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I'm not sure if this's the right place. I guess it is. :)

This is something I've wondered a lot about recently. Foreshadowing is signifying something'll happen before it happens. It's a fun writing thingy I love using... But how the Hell do I use it in storygames? If the storygame is done correctly, then player choices directly change the plot. I can't foreshadow something that can be changed.

I have one other option, foreshadow something that's going to happen no matter what choice the reader makes. Isn't that sort of a dick move? "Hey, I'll give you hints on something that'll happen. Want to make choices? Go ahead. It won't change this one bit." Plus, after the first play-through, I'll be foreshadowing something that the reader knows will happen... which seems pointless.

"After Cynthia pulls back the string of her bow, she lets go. The arrow soars through the sky into the head of the crow. Charles happens to be under the bird when it fall. He catches it. The blood from his wound stains his gloves."
Meanwhile the reader thinks, "So what? I already know Charles is going to go all psycho on them and kill some people at the end. Why did the author even bother to put it in?"

Essentially, I want to be able to foreshadow; however, the CYOA format ain't easy to work with. I have the option of foreshadowing something that definitely will happen, wait till enough choices are made so I can be more specific, or just make really ambiguous foreshadowings that could work for different things in each branch.

Do any of y'all got any other ideas for implementing this plot device? I've grown rather fond of it in my writing recently.

I am also a fan of foreshadowing. 

What I would suggest is to, as you said, have a set in stone event that will happen and let that be what you foreshadow. Just because an event itself is set in stone to happen in the game, doesn't mean that it has to be unforgivably linear. Personally I would just use variables and $pagescript or %%variable%=%Number%Text%% to allow the page or pages of the foreshadowed part of the story to change based on player decision just enough that it feels interaction is non linear even though that event happens regardless of what the player chooses. The only thing that needs to remain constant is what was foreshadowed. Everything else can be as varying as you make it. 

It really depends on just what you want to achieve with this story game. Scripting can remedy that linear feeling of a set in stone event and the player's choices during that event can potentially then branch out as much or as little as you are willing to allow from that point. So while as a writer yes that part of your story game will feel linear, the reader can potentially never even notice that that is the case.

All it takes is a few paragraphs on the page changing based on past player choices. For example:

Maybe Cynthia and Charles had an argument earlier and that affects Cynthia's overall reaction and emotion during the event, giving her thoughts and dialogue an angrier tone, or maybe the player chose to be friendly toward Charles, so when Cynthia then witnesses him going psycho she feels an inner conflict toward him or is more sad and betrayed than angry. The event itself stays the same, but the way the player character interacts with the event changes based on player choice. 

 

 

I never talked to you before. Hello! Thank you for replying to me.

Hm, yeah, scripting out the smaller things could work. If there's enough variation dependent on previous choices, then the story won't seem as ramrodded. One constant among a sea of choices... My scripting ability's good enough to handle that. Thanks! I feel like I have a way to implement foreshadowing now.

Foreshadow away!

Don't let it change the options. You will know that you're foreshadowing, and you will know that the foreshadowing only applies if the reader takes a certain path. If the reader doesn't take that path, then they will just forget the foreshadowing, or figure they guessed it wrong. Then if they do, they'll see the results.

Heck, you can provide 3-4 foreshadows, only one of which will come true, depending on the path the user takes! That sounds like fun!

You're solution is quite simple but effective. I can use this too. Thanks, Orge!

I mean you are clearly just trying to get your paladin role back but thanks for the effort. And I agree with Ogre, just write it in wherever it feels right. I do that with tons of character nuance and worldbuilding stuff, I have no idea what a reader who only does one or two paths will see or notice most of the time, but it's there because it makes the story more complete. It's mostly for myself and if it rewards someone who's paying attention, so much the better.

Although the average reader doesn't pay a whole lot of attention and that's also something you have to expect. I can almost guarantee no one would make the connection between that bit you wrote and the guy going crazy later. I'm not sure I would either tbh, Charles isn't the one stabbing birds in the head here or carelessly firing deadly projectiles right where they could fall on another person after all.

Anyway, while foreshadowing is fun when you're reading and can go back and pick up on it afterwards, at the same time I wouldn't recommend going overboard with it or putting in references anywhere that didn't feel like a natural part of the rest of a scene. (I strongly wouldn't recommend that to someone who doesn't always understand when a line feels 'natural' in particular... >.>)