cliffhanger is time running out like the ticking clock element in Back to the Future that just creates an engine for the whole story. So ticking clocks are great.

Daniel David Wallace: Oh, absolutely yes, and I think that so many novels have a kind of literal clock, or a sort of implied clock, like, you have to get married before the barbarians return, or you have to master your powers before the full moon.

The first Jack Reacher novel, Killing Floor, has two kinds of ticking clocks. There's a list of names. There's a certain number of people that must be involved in the crime, and there's a deadline of Saturday, and we slowly understand what the names mean, what the deadline is, and how it all fits together.

It's not always a literal time deadline, but it serves a great purpose of making the story feel real, vivid, and the stakes feel meaningful.

Karen Kasaba: Yes. It creates a sense of urgency for both readers and for the characters, and so that enhances engagement.

Those types of things that you're mentioning are compelling the reader to turn the page to find out what happens next, and they're usually at the end of a chapter, because then they bridge that gap of, well, just finish this chapter and go back and set it down. So it keeps people reading beyond that. Because they’re giving them something new to worry about. They're creating tension for what happens next.

Daniel David Wallace: And I even like it in stories where the ticking clock goes off and we reach the deadline. Okay, what happened? You know, what happens now? I sometimes think that writers can be a bit coy about their actual ticking clock, and not respecting well, what happens if it goes off?

I'm thinking of the novel House in the Cerulean Sea, where the deadline is his job. He has to get back to work in the city. He has to file his final report, and then he has to leave this place that he loves and the people he loves and return to this drab, sad life he doesn't care for.

And he does. Sorry there's not a huge spoiler, but like, you know he does. And then the question is, what just happens next, because otherwise it's just like a sort of fairy tale. Oh, he meets some people he really loves, he changes his life. But what makes the story?

What really takes the story to the next level is what happens when you make the wrong choice. What do you do next? That's really powerful.

Karen Kasaba: Yes, and also when the clock goes off and we've known the rules and all the requirements of what has to happen before the clock goes off. Now, there's no rules. There's no guidelines at all. So that adds a whole new cliffhanger of the big now, what?

Daniel David Wallace: Sometimes it's sort of interesting to see books and films do this even when there's no – I'm not trying to be negative here, but like there's no necessarily clear reason why this is happening. I remember once seeing this great romantic movie, and halfway through the love interest guy is like, "Oh, by the way, I'm leaving the country on Monday."

And it's so sort of awkward and funny. But you're like, "Oh, wow! This guy's got to get over his fear of commitment, and expressing himself, and who he is before this dude leaves on Monday." It works really well, even though it's completely arbitrary. There's no sort of intrinsic reason why all this has to happen. It's just thrown in there as a complication. If we gave him 6 months to get over his issues, he probably would do it. But no, he's got 2 more days. What's he going to do?

And I was thinking as well of The Midnight Library, where, in theory, she has all the time in eternity to decide what she wants to do. But then the library seems to be breaking down in the second half so that the magic won't last forever. Well, she's got to figure out what she truly wants. And again, it's never really explained. Why is this happening? It just happens. And the reason is you're used to these kinds of things happening in stories. Not only do you go along with it, but you appreciate it. You're like, "Oh, this is so exciting. What are you gonna do?"

Karen Kasaba: And then that whole element of compressing time. And then having to almost become a different version of themselves in order for the story to continue. That's really compelling, because it seems like when those instances come up in life, we want to be able to step up to them. And it's great to see that modeled in a story.

So those are great examples.

Join me in THE WHITE SPACE, where I’ll show you masterful examples of foreshadowing in Flannery O’Connor’s A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND.