Preface v. Prologue???

charlotte49ers · Nov 3, 2009

I saw this in a crit thread, but didn't want to hijack with questions.

So, a preface is a preview of something that comes later (a la Twilight), but does it have to be written (or copied, I guess) verbatim?

Stijn Hommes · Nov 4, 2009

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define:preface&meta=
A preface is a foreword: a short introductory essay preceding the text of a book.
The prologue is the fictional variation of it. Either way, it's a pointless thing to question, since there's no good reason not to call the first part of a fictional work Chapter 1.

charlotte49ers · Nov 4, 2009

I didn't think it was a pointless question, but thank you for your help.

ChaosTitan · Nov 4, 2009

You're right, charlotte, it's not a pointless question (although there are several threads around that have discussed the difference). Many books still use prologues. I'm reading one right now, as a matter of fact. Prologues are more common in fiction, because they tell part of the story. From what I understand of a preface, it's not part of the story itself and often written by the author, or by someone else introducing the author/book.

Hapax Legomenon · Nov 4, 2009

ChaosTitan said:
From what I understand of a preface, it's not part of the story itself and often written by the author, or by someone else introducing the author/book.

Most prefaces I've seen aren't from the author but from other people, like literary analysts, in classic books. Pretty much, pick up any copy of a classic book and there will likely be a literary analyst's essay in the front.

A prologue is the beginning of a story that isn't the same as the rest of the novel. A lot of people recommend against them, which probably the reason for Hommes' reaction.

Anyway, unless the book really, really, REALLY needs extra explanation, I recommend against writing your own preface and allowing the book speak for itself. Often the purpose of the preface is to introduce the author and the author's world to a generation that's not likely to understand it, which is why it's so common in classic lit. Prologues, being a part of the story, you can give or take.

charlotte49ers · Nov 4, 2009

Thank you guys for your very helpful answers!

Don't hate me for using this example, but you know the prefaces in Twilight? Are they really just prologues but named incorrectly? They aren't really providing backstory, so I guess that is where I am confused.

Hapax Legomenon · Nov 4, 2009

charlotte49ers said:
Thank you guys for your very helpful answers!

Don't hate me for using this example, but you know the prefaces in Twilight? Are they really just prologues but named incorrectly? They aren't really providing backstory, so I guess that is where I am confused.

I would have to see it for myself, but I'd guess from what you are saying that they are either prologues named incorrectly, or more like previews, if they were in the book proper.

VileZero · Nov 4, 2009

charlotte49ers said:
Thank you guys for your very helpful answers!

Don't hate me for using this example, but you know the prefaces in Twilight? Are they really just prologues but named incorrectly? They aren't really providing backstory, so I guess that is where I am confused.

I haven't read Twilight, but this sounds pretty similar to what I've seen some Star Wars (yep, nerd) books use. But these entries appear without any sort of identifier, so "Prologue" and "Preface" don't show up at the top of the page. It sort of speaks for itself. I'll give you two examples, the first being an opening passage that I think will show up later in the series, the latter being a little different from what you're describing (but I still love), with each passage appearing at different points throughout the book.

From Aaron Allston's Fate of the Jedi: Outcast:

"The darkness was eternal, all-powerful and unchangeable.
She stared into it, unblinking and unafraid. She was determined that it would not claim her. She had resisted it these many years. She would resist it forever, never despairing.
It was unchangeable, but change would take place.
The Force told her so."

From Matthew Stover's Revenge of the Sith:

"The dark is generous.
Its first gift is concealment: our true faces lie in the dark beneath our skins, our true hearts remain shadowed deeper still. But the greatest concealment lies not in protecting our secret truths, but in hiding from the truths of others.
The dark protects us from what we dare not know.
Its second gift is comforting illusion: the ease of gentle dreams in night’s embrace, the beauty that imagination brings to what would repel in the day’s harsh light. But the greatest of its comforts is the illusion that dark is temporary: that every night brings a new day. Because it’s the day that is temporary.
Day is the illusion.
Its third gift is the light itself: as days are defined by the nights that divide them, as stars are defined by the infinite black through which they wheel, the dark embraces the light, and brings it forth from the center of its own self.
With each victory of the light, it is the dark that wins.

The dark is generous, and it is patient.
It is the dark that seeds cruelty into justice, that drips contempt into compassion, that poisons love with grains of doubt.
The dark can be patient, because the slightest drop of rain will cause those seeds to sprout.
The rain will come, and the seeds will sprout, for the dark is the soil in which they grow, and it is the clouds above them, and it waits behind the star that gives them light.
The dark’s patience is infinite.
Eventually, even stars burn out.

