: Re: Can a novel chapter have a suspenseful flashforward opening? Like in the TV serials, can we have the opening section of the novel relate the ending or some part in between of the chapter (as

@Ravi5107385

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If you can get the reader to go along with your scheme, you can put any scheme into place.
The question then becomes, what does the reader require to make going along with the scheme the best choice?
I would guess that the key issue is what you as the writer chose to reveal. If you go too far ("the butler kills John with a fire poker in the library at Raven's Point"), some of your readers are going to bail immediately. Of course, if you as the writer have the skill to engage the reader by raising questions that your foreshadowing does not quite answer, you might keep some of those readers. Wait, is this the same butler that two chapters ago fell off the cliff into the storm-tossed ocean? And didn't John swear that he would die before he set foot in Raven's Point ever again? Perhaps you only reveal that the butler swung the fire poker with the suggestion that the poker struck something.
One thing to keep in mind is that a standard technique with foreshadowing is that you as the writer should seek to misdirect the reader. Here are four facts but only one of them makes a difference by the end of the story and not in the way that the reader might assume it might make a difference. Perhaps, John in the foreshadowed scene is really Jim, John's evil twin, trying to cash in on an inheritance due John (who is off in darkest Africa saving the world). Perhaps, John has a steel plate in his head (or the hat that he is wearing) that protects his brain. Perhaps, ....
What you need after you put all of this together are beta readers who will tell you the truth. These beta readers should be representative of the intended audience for the story. You should plan to revise the story several times to get the shading of the foreshadowing just right.

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