Prologue KIND Discussion

[RK Wallis]

Let me start by saying, what I'm proposing isn't prologue bashing. Please be respectful of an author's choice.

Yes, 90% of prologues don't work for a multitude of reasons, just watch Agent Pete's YouTube video about them. And bear in mind agents aren't fans of them unless you're an established author - at least, that's my take.

Having said that, there are prologues that work when they are used correctly, as @Carol Rose does. So, in that vein, and having just read two prologues that worked, I'm interested, what makes a prologue for you? What's the magical ingredient you've noticed? Let's get to the bottom of that.

For a standalone, I've noticed the prologue goes to the heart of the story. In A Song of Ice and Fire by GRR Martin, the main plot involves the threat beyond the wall, and that's where the prologue begins. In Harry Potter, it begins just after Voldemort killed Harry's parents, and that's where the prologue begins (even though it's called The Boy who Lived).

It must be noted, authors who did this crafted a great prologue AND a great first chapter.

 

[Eva Ulian]

Let me start by saying, what I'm proposing isn't prologue bashing. Please be respectful of an author's choice.

Yes, 90% of prologues don't work for a multitude of reasons, just watch Agent Pete's YouTube video about them. And bear in mind agents aren't fans of them unless you're an established author - at least, that's my take.

Having said that, there are prologues that work when they are used correctly, as @Carol Rose does. So, in that vein, and having just read two prologues that worked, I'm interested, what makes a prologue for you? What's the magical ingredient you've noticed? Let's get to the bottom of that.

For a standalone, I've noticed the prologue goes to the heart of the story. In A Song of Ice and Fire by GRR Martin, the main plot involves the threat beyond the wall, and that's where the prologue begins. In Harry Potter, it begins just after Voldemort killed Harry's parents, and that's where the prologue begins (even though it's called The Boy who Lived).

It must be noted, authors who did this crafted a great prologue AND a great first chapter.

I didn't want to say this because no one noticed, but in effect I did use the first paragraph in my first chapter on Sunday's pop-submission as a kind of prologue. So, they can be used effectively if incorporated in the novel itself and not as a separate section blatantly labelled "Prologue", which frankly I don't think many people read because it evokes, at least in my case, as something being tagged on, archaic and superseded in our time and age. But, of course others may think differently.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Agent Pete's demolition of prologues is effective, but I think that his advice applies particularly to unknown authors who are querying literary agents with a view to being traditionally published.

About one-third of crime novels that I've read recently use prologues. Some are effective, others a waste of time. At the very least, a prologue should make the reader wonder how it links to the action in the plot—does the reader know something that the protagonist or antagonist doesn't? The worst example of an inconsequential prologue I've read was in a crime novel that only revealed its secrets two chapters from the end, in a 'huh, so what? way.

Once an author is successful, no one calls them on their use of prologues. As an example of this, I'm presently reading a novel by one of Agent Pete's clients. Michelle Paver's Wakenhyrst begins with a prologue, even if it's not labelled as such, which describes mysterious incidents in 1966, before the main story begins '60 Years Earlier.' See the Look inside feature:

Wakenhyrst: Amazon.co.uk: Michelle Paver: 9781788549561: Books

In my own writing, I've only used a prologue once, but I had a rethink while editing, turning it into Chapter 1.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

I adore an atmospheric prologue. It's a mood setter, like a piano chord.

 

[Malaika]

I think GRRM's prologue is both effective and important because it gives a sense of scope. That can be really important, particularly in fantasy where there's a need for a slower pace and to zero in on a small scale in the beginning in order to world-build. But readers want to know there's more to the story than a poor farm boy who's good at hunting. So a few pages prologue about an Elf* in a far away palace doing something very magical right before she gets captured makes many promises to the reader that the farm boy (being carefully crafted into a compelling and sympathetic main character in chapter 1 cannot):
1-There are Elves!
2-And magic!
3-This is a big world
4-There are big stakes
5-The main character is going to encounter these things

I never read prologues myself, unless it's fantasy. I'm a very impatient reader. But I've come to know that the fantasy ones are usually not to be skipped.

