Prologues

[Zaphkiel]

Can I get some opinions on prologues? As in: Do readers even look at them? Are they good to have in a novel? Why or Why not?

[Lykaios]

My experience is that most people have read some uber-boring prologues so their opinion of them is to just *skip*. This is annoying as it means having a prologue can make people reluctant to read your work. I've read some shokers, too and totally understand why people hate them. Some writers just use them as a history lesson or a summary, which I think is silly and pointless.

However, when I write, I always seem to end up with a first chapter that is set years before the main story, or show something happening off the tracks of the story. I usually name this chapter a prologue, as that's what I believe it is. But If I ever were you publish, I'd just call it chapter one because of the whole *skip* thing.

Prologues are debateable, as some people like them, others don't. I usually read prologues in books unless they start 'Long, long ago . . .' or 'In the kingdom of . . .' because I think that I might miss something important if I don't read them.

[Zaphkiel]

True, I feel the same way. I think the idea of using chapter one as a sort of prologue is indeed very good, Lykaios.:)

[Crocolyle]

The prologue in A Game of Thrones by GRRM is an example of a good prologue. Write it as if it were a teaser taking place shortly before the events of the novel without the main characters of the novel (otherwise, why not make it chapter one?).

[Majyk]

Lykaios is right about the whole "skip" thing, although I don't understand why people would do that. Instead of skip the prologue, I would just not read the story. That's happened to me before. As for writing them, I've done a few novels and sometimes I use them and sometimes I don't. It really depends on whether or not there is something that readers should know when starting chapter one.

The only time I dislike prologues is when they're either boring, such as Lyk said if it sounds like a history lesson, or if they're too long and I can't find the point. When I write prologues, I try to keep them as short and to-the-point as possible so they don't end up like that.

And I agree with what Crocolyle said. If it's a good prologue, it will intrigue the reader and make them want to read more, like a teaser.

[Bowie20049]

Go to YWS, you'll understand why prologues suck, at the moment.

[Simmi]

Funny, I talked to Bowie about this.

Being me, I haven't read the previous answers so I may be repeating a lot.


I, usually, don't skip over prologues, but there are rare occasions when I do. When the prologue just seems... boring.
I don't see the point of prologues sometimes. I would say that you should just ask yourself, "Will my story not work out if I don't put in this prologue?"

[Shaun]

I don't read prologues because prologues are the result of the writer doing two things:
1) Being a lazy ass and not writing a novel that can stand on its own without some ridiculous, disconnected chapter to say "oh, by the way, what's going on is this, but I don't want to actually put that into the actual novel, with the actual characters).
2) Assuming the readers are too damned stupid to figure things out on their own.

So, prologues are either just really stupid or really offensive, and probably both. Don't use them. They're lazy, they're pointless, and if your story can't stand on its own without having to pull some stupid "before the actual story happened, this happened" crap, then your story isn't good enough.

Cut them. Just write novels with appropriate plots and well-developed characters.

[Carraka]

I read them. Even when they're boring, my eyes read them, and my brain just skips over them for me, committing nothing to memory so by the time I've finished a sentence I've forgotten the beginning.

But in general, I believe that to-prologue-or-not-to-prologue is a decision made on a case-by-case basis. Some novels could do without them, other novels greatly benefit from their presence.

Because of the stigma against prologues, my EC prologue, as written, can be skipped. But even though it can be skipped, it still belongs there, it's part of my novel, and if you skip it, I shall scorn you.

I'm going to start borrowing from past rants now.

So why do I have the prologue for EC? I'll list these reasons in order of importance to why I've kept the prologue, but if you want to know why I ever wrote it in the first place, read the list backwards.


To worldbuild. EC is fantasy, so there are going to be new ideas, obviously. But I was rather unambitious with it, so I have no magic except magical creatures ... erm, carnivorous horses. I needed a way to introduce them through the POV of a character that is not my main character. I wanted to establish what they meant to the average person, so that when my MC encountered one for the first time, it made sense for her to be terrified and completely devoid of good judgment. But I didn't want to drag that scene down (or any of the earlier scenes that reference Hellhorses) by having to explain what a certain creature looked like, without having that creature actually standing there and being experienced by a solid 3D character with emotions and aspirations and idiocy.
To establish tone and genre. I could arguably do this without a prologue, but ... no. Without the prologue, the book pretty much starts in the middle of wedding plans. I mean, the signs of an imperfect relationship are there, but it probably looks like it's going to be romance, with a three-way-triangle to spice things up, and the prohibiting father cast as the villain.
So I can kill someone. Yeah, killing characters is fun. But I've always believed that one of the surefire ways to hook a reader is to kill someone in the first chapter. Because it works on me, every single time. I'll be reading some really long first chapter, bored to death, then on the 26th page, someone dies, and all of a sudden my palms are sweating, and I don't stop reading for 300 pages.