The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins.
It always wins because it is everywhere.
It is in the wood that burns in your hearth, and in the kettle on the fire; it is under your chair and under your table and under the sheets on your bed. Walk in the midday sun, and the dark is with you, attached to the soles of your feet.
The brightest light casts the darkest shadow.

The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins – but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back.
Love is more than a candle.
Love can ignite the stars."

Dunno if either help, but I almost feel like you could simply include something short without giving it a title at all.

motormind · Nov 4, 2009

Stijn Hommes said:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define:preface&meta=
A preface is a foreword: a short introductory essay preceding the text of a book.
The prologue is the fictional variation of it. Either way, it's a pointless thing to question, since there's no good reason not to call the first part of a fictional work Chapter 1.

Yes there is, when it is not the first chapter. But a discussion about this in another thread went nowhere fast.

DeleyanLee · Nov 4, 2009

IIRC, there was a preface on "The Red Tent" where the main character addresses the reader directly, explains a little about why she felt her story should be told and a bit about the differences in culture between her time and the modern time. I thought it was a good way to "set the stage" for the historical (Biblical) era before actually starting the story in earnest and a good way to use a preface in fiction.

Fenn · Nov 4, 2009

I read this thread earlier and it's been bugging me, so I dug out my copy of Twilight (got the lot, think they're fab easy reading, so yah boo sucks

) and you're right, there is indeed a 'preface' at the beginning (not that I thought you'd read it wrong, I'd just never noticed, ohhhhh you know what I mean

).

Given that the last section is titled 'Epilogue', I would assume that it's an error. 'Prologue' and 'epilogue' would go together naturally, I'd have thought. But dictionary definitions seem rather woolly on the subject, so who knows?

Stijn Hommes · Nov 5, 2009

To the original poster: Calling it pointless was perhaps too strongly worded. But I would like you to think very hard about whether it's really neccesary to have a prologue (others have explained prefaces a lot better than I did). Prologues tend to be big infodumps of information the reader doesn't really need to know yet. Try weaving it into the rest of the story.

A prologue is the beginning of a story that isn't the same as the rest of the novel. A lot of people recommend against them, which probably the reason for Hommes' reaction.

Haphazard: I'm not neccesarily against what most people call a prologue, I just find it silly to call it a prologue when you know so many people recommend against using them. Of course, there are plenty of people who use prologues that are completely unneccesary, but arguing about those isn't something I waste time with. Those should simply be cut.

motormind said:
Yes there is, when it is not the first chapter. But a discussion about this in another thread went nowhere fast.

A story should start at the beginning, so if whatever you're writing isn't the first chapter, it's not part of the story.

JJ Cooper · Nov 5, 2009

I've always associated prologues with fiction - haven't read Twilight so I'm not sure why it was called a preface.

My novel never had a prologue until my editors suggested one to help identify with some pychological issues my character faces later in the book. I don't believe it's a big infodump. Here's the whole prologue.

One squadron of elite Australian SASR troops had gained control of the airfield in Iraq’s Western Desert. Prisoners were herded, bound and placed on the roadway at the airfield’s entrance. Jay observed for weaknesses that he could later exploit during their initial interrogation. Around 60 of Saddam’s ‘Men of Sacrifice’ to sort through.

And one little Iraqi girl.

Jay gazed through the swirling dust at a hardened trooper gently guiding the young girl toward him. The wind played at her tattered blue jumper and whipped her mattered dark hair. She held a delicate yellow flower tight to her chest.

She stopped short of Jay and looked up with deep brown eyes, her look devoid of emotion; no tears, no smile, only a hint of vengeance buried deep within her young soul.

The little girl looked at her flower then back to Jay as he crouched. She started to extend her hand and offer up her precious possession. Her lips moved, but her voice was drowned out by the barking of an Australian 50 calibre machine gun.

Jay grabbed the girl and dived to the ground. His headset came to life: ‘Incoming!’

The story starts four years later. It's very much a prologue and not the first chapter. And, an important part of the story.

My second book doesn't have one - yet.

JJ

Rowan · Nov 5, 2009

charlotte49ers said:
Thank you guys for your very helpful answers!

Don't hate me for using this example, but you know the prefaces in Twilight? Are they really just prologues but named incorrectly? They aren't really providing backstory, so I guess that is where I am confused.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one to think of that... IMHO, I think the Twilight saga "prefaces" should have technically been called "prologues" (based upon my understanding of each). Such a confusing matter!

charlotte49ers · Nov 5, 2009

Thank you for saying it was too strongly worded, Stijin, especially since I didn't ask if I should have one or not. I just asked the difference.