*The prologue for Eragon

 

[Carol Rose]

Having said that, there are prologues that work when they are used correctly, as @Carol Rose does.

Not sure I've used a prologue in any of my stories... but I have written a lot of them. It's possible I forgot about one or two.

 

[RK Wallis]

Apologies @Carol Rose , I read you had for one of your series (to catch readers up) in an old thread, must have misinterpreted!

 

[Carol Rose]

Apologies @Carol Rose , I read you had for one of your series (to catch readers up) in an old thread, must have misinterpreted!

No apologies needed! Like I said, it's possible I forgot. LOL! Which thread? Thanks.

 

[RK Wallis]

@Carol Rose Miracle! I found it. It was a recent read on repetition (the only reason I found it). Am I repeating myself—yes I am! Do you?

 

[Carol Rose]

@Carol Rose Miracle! I found it. It was a recent read on repetition (the only reason I found it). Am I repeating myself—yes I am! Do you?

Ah yes! LOL! Of course. The Weathermen. Four paragraphs to explain the set up, at the beginning of each of the 12 books in the series. I did the same thing in Blood Moon Lynx, again to explain the legend. That one was much shorter, and there were only three books. Thanks for reminding me!

 

[KateESal]

I tend to advise new, young readers of Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, to start at page 12.

Prologues can serve a useful purpose for the reasons outlined by @Malaika above and for catching up / reminding readers part-way through a series, as used by @Carol Rose

I think they can also be useful where the novel is written in third person close POV and the author wants to feature, or hint at, an important event which their protagonist hasn't witnessed. It's a handy foreshadowing technique, not to mention source of dramatic irony. So the prologue to Eragon fulfils that purpose, as well as the world-building kick-start described by @Malaika
The rest of Eragon is written from the protagonist's POV.

The first chapter of other novels in the Harry Potter series essentially serve as prologues.... Goblet of Fire, Half-blood Prince and Deathly Hallows. They all start from POVs alternative to Harry's, but after that we're inside Master Potter's head for the remainder of the story.

Personally, I never consider including a prologue as I'm pretty confident the demographic I write for (7+) has zero patience for them.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I think a good prologue is short and directly referenced in the first couple sentences of the first chapter. For example, a prologue that tells how the MC's dad tried to defeat the Evil Dude, but didn't quite do it, and the first chapter opens with the MC doing something that reminds him of dad, so we know the MC is son of failed champion and will obviously be meeting Evil Dude soon. Few prologues do this, and I tend to skim-read them, if I look at them at all (though lately I've been paying more attention to them, just to find those good ones and analyse them for professional reasons).

 

[Amber]

I like prologues that start at Chapter 1.

I don't like prologues because I think it's rude to require a pre-requisite for your story.

 

[Dan Payne]

I really don't understand this whole "I never read prologues" mindset. So do you pick up a book, see the word "Prologue" and flip pages until you find where chapter 1 starts? Why would you not read the prose the author put on the page? Presumably it's there for a reason.

If you're the kind of reader that needs to get inside the head of a main character and stay there for the duration, I can sort of understand a reluctance to read pages of world-building, scene-setting, plot-kicking, foreshadowing or antagonist-introducing. But even though the "one protagonist third person close" is the story model that seems to get the most attention in writing advice these days, that's not all (or even most) novels.

The reason for a prologue being a "Prologue" presumably is to do with the book's structure. Most authors would probably prefer to put their main story into chapter 1. I can think of two valid reasons to write a prologue: if there's background to the story that a tight POV cannot provide, or because you want to start with the farmboy, not the hero.

In the former case, I'd argue that it's cheap storytelling, a form of backstory, and what cannot be integrated to the main plot is probably dispensable. In the latter case (as for much of my own writing) the story's main plot is going to start with an ordinary person in a normal situation before it introduces the complication for Act 1. Modern readers, agents and publishers are always looking for the story that starts from word #1. If your story requires you to build up a character and a setting before getting things underway, then an author can use a prologue to introduce the stakes or the threat or the crisis before showing "The Shire before the darkness falls". In which case, why would you, the reader, sabotage your enjoyment of the book by skipping the bit that shows you what's at stake? The bit that promises that your farmboy is going to encounter alien pirates? The bit that shows the killer making his first kill?

