When I was finalizing the third draft of Spheria, I engaged three fantastic beta readers who gave me invaluable feedback on what worked and what didn’t. I changed a good deal in the book based on their feedback and recommend this step as a best practice for all writers. For detailed information, please see my Novel Creation Process.

It seems I had a little problem with Diet Coke. Let me elaborate.

Diet Coke

I am a huge Diet Coke fan. I consume way more of this substance than is realistically healthy. I have attempted to wean myself off it many times, but the process is futile. Now I accept it as my vice and compared to other possibilities it’s not so bad. I may not be alone. I worked at a company where we stocked free beverages and Diet Coke was the most popular drink by a wide margin.

When I wrote my first draft, I made the assumption that since I love Diet Coke, everyone does. So in about five scenes, with five different characters, they were drinking a Diet Coke. One, in particular, chugged and savored it after a flight (this scene was eventually deleted.)
One of my beta readers, Therese, after completing a read through, made the statement, “I was expecting Diet Coke to have some involvement in the climax since it was mentioned so many times.” I guess what I created here was False Foreshadowing.

Red Herring

Isn’t this just a red herring? I think it's not and for a subtle reason. A red herring is defined as “something, especially a clue, that is intended to be misleading or distracting from the real issue.” The key word in the definition is “intended.” In my Diet Coke example, I did not put that foreshadowing in there intentionally, but it would have left the reader feeling gypped, as it did Therese. It was not misleading; it was just irrelevant.

Fun Fact: the term Red Herring originates with hunting dogs. The salting process that turns a herring red creates such a pungent fish that they were used to throw hunting dogs off a trail.

False Foreshadowing

I googled this term and found only a couple mentions in a different context: to describe foreshadowing that ends up being the opposite of what the reader expected. I think that’s more in line with a red herring, actually. Or if I had to make a term for it, I would call it “Deceptive Foreshadowing.”

So here is my definition of False Foreshadowing:

I think this is analogous to another more common writing mistake: word repetition. It is never good to use the same word over and over in a short span of space. Never do this. It is never fun for your readers.

Solution

Once this was pointed out to me, it was simple to fix. I left two scenes in with Diet Coke, changed another to Dr. Pepper, change the fourth to Iced Tea, and removed the fifth altogether.

So there you go – avoid False Foreshadowing!

Cody Leet
2016

Added details:

On Saturday, October 8, we will use our popular Booked for Lunch program format to introduce you and your books to our audience, followed by a viewing of the Indie Author Day webinar. 

The program will begin at 12:30, when everyone is invited to lunch.  Members of the audience bring their lunches; we will provide food for our guest authors.  The Friends of the Library will provide yummy desserts and beverages.

Beginning at least by 1 p.m. (we watch to be sure people have finished eating), we will give each author a chance to introduce his or her book. The audience will probably want to have a glimpse of your background, how you came to write the book, and what the book is about.  I would think this might be done in 5 - 10 minutes.  After the introductions, you will be seated at tables around the room and will be available for questions, book sales, and signing.  At 2 p.m., we'll stop for the webinar.    The room is available to us until the Library closes at 4:30.  We have no "required" end time, but my guess is that people will probably be leaving by 3:15.  If authors wish to stay and visit with one another, that would be fine.

Check out my interview on Your World Discovered with David K. Ewen. I discuss the inspiration for Spheria and drop some hints about the sequel. You can watch it on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBnePjHo3GM

Cody Leet
2016