Prologue - Yes or No?

[AllardChardon]

When is it appropriate to use a prologue?

I contemplated using a prologue for a novel I am writing, but changed my mind and rewrote chapter one instead to include the same information through action or conversation.

Upon looking into the use of prologues, there are different opinions in its use.
For myself, I do not like to find a prologue in the front of the book. It is a turn-off, with my thoughts being that I must wade through this information before I can get to the action.

Like most readers, I want to be into the book halfway through the first page. Hopefully, the first line will hook me and never let go.

Curious,
Allard Chardon

 

[christabelll]

When is it appropriate to use a prologue?

I contemplated using a prologue for a novel I am writing, but changed my mind and rewrote chapter one instead to include the same information through action or conversation.

Upon looking into the use of prologues, there are different opinions in its use.
For myself, I do not like to find a prologue in the front of the book. It is a turn-off, with my thoughts being that I must wade through this information before I can get to the action.

Like most readers, I want to be into the book halfway through the first page. Hopefully, the first line will hook me and never let go.

Curious,
Allard Chardon

For me it depends on the genre - Some dont even call it a prologue anymore - its just a page or three between or before chapters...
Mainly I think it is a style issue...
Some authors use it to great success... in a way its an opportunity to fill the reader in on some meaty issues, before launching you into the story.
I have seen it shifted to be part of the introductory chapter but unless ther writer is very skilled in included "facts" as it were.... the chapter can get too bogged down in details pertinent to the story further down the line....


Now I tend to write in the sci fi fantasy romance categories --- there is a little more leeway in style and format in these genres than in say popular fiction ...

Its a toss up really...imho

 

[starlightqueen]

I've used prologues in my own writing to set an appropriate tone when the content in the first chapter doesn't necessarily allow for it, when there's a large gap in time or space between something important and the rest of the story, or a narrative shift between prologue-story and real-story.

I find that fantasy authors (Robert Jordan notably) use prologues needlessly as a matter of habit more often than not. If there's nothing that sets the prologue apart from the rest of the story it should be in chapter 1. If it's different for the reasons mentioned above, I think it's a little more warranted.

Hope this helps

 

[CharleyH]

When is it appropriate to use a prologue?

I contemplated using a prologue for a novel I am writing, but changed my mind and rewrote chapter one instead to include the same information through action or conversation.

Upon looking into the use of prologues, there are different opinions in its use.
For myself, I do not like to find a prologue in the front of the book. It is a turn-off, with my thoughts being that I must wade through this information before I can get to the action.

Like most readers, I want to be into the book halfway through the first page. Hopefully, the first line will hook me and never let go.

Curious,
Allard Chardon

A prologue may be necessary if you want to say something that has an effect on the character or story at hand, but it's also pivotal in a symbolic way throughout your story.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Upon looking into the use of prologues, there are different opinions in its use.
For myself, I do not like to find a prologue in the front of the book. It is a turn-off, with my thoughts being that I must wade through this information before I can get to the action.

Like most readers, I want to be into the book halfway through the first page. Hopefully, the first line will hook me and never let go.

I think you've got your answer there. Write a prologue only when it is not merely necessary, but also at least as interesting as what comes after it. It sounds like it could be a fun challenge: how to make a prologue truly gripping.

 

[sr71plt]

I've used prologues in my own writing to set an appropriate tone when the content in the first chapter doesn't necessarily allow for it, when there's a large gap in time or space between something important and the rest of the story, or a narrative shift between prologue-story and real-story.

I find that fantasy authors (Robert Jordan notably) use prologues needlessly as a matter of habit more often than not. If there's nothing that sets the prologue apart from the rest of the story it should be in chapter 1. If it's different for the reasons mentioned above, I think it's a little more warranted.

Hope this helps

I think those examples of when it's best to use a prologue are spot on. It's one of those "I'll know it when I see it" issues. I wouldn't be closed to the idea of it being either the best complement or worst stumbling block to any given work.

 

[3113]

When is it appropriate to use a prologue?

Prologues are touchy. There are three things important, I think, for deciding if you should have a prologue and making it interesting enough that the reader will read it rather than skip it.
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1) Intreguing information: IMHO, the only reason to have a prologue at all is because you've got information that you want to pass onto the reader, but that info is outside the main story. That is, this information is not going to fit anywhere else comfortably. If you try to shoe-horn it in elsewhere, it's going to stop the story and sound like an info dump. Like, for example: "Back in the days before there was this kingdom a mighty wizard created this stone..." You can have someone tell that story, or you can have a prologue. If there's no way to comfortably have someone sit down by the fire and tell it, if, for example, every character should already know it and only the reader doesn't--then a prologue is a good way to get that info across. Especially if the rest of the story is all about someone several centuries later unearthing this stone. Or, "John met sally in 1829...." and we hear about how they started a family dynasty. The book itself is about their great-great granddaughter and how what they did influenced her life. Either that, or the prologue sets the tone. Like the old man saying, "I'm dying now and I've lost all my status, but once I was young and powerful..."