 

[Malaika]

I really don't understand this whole "I never read prologues" mindset. So do you pick up a book, see the word "Prologue" and flip pages until you find where chapter 1 starts? Why would you not read the prose the author put on the page? Presumably it's there for a reason.

If you're the kind of reader that needs to get inside the head of a main character and stay there for the duration, I can sort of understand a reluctance to read pages of world-building, scene-setting, plot-kicking, foreshadowing or antagonist-introducing. But even though the "one protagonist third person close" is the story model that seems to get the most attention in writing advice these days, that's not all (or even most) novels.

The reason for a prologue being a "Prologue" presumably is to do with the book's structure. Most authors would probably prefer to put their main story into chapter 1. I can think of two valid reasons to write a prologue: if there's background to the story that a tight POV cannot provide, or because you want to start with the farmboy, not the hero.

In the former case, I'd argue that it's cheap storytelling, a form of backstory, and what cannot be integrated to the main plot is probably dispensable. In the latter case (as for much of my own writing) the story's main plot is going to start with an ordinary person in a normal situation before it introduces the complication for Act 1. Modern readers, agents and publishers are always looking for the story that starts from word #1. If your story requires you to build up a character and a setting before getting things underway, then an author can use a prologue to introduce the stakes or the threat or the crisis before showing "The Shire before the darkness falls". In which case, why would you, the reader, sabotage your enjoyment of the book by skipping the bit that shows you what's at stake? The bit that promises that your farmboy is going to encounter alien pirates? The bit that shows the killer making his first kill?

I don't skip fantasy PL as I said because I've learned they usually serve a purpose but I almost always skip them in my other favorite genre romance. Because I read romance to meet two MC who are going to fall in love. I give almost zero fucks about other characters esp third rate villans trying to show me some subplot the writer thinks is cool. I also skip introductions in non fiction. Wtf is up with introductions? I just assume if it was important they would call it ch1

 

[Steve C]

I really don't understand this whole "I never read prologues" mindset. So do you pick up a book, see the word "Prologue" and flip pages until you find where chapter 1 starts? Why would you not read the prose the author put on the page? Presumably it's there for a reason.

If you're the kind of reader that needs to get inside the head of a main character and stay there for the duration, I can sort of understand a reluctance to read pages of world-building, scene-setting, plot-kicking, foreshadowing or antagonist-introducing. But even though the "one protagonist third person close" is the story model that seems to get the most attention in writing advice these days, that's not all (or even most) novels.

The reason for a prologue being a "Prologue" presumably is to do with the book's structure. Most authors would probably prefer to put their main story into chapter 1. I can think of two valid reasons to write a prologue: if there's background to the story that a tight POV cannot provide, or because you want to start with the farmboy, not the hero.

In the former case, I'd argue that it's cheap storytelling, a form of backstory, and what cannot be integrated to the main plot is probably dispensable. In the latter case (as for much of my own writing) the story's main plot is going to start with an ordinary person in a normal situation before it introduces the complication for Act 1. Modern readers, agents and publishers are always looking for the story that starts from word #1. If your story requires you to build up a character and a setting before getting things underway, then an author can use a prologue to introduce the stakes or the threat or the crisis before showing "The Shire before the darkness falls". In which case, why would you, the reader, sabotage your enjoyment of the book by skipping the bit that shows you what's at stake? The bit that promises that your farmboy is going to encounter alien pirates? The bit that shows the killer making his first kill?

Spot on. I am writing a romantic suspense so am thinking of a one page prologue giving a taste of the suspense in the middle then the first few chapters building the characters and their romance.

 

[Susan]

Spot on. I am writing a romantic suspense so am thinking of a one page prologue giving a taste of the suspense in the middle then the first few chapters building the characters and their romance.

Is that actually a prologue though, @Steve C? It happens after the action of chapter one, not before.

