Don’t leave a thread dangling.

Pair every setup with its payoff. The tracker shows you which promises still hang open — the planted gun that never fires, the reveal that arrives with nothing behind it.

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  • Plant a setup and its payoff above. The tracker flags any thread you leave dangling.
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The three ways foreshadowing fails

The unfired gun
A setup planted and never paid. Chekhov's rule: if you hang a rifle on the wall in act one, it has to go off. An open thread the reader remembers and you forgot is a broken promise — and it's the failure they bring up in reviews.
The unearned reveal
A payoff with nothing behind it. The twist lands but feels arbitrary because nothing planted it. Readers forgive a slow setup; they don't forgive a reveal that arrives from nowhere.
The buried seed
A setup so faint nobody registers it, so the payoff still feels unearned even though you did plant it. Foreshadowing has to be visible enough to be remembered later, quiet enough not to spoil the turn.

A list of threads remembers your promises — but it can’t read your draft back. In Creader you mark a setup as you write it, and Guardian reminds you it’s still open before you reach the end. Build the wider world in the story bible builder.

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FAQ

Frequently asked

How do I keep track of foreshadowing in a novel?
Pair every setup with the payoff it's promising, in one list. A setup with no payoff is an open thread readers will remember even if you don't; a payoff with no setup lands as arbitrary. Tracking them together is the only way to see, at a glance, which promises you still owe.
What is Chekhov's gun?
The principle that every element introduced with weight must matter: if a loaded rifle hangs on the wall in act one, it has to go off by act three. In practice it cuts both ways — don't plant what you won't pay off, and don't pay off what you never planted. This tracker watches both directions.
Is this foreshadowing tool free?
Yes — free, no login. Your threads are saved in your browser (local storage) and never uploaded. Copy them as Markdown or download a .md file whenever you like.
Can it find dangling threads in my actual manuscript?
This tracker watches the setups and payoffs you enter and flags the gaps. Finding them in your real chapters — marking a setup as you write it, then reminding you it's still open as you near the end — is what Creader's foreshadowing markers and Guardian do inside the manuscript.