There was that D&D dungeon master tip where the DM would ask the players what they think it was, or what their solution was, and the DM would pick their favorite answer because they didn’t actually think of one.
Yeah, I know someone who gave their high level group a mysterious box that couldn’t be opened by normal means.
He had nothing in mind as to what the correct solution was, he just figured they’d come up with something clever eventually. I don’t think I ever found out what they did.
ULPT: this also works on your significant other.
You’ll never guess where we’re going tonight?
…
Wow. You got it!
Unless it’s all booked up and you needed tickets or reservations months in advance. Then you dead.
No not there. Guess again
Is that so hard?
You don’t know if they are booked up until you check.
Nowhere? That’s right and why we’re together.
So that’s what George R R Martin looked like when he was young!
Foreshadowing is utterly pointless to me because I can’t remember the beginning of a novel or series in that level of detail by the time I get to the end.
I think those connections get made with multiple readings. No one is memorizing 400 pages and match small details to later events on a first read.
Sometimes something sticks out, like a Chekhov’s gun, and you’re just waiting for it to make it’s way back into the story. Not all of the small details, obviously. But you can pick up some things on a single read through that you expect to come back into play… even if you have a horrible memory.
I agree that some connections may be made, but also that sometimes we expect there to be something later, and there isn’t. So, that goes both ways.
Yeah the goodies only shows when you read it a second time, especially when the manga is like bi-monthly or monthly, no one gonna remember something 10 chapters away which could be anything between 5 to 10 months.
Maybe, but then I’ve got better things to do than reread or rewatch things…
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Other than people suggesting second reading, foreshadowing can be good for people who like to speculate/investigate the media they read/watch. The foreshadowing acts as clues.
One of my favorites is how tiny pieces of lore in One Piece become major plot points later. At first, people thought it was some 5D chess foreshadowing. Nope, it turns out the lead writer just goes back and re-reads his old content when he starts running out of ideas. He’ll just grab some tiny thing from like two years ago, and turn it into the next major plot hook.
Yeah, haki isn’t a thing when Oda did the first chapter, but heck yeah it just make sense later on why the fish would just run with just a stare, and how Garp is feared for just being a normal human without power. It’s also funny that later on Seastone isn’t much of a plot point when fighting Logia, considering Smoker have to custom made his baton with a Seastone to beat fruit user.
Not knowing anything about One Piece makes this comment absolutely incredible. I have no idea if it’s real or all made up.
It’s all made up by the god named Oda.
On the other hand, i should’ve been more vague to make it sound even more nonsense.
Hint: everything is made-up.
English teacher: “wow, look at the incredible symbolism in the camera work”
Creator: “uhhhh… this is a documentary, and that was a video that some bloke took with his phone”
Actually saw videos of a british tourist who got stuck in Nepal during the uprising that did exactly that. Was just filming his traveling experiences when he found himself accidentally making a documentary lol
Got a link? Sounds interesting.
Cheers!
Yeah that’s the one. Thanks for linking it!
I remember a friend telling me their English teacher took them on a field trip to see the Poet Simon Armitage and asked him what the poem “the hitcher” represents and he just said “it’s just about some bloke” - or something to that effect. Anyway it made me chuckle to imagine the dismay of the English teachers in the room
Eh, Death of the Author is a thing for a reason–we don’t have to take authors’ thoughts as the end of discussion about a thing. Richard Adams is quoted as saying he didn’t put any meaning into Watership Down, and they were just tales for his daughters. Bradbury said that Fahrenheit 451 was mostly about people becoming isolated in society and watching too much TV rather than censorship.
Like that last scene of the gladiator, it looked cool
Soon this meme template will be two pixels.
Writing start to finish vs writing the end and going backwards.
First is all about having characters and just seeing what they do in a situation the author throw’s them into. Not great for having a good ending unless you are really clever, lucky, or willing to just keep writing until you naturally hit a solid end point. However, it is good for having memorable characters usually and can enable an excellent hook or high concept.
The opposite, where you write the ending and work backwards in time, usually ensures a high quality plot but can risk making character’s flat or uninteresting unless you put in a ton of extra work to make sure they’re interesting or fleshed out. And also can make it difficult to hook readers and might result in a more mundane/average overall concept.
Just because a writer isn’t consciously aware of doing it intentionally doesn’t mean it wasn’t part of the process that happened in their brain
Me in highschool when my creative writing teacher called out all the things that subtly foreshadowed the dark ending. It blew my mind that I was hinting towards an ending that I hadn’t even thought of, and gave me my first big dose of imposter syndrome