I have no issue with prologues, so long as they aren’t in fact first chapters. Agree with @Dan Payne - can’t see why anyone would skip a prologue. If the author included it, presumably it’s integral to understanding the story. I wouldn’t read a novel if I wasn’t prepared to trust the writer.

I don’t agree that it’s cheap to include a prologue for the purpose of providing backstory that a tight POV can’t provide. I have this exact issue with my novel and have tried various tricks to rectify it. The story is in first person POV, but a shocking ancestral event occurs before the MC enters the story. This needs to be related before the end of chapter one.

This event informs the rest of the story and is vital to the ending. It also makes for easy understanding of relationships which are complex to relate as backstory. So it does all that, and it deserves to be there for drama.

I tried having the MC imagine the scene later during chapter one, getting into the head of that scene’s POV and providing a bit of her own gloss, but it seemed weird and was an obvious attempt at avoiding a prologue. My various readers who are close to the story have all said the scene should be included and most have said it’s crying out to be a prologue. None have spoken against a prologue.

The current version sums the scene up as backstory. When I posted it in Litopia, most people complained that it was too much info and too complex. The problem is, it can’t be dripfed. It needs to be out there before scene one closes.

So, yes, I see the value of prologues.

 

[Steve C]

Is that actually a prologue though, @Steve C? It happens after the action of chapter one, not before.

Yeah a prologue can be set in the future although usually in past. Or it could be the present and chapter 1,2,3 etc are flashbacks until they catch up to the time of the prologue.

 

[Leonora]

I accidentally skipped the prologue to Life of Pi the first time I read it. It made for a different reading experience. Not sure if it was better or worse.
I have a kind of framing narrative. Is that a prologue? And does it matter? Each story has its own needs.

 

[Susan]

A prologue, technically, is something that occurs before the main story begins - from Greek, pro (before), logos (word). If the opening scene of a novel occurs chronologically after the main action, you’re fortunate because you can just head it up with a date and / or place rather than using the dreaded ‘prologue’ word.

 

[Dan Payne]

In today's environment I would never use the dreaded "prologue" word in any circumstances. Just put the text on the page without a heading. By the time your reader reaches "Chapter 1" they've already made it through your prologue by accident.

 

[Susan]

In today's environment I would never use the dreaded "prologue" word in any circumstances. Just put the text on the page without a heading. By the time your reader reaches "Chapter 1" they've already made it through your prologue by accident.

Agreed, but it won’t fool an agent though.

 

[Deleted member 604]

My answer is as long as the use of a Prologue serves your story, its not a problem. And, personally as a very vivid and regular reader I don't have issues with prologues myself, because most of the ones I have come across/read works.

 

[Steve C]

In today's environment I would never use the dreaded "prologue" word in any circumstances. Just put the text on the page without a heading. By the time your reader reaches "Chapter 1" they've already made it through your prologue by accident.

Excellent advice

 

[Tim James]

If the "prologue" is important to your story and occurred sometime before the main story, then it is quite right to put it as a prologue. Otherwise you would either have to have a jarring time jump to CH 2 or somehow incorporate the info later as some kind of flashback, which might not suit your story if none of your characters can "flash back" to it.
For example, a story I have posted a couple of chapters of on here starts with a prologue. The prologue is important and contains information that is pertinent to the story to come. However the action of the prologue happened nearly 2000 years before the main story, so there is no chance of anyone in the main story having a "flashback" to it. In this instance it makes total sense for it to be a "prologue". To call it Chapter 1 would have just been wrong.

 

[Amber]

I really don't understand this whole "I never read prologues" mindset. So do you pick up a book, see the word "Prologue" and flip pages until you find where chapter 1 starts? Why would you not read the prose the author put on the page? Presumably it's there for a reason.

Yes, that's exactly what I do. I only go back and read prologues occasionally--mostly if I think there's something good I've missed.

You'd be surprised. I often don't follow the author's wishes. Sometimes I don't read the book at all if I don't like the first few words.

This is a habit I started before I knew what the word prologue meant. I didn't know what they were.

There are large portions of the Bible reserved for Liam began Bertram begat.....

That's what prologues often sound like to me.

