The Problem with Prologues and Unexpected Endings

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SBibb

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So I've gathered that prologues are often seen as useless and are generally skipped over.

I also know that people want a believable ending, one that doesn't seem to come out of thin air.

For the two-novel books I'm writing, both have sections that take place in the "Forthwalling" zone, and take place after the larger portion of the story. The explanation to this (though it makes note on the current situation in the stories) does not come until the very ending of book two.

I see these sections as important, because the ending might largely be equated to "There are aliens-- what?!" without it.

But at the same time I realize that it might not be necessary otherwise.

One thought I've had is to simply reveal this forthwalling zone later in book one, rather than as a prologue, but I'm worried it would be seen as jarring. I'm considering pasting the sections in a seperate document and eliminating them from the story to see how it reads without them.

Have you guys had any experiences with this? Any thoughts or suggestions on the situation.
 

allz28

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I like your idea about putting the prologue and epilogue in a different document and seeing if the story still reads well.

Prologues and epilogues are definitely out of fashion, but they still have a place in literature. They all shouldn't be deleted, but if you can, backspace them right off the page.
 

shadowwalker

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:Shrug:

re: the myriad of discussions on prologues. If the story is better with one, you should use it. If it's better without it, don't. Definitely like your "take it out and see what happens" approach. No point tossing it just because some people don't like them.
 

Ashes Oh Ashes

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I think prologues are often thought of as 'out of style' because people tend to use them incorrectly. Like any other piece of a novel, the prologue needs to have a solid purpose. It shouldn't just be thrown in for the sake of having one. Though some people will tell you to absolutely not, if you think your novel works better with it, then by all means include it.
 

RobJ

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I still see plenty of prologues and epilogues.
 

Mharvey

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I love and hate prologues. Up until recently, I always felt like everything I've ever wrote needed one. I think part of the issue with prologues is what AOA pointed out: they are frequently misused, and I was a big offender myself.

I'd put a prologue that was really cool, and be baffled when AW folks are like: "Yeah but... wtf does this have to do with anything?"

And I'm like: "But it's cool..."

"Which ones the main character?"

"Well um... none of them. It's the main villain PoV. He's bad ass."

"Okay, which character should I be caring about?"

"Um... well... the villain, maybe?"

"Swing and a miss."

So yeah, long story short, in my most recent piece, I started with Chapter 1 and didn't regret it.
 
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Kyla Laufreyson

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Definitely try the second document thing.

I'm personally all for prologues, as long as you use them properly. I have one in my current WIP. It's tiny, and I think it does its job. But at the same time--if my betas see it and tell me to kill it? I'll listen to them.

Just remember that it's all about how you use it and if it works :D
 

Mandiloo322

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I like prologues and epilogues as long as they're short. If they go more than 5 pages I tend to get annoyed because it's usually an excuse to dump backstory from the very beginning.

I use them both, but I keep them as concise as possible. ;)
 

Becca C.

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Sometimes I like to play a game with prologues. I don't read them and then I see if the novel makes sense. If it does, the prologue was unnecessary.
 

allz28

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While I understand what you're saying, Becca, I don't think that game truly works.

There's lots of movies that I missed the first 20 minutes of but they still made sense. ;) Doesn't mean it should have been shortened.
 

Ajisai

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I think prologues, for me at least, are often more effective when they work to establish a tone rather than to dump a bunch of information about back story.

The best example I can think of is the first "chapter" (it's not a prologue, I guess, but sort of works like one) of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - the book would function perfectly well without it but having it sets up the emotional tone for the book really well.
 

Ashes Oh Ashes

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While I understand what you're saying, Becca, I don't think that game truly works.

There's lots of movies that I missed the first 20 minutes of but they still made sense. ;) Doesn't mean it should have been shortened.

I agree with you entirely on this. Heck. You can take entire characters out of a plot and still have it make sense. It's more along the lines of how it feels to me. But that's just me, of course.
 

RobJ

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Sometimes I like to play a game with prologues. I don't read them and then I see if the novel makes sense. If it does, the prologue was unnecessary.
Seriously? You really do that? Isn't that a rather pointless game, though? Why not simply read the whole book from start to finish, including the prologue if there is one, and either you enjoy the book or you don't?
 

SBibb

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Thanks for commenting. I think I'm going to try the second document thing, then. The prologue itself is short, but there are other sections throughout the story that come from those scenes. (More of a flash-forward than flash-back).
 
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