I am no seat of the pants writer. I have to brainstorm my entire novel out from the start. I do this because the first time I wrote a novel I wandered around for seventeen chapters, having no idea where I was going, before I fizzled and gave in to writers’ block for six months. I finally had to take the book all the way back to chapter four and rewrite it all.

Even so, that book never worked. There was no pay-off. The ending fell flat.

Why? Because when you don’t know the end from the beginning, you can’t foreshadow the end. You can’t build reader anticipation. You can’t hint early on that there is a problem needing to be solved and there is only one way to solve it.

This is not to say that seat of the pantsers can’t write books with stellar endings that wrap up the trouble that was introduced in the beginning in a satisfying way. I believe, though, that once they find their endings they have to go back to their beginnings and do a lot of revising.

This is a necessary step.

And yet, so many writers seem to want to skip this.

You can see this on the big scale–the end of the book has nothing to do with the beginning. That’s how my first novel was going. But I wonder if writers will learn how to foreshadow the smaller steps along the way,  if they won’t also learn to foreshadow their endings.

You can’t introduce a completely new element into the middle of book. Let’s say you’ve decided that the main character needs a ladder so he can climb into a window. He’s outside a warehouse in the middle of the night. You can’t just make him stumble upon the ladder left behind by the painter. You have to show that ladder three chapters earlier. You have to have the character visit that warehouse earlier in the day and notice the painter working.

Do you want your character to be kidnapped? You have to show us the kidnappers taking kids that fit your character’s description, early on. Do you want your character to run away from home? you have to show us that he’s attempted to run away a couple of time previously. Do you want your adult to be called away by a phone call so your kids can be left alone? You have to show that the adult has pressing business matters that often make him take phone calls even when he should be watching the kids.

Books that are made up of a series of convenient coincidences aren’t satisfying. They feel false. We can’t get into the dream. We can’t get lost in the story world and feel like we’re visiting a real place and reading about real people.

So whether you’re a plotter and planner or a seat of the pantser, take the time to foreshadow. Your readers will thank you.

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