- 1). Write about something that occurs before an event happens in your short story. You can make it something subtle, such as distant thunder before a storm, or a more direct event that hints at major impending drama or disaster, such as a couple talking about wanting to die rather than being apart. Such clues will encourage readers to continue reading because they will want to find out what is going to happen.
- 2). Use dialogue between characters that hints that something big is about to happen to one of them. For example, two friends could be discussing their relationships, and one suspects her boyfriend is about to propose. Later, however, the reader discovers that he breaks up with her instead. This is known as a "red herring" technique -- evidence points to one event happening, but something completely unexpected occurs instead.
- 3). Have a character or characters give a subtle reaction to an event or object in their environment that shows that the event or object might end up playing a big part in something that happens later in the story. For example, in William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," the townspeople, who had suspected something was off about Emily, broke down the locked door of her upstairs bedroom after her death and funeral. They found the rotting corpse of Homer Barron in the bed, noting a strand of hair on the pillow beside him that they knew was Emily's.
- 4). Use a change of mood in a character to hint at something big happening, whether it be a happy or tragic event. For example, a woman is ecstatically happy because she thinks she is pregnant, and all the symptoms point to her expecting a child, but then a visit to a doctor reveals that it is not the case and that she is actually incapable of having children.
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