And the Twilight thing just left me so lost. Though, is it really a prologue since it didn't address what happened in the past, but really just foreshadowed something that would come later? That's why I'm so confused!

Fenn · Nov 5, 2009

Well, dictionary.com has this to say -

"a preliminary discourse; a preface or introductory part of a discourse, poem, or novel."

I guess that doesn't really clear things up...

charlotte49ers · Nov 5, 2009

lol

Yeah...not so much.

allenparker · Nov 5, 2009

adding my 2 dollars worth

Just calling a prologue the first chapter does a disservice to the work, if it truly is a prologue. It is important to remember that the prologue is a tool in a writer's box that can be used to promote a different view of the world or to introduce an important trait to the story.

Prefaces are also a tool that can be used, among other things, to glean sympathy, remorse, hate, love, or pure indifference to a character or group of characters.

I used a preface for a book to introduce the POV character and to ascribe several many points about the character so that it wouldn't be an info dump in the book. Written as an introductory dedication, I was able to bring out the character's family, friends, and set the tone of the language for the book. it could have been done over the length of the book, but this got the point across before the important reading took place. I was able to enter the story immediately.

My present WIP involves a prologue. The story is based around November 1963 in Dallas, and parallels the Kennedy assasination. In order to set time, location, and tie the whole thing to Dallas later in the story, I have used the Kennedy murder as a backdop in the story to re-invent the facts to fit my plotline.

The one thing I have gathered from experimenting with this is that any information a reader needs that is in the Preface/Prologue will have to be repeated later.
How this works? We'll see.

third person · Nov 5, 2009

popcorn's in the nuker. can't wait till people chime in about how they abhor prologues--and how NOBODY reads them. cause you know . . . reading is so blah

easy way to get past the people who don't have time for prologues? don't put PROLOGUE in the center of the page. left-justify a time and date (and maybe a location) and let them think it's chapter one. and then after your short "prologue" (that had better be good and worth it of course) the reader can then turn the page and see CHAPTER ONE and you can be like GOTCHA!

Stijn Hommes · Nov 6, 2009

@JJ Cooper I'm assuming the psychological issues of your character somehow find their origin in the events you described in your post (why doesn't the story come along when I try to reply to your quote?)

It's obviously important to the story, but it's something that if I had written the book would have been in chapter 1 followed by a *** separator and the rest of the chapter. I guess it's a style thing.

Knowing how people often skip reading prologues, I wonder how it affects their perception of your book since they obviously missed important information along the way.

Toothpaste · Nov 6, 2009

charlotte49ers said:
And the Twilight thing just left me so lost. Though, is it really a prologue since it didn't address what happened in the past, but really just foreshadowed something that would come later? That's why I'm so confused!

It should be called a prologue, even something like this is typically called a prologue.

If you are concerned about what to call yours, you can be pretty confident that "prologue" is the right choice. Worse comes to worse, your editor will want to change it later. But right now no one will look down at you for calling it a prologue.

As a side note, I wouldn't look to Twilight for examples on how to write. I am truly not being dismissive of the book, nor trying to enter into a Twilight debate. I think the book has merit in other ways. But as an example of writing, it isn't the best guide to turn to.

BigWords · Nov 6, 2009

I'm much more forgiving to the 'ticking clock' prologues if they actually appear in the body of the text as they do in the prologue. Think of the opening of the film Mission: Impossible III and the scene drags you into the story immediately. If, however, the story proper begins twisting that opening salvo (just as the cliffhangers in serials were a bit loose with continuity from chapter to chapter) then any goodwill I have is lost immediately. If the opening of the book works well without the scene at the beginning then it should be excised for clarity.

Bellevance · Nov 6, 2009

A prologue in a novel is a way of introducing (or setting up) the story by offering information that precedes the instigation of the plot. In my latest literary suspense novel, THE ERRAND BOY, the prologue presents a light scene that occurs a month before the much darker, imperative events of the novel begin with a car accident.

Here's a link to the prologue and part of the first chapter:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307237435/?tag=absolutewritedm-20

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 6, 2009

Be a rebel. Call it a Forward and dispense with all the prejudice.

charlotte49ers · Nov 6, 2009

Shadow_Ferret said:
Be a rebel. Call it a Forward and dispense with all the prejudice.

lol I don't even have a prologue, I was just wondering what the difference between the two was.

Thanks for everyone's help! And for the rep points people have sent reassuring me my question wasn't pointless.

Preface v. Prologue???

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