👉 Onlooking is a literary device used in literature, particularly in short stories and novels. It involves an observer who perceives something or someone that is not directly visible to them. The phrase "onlooking" means observing from afar or with suspicion. In the context of fiction, onlooking can be used to describe characters who are not fully revealed until later in the story or to suggest a character's actions or motivations by their absence, rather than being explicitly stated.