Definition – Write on the World

If you spend enough time on bookish social media, you’ll eventually see someone point out an “easter egg” in a novel—and there’s a good chance they’re actually talking about something else entirely. This is the topic of today’s Ask the Author.

Dear Mandy,

Question: Are easter eggs in a novel just foreshadowing?

Not every hidden detail in a story is an “easter egg.” Some are clues, some are foreshadowing—and some are just there for readers who like looking a little closer. In today’s *Ask the Author*, I unpack the difference– and how the internet sometimes gets literary terms hilariously wrong.

Answer: Lately I’ve noticed a lot of readers on social media using the term easter egg when what they really mean is foreshadowing. The two are not the same thing, even though they both involve details hidden in a story.

Foreshadowing is a storytelling technique. It’s when an author plants clues early in the narrative that hint at something that will happen later. A seemingly harmless line of dialogue, an object that appears briefly in chapter two, a character’s odd reaction to something—these details quietly prepare the reader for future events. When the twist or revelation finally arrives, the earlier hints suddenly make sense. Good foreshadowing makes a story feel inevitable rather than random.

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