Interestingly when I think of prologues, I think of them as belonging to the fantasy genre. That's probably because I exclusively read the fantasy genre. Maybe fantasy readers are just more tolerating of the Prologue, since it's so traditional. If I got up tomorrow and decided to write a prologue for a science fiction novel, I wouldn't call it a prologue. I would title it with something relevant to its content, and then probably put the entire chapter in italics. I notice other people in above responses have made similar suggestions -- and you could just call your prologue chapter one, and get away with a lot more. But I feel that the prologue in the fantasy genre is conventionally accepted. That's why everyone writes a prologue when they don't need one. Don't write a prologue if you don't need one.

My second novel doesn't have a prologue. Because it doesn't need one.

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Unrelated -- I do love the prologue of A Game of Thrones, as I love all of God's works, but after seeing its total failure in hooking readers (including me) I sometimes wonder (as a heretic) whether it could have been written better. But I do understand the reasons that it is there, and it also sparked a lovely tradition (within the series) of killing off prologue POVs.

[Bowie20049]

I believe prologues also give people what to expect of the story. If there's a murder in the prologue with a shadowy man and a random victim, you know that it's going to be dark despite what the first chapter says.

[Merc]

I usually read prologues, but I know people who don't. Some authors like to put overly long prologues that might as well be called Chapter one: "A Foreshadowing" or "What Happened Before Our Heroes Were Born." I think a prologue might work if it's short (1 or 2 pages), but if it's like the "history of the wars before the age of heroes" then implementing that into the dialogue of the characters (like a history class, a discussion of the legend that one of the characters doesn't believe/know, among other ways) might work better. Also a prologue on a sequel might work as a recounting of the events of previous book(s) which new reader might like to read, and old ones can ignore.

[Confused Shaman]

I read prologues, but unless it's actually interesting (which is rarely) I'm not going to remember anything that happens in it. Therefore, it was all useless words, that the story could do without.

If your novel has a prologue, I'd suggest taking it out, and then seeing if your story still makes sense. If it does, then you're probably using the prologue for mood setting which can easily be done in the first few chapters.

More often than not though, I think writers use prologues to include some backstory they think the reader needs to know right then and there. Also, in a way, prologues make the reader start the same story twice, as they don't normally involve the protagonist. This isn't a good thing, in my book. :P

"Every story has a back story, and the place for that back story is not at the front of the book."

[thecollector]

I tend to like Prologues. Only, when I write them, I try to make them as short as I can with as much action as I can fit into it, if the situation permits. I absolutely hate slow beginnings. That's why it took me a while to get used to reading Without Remorse by Tom Clancy. The beginning was a tad sluggish at first, but eventually drew me in. (I highly recommend that book, by the way.) Nine times out of ten, if a book has a very slow beginning, it takes me a month to read. That's why I try not to do that to whoever (if I've won the lottery by having a book published) reads it. The beginning has to be quick, but yet also slow. What I mean is, the Prologue is good to have action, but don't have a car chase or a gun fight every other page. Then, once the climax rolls around, there will be nothing to entice the reader because they're used to the intense action. If you're writing a novel, I suggest a Prologue. However, if you do incorporate a Prologue, (my OCD-ness at least) it demands an epilogue.

[v.w.123]

I think they are important if they hold actual information about the novel. 1. Because it intices (or however you would spell that) the reader to actually read the novel. 2. It helps a reader not waste time on reading the book if it won't interest them. I usually read the prologue, becuase it helps me decide if I want the book or not.

So with that said, I vote in favor of prologues! *big smile*

[shubhangi.sood]

Hi ZAphkiel,
I think Prologue's form a basic part of a novel. Personally, i don't ever read them but since I have started working on writing clubs like YWO, I have changed my opinion. Writing a prologue is also a talent. The writer should have the talent of knowing what and how much should be revealed in a prologue. HOPE I HELPED!!!!!!!

[simplesimplicity]

The novel I'm working on has a prologue. It's told in first-person point of view, while the chapters are in third-person. In the prologue, the main character is thinking back on what happened. Chapter one, of course, then flashes back to tell the story. I killed a person in my prologue ;)

I sometimes skip prologues that are really long, especially in fantasies where they take pages to describe the kingdom and all. It depends on the story, really.

In the story I mentioned above, though, I don't think I would live if I had to off my prologue and epilogue. I think they're pretty important.

[Dreamscaper]

The only time I don't like prologues are when they are more of a story of how the author came up with the idea for the book and not anything to do with the plot or history of the story itself. Going into a new series I won't be overly interested about the history of the place, but it does give a sense of the authors writing style. If its the second book in a series that is set x years after the events of the first book a prologue is nice to explain events after the first book takes place but before chapter 1.