What is your take? Are Preface/Prologue's a good idea, or just a cheap trick used to draw readers in?
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Preface/Prologue: To Be or Not To Be
- Thread starter Angelique
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Noooooes!
The P word, not the P word!
*has nervous breakdown*
You don't know what you've started!
If it works, do it. As long as it's not an info dump, and is pertinent.
Others will be along to say readers never read them, or they never read them, or they are the devil's own work
The P word, not the P word!
*has nervous breakdown*
You don't know what you've started!
If it works, do it. As long as it's not an info dump, and is pertinent.
Others will be along to say readers never read them, or they never read them, or they are the devil's own work
Noooooes!
The P word, not the P word!
*has nervous breakdown*
You don't know what you've started!
If it works, do it. As long as it's not an info dump, and is pertinent.
Others will be along to say readers never read them, or they never read them, or they are the devil's own work
What this adorable idiot whackjob said.
Ditto.
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151564&highlight=prologues
What is your take? A pint of lager please.
Are Preface/Prologue's a good idea, or just a cheep trick used to draw readers in? They're an excuse for dreamed-up questions to which one doesn't really want an answer.And it's 'cheap' not cheep!
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151564&highlight=prologues
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Sorry, the wife says it was an introduction. I posted it in SYW a while back. Someone called it Scorsese esque. I was quite proud of it.
If people don't read them, then the trick is to write a great one, or get their attention to it somehow. I like a challenge. I'm going with a preface. I f someone doesn't want to read it, meh, I'm writing it anyway.
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Yeah, this topic comes up a lot on AW. Not to discourage a new discussion, but start here. Once you finish reading all of those links, try these.
Thanks for posting everyone. I was just looking to see how most felt.
I'm personally sitting on both sides of the argument. As a reader, I usually love prologues. But as writer, any time I write one I feel guilty.
I'm personally sitting on both sides of the argument. As a reader, I usually love prologues. But as writer, any time I write one I feel guilty.
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Write stuff you want to read. Write it well.
You can't really control what the readers do with your book, though. The best you can do is to write it so well that they have no choice but read from cover to cover.
You can't really control what the readers do with your book, though. The best you can do is to write it so well that they have no choice but read from cover to cover.
The agents at Upstart Crow Literary talked about prologues in their recent netcast (on Thursday or Friday, I think. It was about beginnings they've liked in stories and when/how to break rules (like the no prologue rule)). I found it to be interesting.
http://upstartcrowliterary.com/blog/
http://upstartcrowliterary.com/blog/
Do what best serves your story.
Now, go stand against the wall 'cause we're going to shoot you for starting yet another prologue thread.
I absolutely love them! When I'm at the store and see a preface/prologue or foreward, I read every one, as I search for two or three books to buy. Most books I buy have prologues. Now here comes the but...if the prologue sucks then I pass on the book.
IMHO authors go through hoops to draw readers to their books. Book signings, talk shows, internet, book reviewers and the list goes on. So I say - SO WHAT if a prologue is another trick to draw a reader in. Every reader counts, every sale counts and if the book is great and the prologue is great, then have at it!
The only prologue I ever liked was actually a fake foreword, in Lolita. It worked very well with the overall theme and tone of the novel, and served to explain and even apologize for a thing or two. And it was SHORT. That was key.
Generally, everything in a prologue can be communicated to the reader in the actual body of the novel, so I don't see the point of them.
Generally, everything in a prologue can be communicated to the reader in the actual body of the novel, so I don't see the point of them.
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