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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35634
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I've had a similar problem and here's an orthogonal answer to what you probably expect ... :

"I don't know what your main character wants."

^^ Has anyone said this to you? ^^

**Some thoughts that may relate to the question:**

I believe readers are willing to be told who to root for and why, but it has to be clear from the get go. If the MC is likable (or relatable) and wants X, then the readers buy in to see if they get X.

And then, if this requirement is met, the foreshadowing events can be added as things that the main character is involved in, in some fashion, in pursuit of their goal.

**Here's an example from my project:**

The reader needs to know about a medical device used late in the book - it is part of the key to outwitting the villain. Originally I had a few throwaway lines about the device in chapter 6 so that the reader would 'know it.' But it didn't register with anyone, and the beginning of my book was a lot of that sort of 'bootcamp' information (great analogy!).

When I figured out my main character's moral struggle, and reworked the arc around it, I was able to introduce an accident ending chapter 4 that keeps him from the thing he wants. Now he needs medical treatment, and this medical device is crucial to his survival. Since I am writing in his PoV, I make the experience of the medical treatment visceral. It's a much stronger scene, the reader is buying in because this accident is _the thing keeping him from his goal_, (which is what they are hanging their experience of the story on), but my ulterior motive is to get them to remember this medical device.

This new scene/treatment solves _three_ problems - increases tension (visceral, life and death hospital scene), reinforces what he wants and what stands in his way, and allows foreshadowing of the device in a way that is remembered by the reader. It doesn't feel like boot camp, it feels like story. (But this version hasn't been beta tested yet.)

**Answer:** Examine whether its clear from the beginning that your main character is working toward a goal. Examine whether 'every' incident (used loosely; there are multiple purposes of scenes) serves that goal in one way or another. Hammer the necessary foreshadowing events into those scenes in a well-crafted way.

Mark's advice that every story is at its heart a moral struggle ... That's my answer. :)

Original score: 8