But a prologue's biggest sin to me is saying, "You're not ready for the story yet. Here, let me prepare you with this boring info dump. After you've managed to painstakingly plod through these twenty pages and have successfully absorbed the information I think you need before I can give you a glimpse of the good stuff... well then you can continue."

 

[Steve C]

Yes, that's exactly what I do. I only go back and read prologues occasionally--mostly if I think there's something good I've missed.

You'd be surprised. I often don't follow the author's wishes. Sometimes I don't read the book at all if I don't like the first few words.

This is a habit I started before I knew what the word prologue meant. I didn't know what they were.

There are large portions of the Bible reserved for Liam began Bertram begat.....

That's what prologues often sound like to me.

But a prologue's biggest sin to me is saying, "You're not ready for the story yet. Here, let me prepare you with this boring info dump. After you've managed to painstakingly plod through these twenty pages and have successfully absorbed the information I think you need before I can give you a glimpse of the good stuff... well then you can continue."

I agree a 20 page prologue is off putting but a 1 page taster can draw readers in.
"Sometimes I don't read the book at all if I don't like the first few words." I wouldn't have bought it in the first place if that was the case.
There is a compromise somewhere and to cast all prologues as bad is not something I would agree with. I read short ones.

 

[Eva Ulian]

I really don't understand this whole "I never read prologues" mindset. So do you pick up a book, see the word "Prologue" and flip pages until you find where chapter 1 starts? Why would you not read the prose the author put on the page? Presumably it's there for a reason.

If you're the kind of reader that needs to get inside the head of a main character and stay there for the duration, I can sort of understand a reluctance to read pages of world-building, scene-setting, plot-kicking, foreshadowing or antagonist-introducing. But even though the "one protagonist third person close" is the story model that seems to get the most attention in writing advice these days, that's not all (or even most) novels.

The reason for a prologue being a "Prologue" presumably is to do with the book's structure. Most authors would probably prefer to put their main story into chapter 1. I can think of two valid reasons to write a prologue: if there's background to the story that a tight POV cannot provide, or because you want to start with the farmboy, not the hero.

In the former case, I'd argue that it's cheap storytelling, a form of backstory, and what cannot be integrated to the main plot is probably dispensable. In the latter case (as for much of my own writing) the story's main plot is going to start with an ordinary person in a normal situation before it introduces the complication for Act 1. Modern readers, agents and publishers are always looking for the story that starts from word #1. If your story requires you to build up a character and a setting before getting things underway, then an author can use a prologue to introduce the stakes or the threat or the crisis before showing "The Shire before the darkness falls". In which case, why would you, the reader, sabotage your enjoyment of the book by skipping the bit that shows you what's at stake? The bit that promises that your farmboy is going to encounter alien pirates? The bit that shows the killer making his first kill?

I am convinced most readers don't read prologues, and some answers to this thread support this notion. Authors have to accept this as there's very little we can do about it- we cannot force readers to read prologues and sometimes it may be wise to remember authors are at the service of readers, not readers at the service of authors... and readers are quite free to read whatever they want without any external imposition placed upon them.

 

[Robert M Derry]

The only time I can really see any sense in having a prologue is if there's a significant time gap between the original inciting incident and the rest of the story, which would feel jarring to the reader if the time gap occurred between the page break of Chapter 1 & 2.

As a reader I expect to be given key setup information in the prologue that is integral to the story that follows. There's nothing wrong with prologues per se it's just that often when I see them on pop-ups they're there for the writer. The writer hasn't examined why they need it in any critical detail. If you can take the prologue out and a reader could understand the plot which follows and have a similar opinion of the key characters, then the prologue isn't necessary.

 

[Susan]

I am convinced most readers don't read prologues, and some answers to this thread support this notion. Authors have to accept this as there's very little we can do about it- we cannot force readers to read prologues and sometimes it may be wise to remember authors are at the service of readers, not readers at the service of authors... and readers are quite free to read whatever they want without any external imposition placed upon them.

But are we, as writer-readers, less forgiving than average readers? Are agents less forgiving? I’ve never heard any of my family or friends say they skip prologues, and many of us are bookish people who talk about what we’re reading.