Prologues

[RK Wallis]

Ah, the prologue, the bane of Agent Pete's working life.

I too am not a fan of prologues, though I will read them. I was reading one I love the other day and asked myself "why"? And I realised the main character was in the prologue (this is a best seller). I was invested immediately (most other prologues I skim, disinterested). That realisation made me remember another prologue I loved (also a bestseller, but in a different genre), that too was the main character.

Made me wonder, what makes you sit up and pay attention (and not be disappointed) with a prologue?

In the interests of resuscitating the prologue, let's discuss the secret ingredients that make them work

 

[Rich.]

I think it depends mostly on genre expectations. I remember picking up an action-thriller once and being drawn quite deeply into the prologue (this was years ago and I don't remember the title). It was about a team uncovering some kind of mystical artefact in the Himalayas. At the end of the prologue, everyone died, or there was a cliffhanger of impending doom, something like that. I don't remember exactly. But I do remember turning to chapter one and realizing that the main story was set years later with completely different protagonists. I didn't read any further.

On the other hand, the first instalment of Game of Thrones starts with a prologue in which everybody dies, and that didn't bother me at all, quite the opposite. Like I said, I think it mostly depends on genre expectations. I do remember the beginning of Brandon Sanderson's first Stormlight novel, in which he has an overture and a prelude and a prologue and goodness knows what else before the story gets going. So yeah, anyone can be self-indulgent, especially if they've already sold an awful lot of books.

I like your point, Rach, about prologues that feature the main character, but at the same time I can't help wondering why a prologue with the main character in it can't be chapter one.

In summary, I'd probably have misgivings with a prologue in a thriller or a drama or a romance, say, but I'd be a little disappointed not to see one in an epic fantasy.

 

[Steve C]

I do remember turning to chapter one and realizing that the main story was set years later with completely different protagonists. I didn't read any furthe

I think this says what most of us feel. We don't want to invest our feelings in something and then be told to forget them and invest them elsewhere. It's largely a time thing. A prologue set in the past is unlikely to hold me but one that is essentially a flash forward can be a tease. But as Rich says in that case why not call it Chapter 1

 

[RK Wallis]

I like your point, Rach, about prologues that feature the main character, but at the same time I can't help wondering why a prologue with the main character in it can't be chapter one.

The two prologues I'm thinking of were a YA fantasy and a thriller. In both cases, something pretty dramatic happened in the past. In the fantasy, the prologue spoke about how a relationship started that went to the heart of the novel. In the thriller, the present day worked toward uncovering what happened in the past. This is just conjecture, but I wonder that, in these two cases, the writer wanted to draw the reader's attention to what happened? For if you lump the prologue with the chapters and it doesn't stand out (and they were both prologues you easily sank into).

I remember that Sanderson novel, The Way of Kings. Very indulgent, but he's the first to say, he has an audience, he can get away with it. And for his diehard fans? They love him for it. It did sag in the middle though. I could only finish it by listening, but he does a fab payoff! A satisfying read. Not game to take on more though, my days of long books fade into the past, lol!

 

[Rich.]

This is just conjecture, but I wonder that, in these two cases, the writer wanted to draw the reader's attention to what happened?

I don't know. I have a nagging feeling that if we want something to stand out, even if it happened a long time ago, we can do better than sticking it in a prologue.

He laid down the coffin in synchrony with the other pallbearers. Ridiculous for there to be four of them. The coffin was so small.​

The clock ticked its endless tick. He drummed his fingers on the desk, just as he'd drummed them these last twenty years, every day at the same time, reliving the march with the pallbearers and waiting for his shift to finish so he could go down to the cemetery and talk to little Bill, the one he'd lost.​

I suppose that's why prologues work well in epic fantasy – they give you a taste of the big picture (a major draw for fantasy fans) before diving into the minutiae. But in genres where the big picture is the real world, in the main, fold it into chapter one, I reckon.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Michael Crichton, 'Jurassic Park'...cracking prologue.

A foreshadowing.

Not the same as in the movie...a beach scene and a little girl encounters the compys.

 

[RK Wallis]

Michael Crichton, 'Jurassic Park'...cracking prologue.

That whole book was cracking! Got me so worked up, worrying, I had to have a break!

 

[Rich.]

I don't remember the prologue. I don't think I've read the book since the film came out. I'll have to dig it out. So should we add...

foreshadowing

to...

the secret ingredients

?

Or was there something else about this particular bit of foreshadowing?

 

[gbhunt]

I suspect whether or not we like prologues also depends on how we're 'tuned'. Just like some people want or need to see the whole map before they start a journey, whereas others are just happy to take it turn by turn. To me, prologues are fine if they set the tone of the work, give me a reading experience I enjoy, and don't ask me to bond with characters who are then immediately eliminated (exploitative), unless the circumstances and personality of that character and the impact they have on others is integral to the rest of the book. I loved the Jurassic Park prologue because it told me something intriguing and threatening was going on, there was plenty of tension, and it was a promise of greater things to come.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I recently read a book with a prologue, in which the main character of the prologue was the mother of the main character in the story--basically setting up a question about who exactly the MC is because, as it turns out, she's not entirely human, but even she doesn't know it--only her mother does, and it becomes an important plot point later on. It was short and punchy and did the trick. And in the first sentence of Chapter 1, you could see how it was important to the story. However, I do think it could have been labeled Chapter 1, and not been out of line.

That said, I think a good prologue is obviously relevant to the story from the get-go. Maybe the MC is related to people in the prologue, maybe it's set in the same town at a different time, maybe it shows the flaws of a particular technology/magic/whatever that is critical to the plot. What come to mind to me are the 'prologues' in episodes of Dr. Who--those initial scenes rarely have the main characters in them, but they set up the problem for the episode. And you pay attention to them because you know they'll give you clues to what will happen in the episode (even though you know no one in the prologue will survive the experience. LOL!) None of these rambling prologues that detail the creation story for the world--a tale that ultimately rarely matters to the story itself.

 

[Hannah F]

I loved the prologue in Jojo Moyes "The Horse Dancer" which featured one of the MC's father. It was so good, I was disappointed when chapter 1 started and I had to leave that story. (No, the father didn't die). However, as the main sory unfolded, I saw how relevant that back story was. Could it have been called chapter 1, chapter 2 being a flash forward? Yes, I think so.

I like prologues in book 2's that are a wee catch-up of what happened/where we left the story in book 1. But I always read series/trilogies etc in order. I don't know how people who start at book 2 (why do that?) find those prologues.

 

[Victoria Bastedo]

Ah, the prologue, the bane of Agent Pete's working life.

I too am not a fan of prologues, though I will read them. I was reading one I love the other day and asked myself "why"? And I realised the main character was in the prologue (this is a best seller). I was invested immediately (most other prologues I skim, disinterested). That realisation made me remember another prologue I loved (also a bestseller, but in a different genre), that too was the main character.

Made me wonder, what makes you sit up and pay attention (and not be disappointed) with a prologue?

In the interests of resuscitating the prologue, let's discuss the secret ingredients that make them work

I read some romance novel or other, which had this as a teaser:


'You treat a lady like a dame, and a dame like a lady.'
Frank Sinatra

That was it. I like a prologue like this, short, neutral-evil in this case, kind of fun. That the author would choose this as the prologue indicates a theme in the story, but you don't know which character you're following. The lady? The dame? Or the womanizer?