Prologues

[RK Wallis]

Are you writing one?

I'm just re-reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and its prologue is a brilliant example of how to use them. It's interesting in its own right, and the mystery behind that start is revealed at the end of the book

Check it out

 

[Jonny]

Very much a Marmite (Vegemite?) device aren't they?

I've heard there's someone who frequents these forums who's not a particularly big fan. I think the reason being that they think it's hard enough to write one gripping/compelling beginning without setting yourself the arduous task of doing it twice. I tend to agree.

Confession time. First time I had a stab at a novel I started with a prologue not knowing what the general perception was. It was subsequently lost by drip-feeding its info into the main story as the redraft progressed and I felt the overall book benefited as a result.

However, I have read books that do have a prologue but can't recall their names off the top of my head - so they can obviously work if used properly in the right hands although I think they belong, by and large, to an earlier age.

 

[RK Wallis]

Very much a Marmite (Vegemite?) device aren't they?

I've heard there's someone who frequents these forums who's not a particularly big fan. I think the reason being that they think it's hard enough to write one gripping/compelling beginning without setting yourself the arduous task of doing it twice. I tend to agree.

Confession time. First time I had a stab at a novel I started with a prologue not knowing what the general perception was. It was subsequently lost by drip-feeding its info into the main story as the redraft progressed and I felt the overall book benefited as a result.

However, I have read books that do have a prologue but can't recall their names off the top of my head - so they can obviously work if used properly in the right hands although I think they belong, by and large, to an earlier age.

They aren't my preference to write them either; it's hard enough to get the first chapter right. But if reading PotE can help anyone brave enough to try their own prologue, I hope this helps

 

[Hannah F]

Another good one starts "The Horse Dancer" by Jojo Moyes except that I enjoyed the prologue so much, I was disappointed when the actual story started - I wanted to stay in that world - and it took me a few pages to get into the actual story. The significance of the prologue came into effect much later in the book when its presence at the beginning made total sense.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I recently read a book that had a lengthy epigraph AND a prologue! That was decidedly too much! @AgentPete would have thrown it across the room...

Once you finally got to it, the book wasn't bad, but I can't remember what either epigraph or prologue were about, so I wonder if they were really necessary.

 

[Hannah F]

"The Essex Serpent" by Sarah Perry had a prologue about a drunk guy going into the water, possibly drowning, possibly taken by the serpent. i spent most of the book wondering when I was going to find out what happened to him. I didn't but I guess drowning - anti-climax. That was one prologue that was definitely superfluous.

 

[Mythobeast]

I've read too many prologues that want to give you the full and complete history of writing the story. I vacillate between reading and not reading the prologue because of it. I picked up the latest edition of "The New Jim Crow" on Audiobooks, and it had two prologs, one of which was 45 minutes long. Definitely too much. I haven't written one yet, but if I do, I hope I keep it brief.

 

[David Y]

One of the main things I've taken from Litopia so far is that there's only person who knows the best way to tell each story and that's the author. So if they think a prologue is right, it is. Readers who don't like prologues can choose not to buy the book (if the author's reason for writing is to sell, which it may not be). Agents can choose likewise. If the story's the best it can be with or without prologue it will be successful, though there are different ways to measure success, admittedly .