prologue, prelude, or introduction

[Riversong]

I've been round and round this forum with the search feature for these topics and seen and read so many different comments and theories on advice about them and pertaining to them. However, curiosity has once again gotten the better of me and now that I went and registered there's nothing stopping me from opening my mouth and blurting out the first thing that comes to mind.

Instinctively I had thought they were all generally the same, just synonym's of one another. That prologue and prelude were just fancy alternative names for Introduction, but looking up definitions I found I was wrong. So here's where the confusion set it, and the question started plaguing my mind.

How do you which one to use? If you any at all?

Personally I've never picked up a book that merely started with Chapter 1 with out some sort of intro or little blurb that either foreshadows events or relays something. I've seen some that are short like a paragraph or two and some that are 4-5 pages. Then again maybe I'm not picking up the right books who knows.

My question stems from the project I'm working on now, where chapter one starts with a journal entry from one of the characters stating "Twelve years have passed, since we fled our homeland." I have written 7 pages worth of back story to put before chapter one, and by definition standards it would be called a prologue. But at the same time I'm not sure if that's what it should be called or if I should even keep or scrap the whole thing prior to chapter ones first line.

So I guess now that I've rattled on excessively, the question remains. How do you know what to use and when to use it? Like, what's the little tell tale tricks and tips to figure out if one of them is really needed and in which case.. which one should be integrated into the beginning of the novel.


- Riversong

[Stijn Hommes]

There is just one thing you need to worry about. Take it out and read the rest of the story objectively. If a smart reader can figure out what it is about without the backstory, then you don't need it.

A lot of people write prologues that really have no reason for being written or published. Look at yours with a critical eye and be brutally honest with yourself before you decide to keep it.

I'm not sure what exactly the difference is between a prelude and a prologue, but an introduction has no place in a piece of fiction, it's the non-fiction variation.

[Maxinquaye]

What Stijm said. If it's just back-story that is supposed to explain the story, it doesn't belong in the story at all. All fiction is dramatized, and there should be as little authorial explanation as possible. Sometimes you can't avoid it, so like with most "rules" the maxim "If it works, it works" is the only guideline worth a damn.

[Bufty]

A word of caution.

Are the 7 pages of back-story (however they are described) absolutely essential for the reader to know up front in order to understand or follow the unfolding story? I doubt it. Background is often boring and dull when it is out of the blue and about characters with whom one is not familiar.

I have no doubt the background is necessary for you to know in order to write the story, but as a reader I prefer to know the character and his present situation first, and then I may be interested in wanting to know a little about his background. Preferably a little at a time as and when it was necessary and also contributed to my understanding of the unfolding story - but not 7 pages up front.

Maybe another character has a need to know something about the protagonist's background and teases it out of him (or her) - that is a better way of getting it across than dumping it on the reader at the outset.

I assume this first novel will have a satisfactory stand alone conclusion even though a series may be envisaged. Remember, if the first book doesn't sell one doesn't have a series.

Good luck.

[Riversong]

Thanks Stijn, I have trouble reading my own work for this question in particular cause I know how the main character got where he is. So it works with out it in my mind, simply because it's mentioned here and there with out exact details. I'll pose the question to my 3 beta's who are in the process of reading through the manuscript, if with out it they can put together why he is where he is instead of where he obviously should be.

And I must appologize I meant preface, not prelude. I'm a musican as well so I sometimes cross terms from both writing literature and writing music to the wrong subject. But I must say I learn something new everyday, I was not aware Introductions were just for non-fiction. I shall definitely keep that in mind for future projects, and hopefully keep the music terms where they belong and out of my novel questions. :D

-Riversong

[Riversong]

Wow, two more replies while I was replying to Stijn. And both with very good points.

Maxinquaye"If it works, it works" is the only guideline worth a damn.

I would assume it works being the 1 beta I tested it with said that's what drew him into the story to begin with. But as I just said in my reply to Stijn I'll be asking them all again if it makes sense with out it there.

Bufty
I have no doubt the background is necessary for you to know in order to write the story, but as a reader I prefer to know the character and his present situation first, and then I may be interested in wanting to know a little about his background. Preferably a little at a time as and when it was necessary and also contributed to my understanding of the unfolding story - but not 7 pages up front.

I understand that and agree on some level. I wrote myself into a corner with this particular story because most of the other characters in the book were involved in some way to what happened. They were a part of the event or in the same situation when it happened, so there wasn't any other way for this information to get to the reader through the main character as no one will directly ask him because they already know.

