In the story I'm writing at the moment, I've reached chapter four and things are going fairly well. There are already events unfolding for when the fecal matter hits the rotary cooling device in another chapter or two. What I'm pondering now is if I should foreshadow more than one thing in a short period of time. I've already had one event happen that bares a major impact on things later that was part of chapter three, and a bit of four. My main point of pondering is if I should drop something else so quickly. The reason behind this is that when things do kick into high gear, there isn't going to be a lot of time to slow the pace down, at least not for several chapters.
It’s going to be nearly impossible to answer this question without seeing the work as a whole. Foreshadowing is all about balance, I think. Too much, and it’s ham-fisted. Too little, and it might as well not exist. For what it’s worth: I’d say, for now, trust your gut. Write what you feel the story needs, then edit it later accordingly. Make a note and request pointed feedback from readers once it’s finished. For me, foreshadowing is one of those late(r) stage editing matters, like symbolism, imagery, etc. I generally don’t think about it until I’ve nailed down other aspects of the story. ETA: also, this seems like a matter of pace as well, which is another (for me), later stage editing concern.
To add to what @Spencer1990 said, I'd suggest you ask yourself if foreshadowing is actually necessary. It doesn't need to be there at all. OR it can be cleverly twisted to produce a result that wasn't quite what was expected. As Spencer suggested, just keep writing. Later on, when you have your story completed and are going through your editing stages, you can look for places to insert foreshadowing, if you still think you need it. As he said, if you lay it on too thickly you give the game away. If you lay it on too lightly, people will miss it. Generally, what you aim for is to get your readers to expect certain kinds of things are going to happen, but not so much that they know exactly what these things will be. It's a tricky thing to manage, so don't worry about it now. Wait till you have the total piece in front of you. The finished first draft will be your clay. Then you can start adding and subtracting bits till the whole thing is the shape you want it to be.
I like what Spencer and Jannert had to say and I'd add about the necessary -- Foreshadowing for me is usually about wanting to unconsciously alert the reader to doom/tragedy and embed the tension or wanting to suggest that history repeats itself. I love how in Lolita as Humbert is being given a tour of the Haze home and the future is reflected in the objects he passes -- one sock, old gray tennis ball, the Mexican trash objects. If the tension can be handle more action wise you may not need foreshadowing. And if there's no reason to suggest that history repeats itself than you don't need to build a kind of circle.
I agree with what's been said, but I do things a little differently. I make up my stories as I write them, but I also include foreshadowing before I exactly know what it is I'm foreshadowing. Sometimes it helps give me direction. Other times it comes out during the editing if it ends up leading nowhere. And I think it's best to go lightly with any foreshadowing. It's not something all readers are going to pick up on, and a lot of the time it just isn't really needed. Do readers really need clues as to what's going to happen? And will they remember the clues? When I use foreshadowing I like to make it something weird and unexpected. I like the foreshadowing to add flavor to the story when it's used and not just be a clue that something later will happen. I think the best foreshadowing goes unnoticed to most readers. So, I guess that begs the question if foreshadowing is ever really needed at all. But it can be fun to play around with.