2) Short: the shorter the prologue the better, because readers are far more willing to read short prologues than long ones.

3) Grabbing: I can't tell you how many times the opening sentence of a prologue has caused me to skip it. The last thing you want to do is start out, "It was a windy day and Joe sat lazily on his horse musing about his girlfriend Daisy..."

You need to start, "Blood spilled over Joe's hand as he stumbled through the rain. He could hear the outlaws shouting, chasing after him, but he didn't dare stop. The queen would die if he did--"

Something like that. Readers are willing to give chapter 1 a chance to warm up from a leisurely start, but they aren't willing to give the same consideration to the prologue. You have to grab their attention immediately and make it so that they don't want to stop reading. That gets them through your prologue.
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If you can put the info elsewhere, or you can't make it short and grabbing, then I don't think a prologue is a good idea.

 

[Stella_Omega]

My all-time favorite prologues are Terry Pratchett's;

"Through the fathomless depths of space swims the star turtle Great A'Tuin, bearing on its back the four giant elephants who carry on their shoulders the mass of the Discworld. A tiny sun and moon spin around them, on a complicated orbit to induce seasons, so probably nowhere else in the multiverse is it sometimes necessary for an elephant to cock its leg to allow the sun to go past." (Wyrd Sisters)

Pratchett offers you this preposterous and panoramic image, and then brings you down to the planet's surface and into the action.

 

[Greenspace]

I think prologues are a great way to capture the reader and set up something powerful in the future. It's a hook.

 

[AllardChardon]

I agree the prologue seems to work best in a lengthy tale, especially sci-fi and fantasy, where certain things need to be explained in advance. And I also agree that if you use it as an author, it has to hook the reader. Those lackidaisical openings in some prologues give the wrong impression to the reader. Being a historical erotica writer, I have opted not to use them. Thanks for all the great input.

 

[elsol]

A prologue is like playing with naked genitals and then putting your clothes back on for the foreplay.

It's a good way of telling the other person -- Oh, you're GOING to have fun! But it'll be better if we go the long way.

 

[3113]

A prologue is like playing with naked genitals and then putting your clothes back on for the foreplay.

It's a good way of telling the other person -- Oh, you're GOING to have fun! But it'll be better if we go the long way.

You've been reading some very different prologues than I have! Most of the prologues I see in stories read more like trying to play with your genitals only to find you're wearing a chastity belt. Frustrating, unsatisfying, and once you've got your clothes black on, you learn that foreplay is going to be with someone who tends to sloppy kisses and has cold, clammy hands.

Which is why I usually skip prologues, check out the first chapter, and, all too often, put the book back on the shelf.

 

[Boota]

I have a prologue in my next two upcoming books, but not in my first one or the one I'm working on. I treat a prologue the same as I would chapter one, though. The first sentence still has to hook and pop. I try to keep them brief and to the point, just say what needs to be said and then jump in and start with the "real" story.

My next book, Picking On Retards, is bracketed with a prologue and epilogue because the story takes place in the past, but is narrated from the present. I used the prologue/epilogue format to delineate time passage. The prologue was the fastest way to establish the characters and allow chapter one to just roll. The epilogue was just for closure. My proofreaders wanted to know what happened to the characters afterwards - in the present - and I thought it was a good point. Kind of like when you see Senator and Mrs. Blutarsky at the end of Animal House.

 

[AllardChardon]

Epilogue

I just finished reading Isabel Allende's Daughter of Fortune and it could have used something at the ending that resembled an ending. After 447 pages I expect a little more resolution and one would think with all those words, Isabel could have found some that did the trick. I hate weak endings! It is like having sex and not getting off when you really want to. High and dry, they call it. Not satisfying at all and leaves you wondering why you spent the time reading the damn thing anyway. I want to leave my readers really wanting more but still having most their questions answered. Be true to your reader is a good rule of thumb.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

In the dozen or so novels in the "Delights" series I use the prologue to set the scene for anyone who has not seen the first book (Absolute Delights). I also use it on short stories, and if you want to see why, look at A Hunting We Will Go.

 

[AllardChardon]

In all seven Harry Potter books there were no prologues, no matter how long it has been since the last novel was published. Only one epilogue and it sucked big time. I was so disappointed in the epilogue at the end of Book Seven that I decided right then and there to never use one in my writing. I don't use prologues, either. But, some of us love them and some of us hate them. As long as the readers hang in there, that is all that matters.