The "prologue" I have now being the 7 pages are two short cut scenes that happened in the past, that relate to how the main character ended up where he is, in some way defining how he is as well. As I said in the first post Chapter 1 starts with the journal entry from a supporting character saying 12 years have passed since the events in the prologue. It's hard to explain.. but I definitely understand where you are coming from with wanting to know the character in their present situation rather than a load of back story.

I guess I shall have to wait and see what my beta's will say, or drop down to the SYW section with it for critics to rip apart. (i mean that in a good way I love harsh criticizm, I'd rather be insulted than have people lie and say they like it hehe) :)

[aadams73]

This is what I have to say about prologues. (http://alexiapolitis.blogspot.com/2010/02/beginning-is-prologue-is-beginning.html)

As for preludes, I can't say I've ever come across one in a novel--at least not that I've noticed.

[bonitakale]

I just picked up the two books that happened to be on the coffee table.

One starts with a prologue set five years ago. I don't think it adds anything at all to the book, but it's scary and horrifying, and I figure some people must like that, to see how awful the crime is before the book even begins. I'm not one of those people, but it doesn't stop me from reading the book if I know the rest is going to be good.

The other starts, "By lunchtime, Kathy was reduced to the word-puzzle in the Sunday paper." Before three pages have gone by, she's called to the scene of a murder. And that would always be my preference, if possible.

But a whole lot of authors use them, so somebody must like them.

[Lady Ice]

Wow, two more replies while I was replying to Stijn. And both with very good points.

Maxinquaye

I would assume it works being the 1 beta I tested it with said that's what drew him into the story to begin with. But as I just said in my reply to Stijn I'll be asking them all again if it makes sense with out it there.

Bufty


I understand that and agree on some level. I wrote myself into a corner with this particular story because most of the other characters in the book were involved in some way to what happened. They were a part of the event or in the same situation when it happened, so there wasn't any other way for this information to get to the reader through the main character as no one will directly ask him because they already know.

The "prologue" I have now being the 7 pages are two short cut scenes that happened in the past, that relate to how the main character ended up where he is, in some way defining how he is as well. As I said in the first post Chapter 1 starts with the journal entry from a supporting character saying 12 years have passed since the events in the prologue. It's hard to explain.. but I definitely understand where you are coming from with wanting to know the character in their present situation rather than a load of back story.

I guess I shall have to wait and see what my beta's will say, or drop down to the SYW section with it for critics to rip apart. (i mean that in a good way I love harsh criticizm, I'd rather be insulted than have people lie and say they like it hehe) :)

What you've changed it to sounds fine. I mainly use prologues for a scene that takes place a while (more than a year) before the main action, but is integral to understanding the story fully. The rape is mentioned so often that it makes sense to clue the reader in, even only slightly.

Don't dump backstory in a prologue!

[Libbie]

I have a very hard time imagining I'll ever use a prologue. I almost universally dislike them. They seldom do anything of any use -- either they're just Chapter One with a different name, and they start off the story, or they're a bunch of backstory. Either way, they are typically uninteresting to me. The exception is the prologue of Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora. I re-read the prologue itself just to enjoy the creativity of Lynch's structure and characters. Genius! If prologues can't capture that same kind of reader-hooking badassery, I'm not intereted in reading or writing them.

As for introductions, I may use them some day in the right situation. The right situation to me is one in which the introduction sets the appropriate mood for the rest of the story. The introduction to Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is a great example of what I'm talking about. (It's a fictional letter of introduction from a made-up professor, who gives a tiny amount of history on how the manuscript was "found," and puts the subject matter into a societal context which subtly influences the reader's interpretation of the book.)

[Riversong]

Thanks for everyone's advice.

I talked to my beta's today, 1 is slacking and hasn't picked it up yet.. (but that's typical considering who it is..) the other 2 have informed me in not so many words that it's not so much an "info dump" despite it's length.. than it is a part of the mc's current situation in chapter one. That with out it, no ones gonna get it. Though it's not directly part of the whole story, both feel the novel would be lacking and somewhat confusing with out it.. so with that I guess it stays.

I may have to see what can be done about shortening it though as to me 7 pages seems long hence the prologue dilemma question to begin with.

[Lady Ice]

Definitely shorten it. Prologues at their best are concise and concentrated (but then again, aren't novels?). Anyhow, remember that it isn't the story proper, so dedicating many pages to it is not a good idea.