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Foreshadowing. Basically, anything you do, any coincidence, and personality quirk, that you introduce in order to move the plot in the direction you want it to go will appear as transparent manipul...
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#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47985 License name: CC BY-SA 4.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision
Foreshadowing. Basically, anything you do, any coincidence, and personality quirk, that you introduce in order to move the plot in the direction you want it to go will appear as transparent manipulation to the reader if there is no precedent for it in the story. On the other hand, almost any coincidence, almost any personality quirk that you introduce to move the plot in the direction you want it to go will be accepted without a qualm if there is a precedent for it. So the method here is actually pretty simple. If you need a character to do something stupid in order to force the plot to turn a corner, go back and foreshadow it by having them do something stupid that does not force the plot to turn a corner. Nothing is exceptional once you have seen it already. It only becomes a problem if you don't foreshadow these things properly.