In chapter 22 of How to Read Like a Professor, Foster says "if you want your audience to know something important about your character (or the work at large), introduce it early, before you need it."
Thank you, Mr. Foster.
Here Foster gives a note not just for readers of literature, but he actually words this sentence for writers, which is something we haven't come across very often in this book. But of course, everything he talks about in this book are good ideas for writers to think about, so this book doubles for readers and writers of literature.
The advice holds when you are writing a paper or delivering a presentation, too. I'm glad you saw the connection to your own creative work.
I've noticed this too and I think I might have touched on this also in some of my blogs. He definitely offers writers some food for thought.