Prologues, good or bad?

Blackfire · Mar 12, 2012

Hello, AW. Apologies if there's a thread already dedicated to this.

So, my current WIP has a prologue of ~3,500 words. I know the opinions on this are rather divided, so I'll make it a little more specific. My current WIP is going to be rather lengthy, and the world has a lot about it that is not normal - which is par for the course for fantasy novels.

My prologue sets out a group of MCs, and a lengthy bit of history about the land, and ends with a cliffhanger. This is probably because I had been reading Robin Hobb's Dragon Keeper around the time of starting this novel.

So, bottom line, without actually posting my 3,500 words of prologue, do you feel that a prologue would be beneficial to my work? If not, why? And, are prologues just a bad idea in general?

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

RobJ · Mar 12, 2012

If you do a search, this is a topic that comes up regularly

totopink · Mar 12, 2012

I honestly feel that prologues are unnecessary. I think it's perfectly possible in every case where there has been a prologue to set up the backstory as the story progresses. Just add bits in where necessary.

My current MS started off with a prologue describing some of the history of their world and a little bit about how my MCs parents met and although I enjoyed writing and reading it I finally had to admit that it was unnecessary. I got rid of it and gradually leaked information in throughout the rest of the first few chapters which all in all created a stronger beginning to my book and I think (hope) will make the reader more interested as more and more information gets dropped in.

I would probably skip a 3,500 word prologue. I can just about deal with a 1,000 word prologue at the very most, otherwise I would skip it and just get straight to the main story.

CrastersBabies · Mar 12, 2012

Hello Black! you're in for a storm of unspeakable proportions. Let me prepare you.

1. People will tell you this has been talked to death already. So, you're gonna get it from that end. Maybe even some links to other threads. And it kinda has, even though this is personal to your work in progress.
2. Some people hate prologues.
3. Some people don't hate prologues.
4. Those who focus only on hating them or loving them will probably be no help, so just skip those.
5. You'll get a few "oh Gods" or eye-rolls from people who are limited on self-expression. You can probably put those under #1 above (or put them in their own category. It depends on your mood.)

My honest-to-God suggestion is to post your prologue in the correct submission forum and let people have a go at it. There's no real way to tell unless you show us.

Good luck!

Pikabuddy · Mar 12, 2012

I think prologues are beneficial if you make them to be, as it gives a sort of a preview of your story to a new reader. I wouldn't make it an info dump, though. If you have explaining to do, incorporate it in with a action and/or dialogue.

Just my two cents.

dpaterso · Mar 12, 2012

Do you like your prologue? Does it add something to the novel? Or is it a lump of background info and set-up you think the main story needs? Ponder this and you'll have your answer.

Your text is painfully small to read. Why not use the board's default size, it's the default for a reason.

-Derek

Blackfire · Mar 12, 2012

CrastersBabies said:
Hello Black! you're in for a storm of unspeakable proportions. Let me prepare you.

1. People will tell you this has been talked to death already. So, you're gonna get it from that end. Maybe even some links to other threads. And it kinda has, even though this is personal to your work in progress.
2. Some people hate prologues.
3. Some people don't hate prologues.
4. Those who focus only on hating them or loving them will probably be no help, so just skip those.
5. You'll get a few "oh Gods" or eye-rolls from people who are limited on self-expression. You can probably put those under #1 above (or put them in their own category. It depends on your mood.)

My honest-to-God suggestion is to post your prologue in the correct submission forum and let people have a go at it. There's no real way to tell unless you show us.

Good luck!

Thanks for being brutally honest here.

I figured this topic would have been done to death and beaten until the twitches of the corpse seem to simulate some kind of grotesque form of life. [There's some disturbing imagery for you.

]

I would post it in the SYW forum [which is what I assume you mean by submission forum], but I already have the first, 2,817 word chapter up there, and I don't want to crowd the forum. >.<

Al Stevens · Mar 12, 2012

I read a sample the other day that had a "Prelude." I couldn't tell the difference.

Blackfire · Mar 12, 2012

Al Stevens said:
I read a sample the other day that had a "Prelude." I couldn't tell the difference.

I believe those are synonyms. Could be wrong, though.

alexward1981 · Mar 12, 2012

I like having prologues to things in my writing but most of what I write in the 'prologue' could also easily be a part of chapter one. I like to use them to create a sense of 'ooh, what's going on here?!' rather than use them for exposition or setting up a story.

Linda Adams · Mar 12, 2012

Make sure you understand what a prologue is. A lot of the reason why they get a bad rap is that writers can't figure out how to start the story or get backstory in, so they do a dump in a prologue.

I personally don't mind prologues, but they need to be done well. I like Clive Cussler's because they're clearly outside of the timeline of the rest of the story but add something to the experience of what's happening to the main characters during the story. On the other hand, I'm reading a book now where the prologue shows something happening a few years ago, and then the first chapter picks up with the main character being asked to investigate it. Honestly, that prologue didn't add anything because everything was covered in the following chapter.

Blackfire · Mar 12, 2012

Here's a more relevant question:

Since, in my prologue, information is included that the main characters could never know at the time, and indeed don't find out until much, much later, would a prologue add much? I feel that the dramatic irony of including the events in a prologue would be much more effective than keeping the reader thinking it's a mystery novel they've picked up.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 12, 2012

A prologue is as good or bad as you write it. But if it can go into the main story as backstory, it probably isn't a prologue at all.

The real answer, I think, is simple. It's your novel, and if you want to write a prologue, write a prologue. About a billion very good novels out there have prologues, and they haven't harmed sales at all.

Toothpaste · Mar 12, 2012

Well do you want your audience to know the mystery before your character does or have that "ah ha!" moment at the same time as your character? As a fan of cozy mysteries, I have always rather enjoyed the "ah ha!" moment as a reader myself, so I can say readers don't mind being left in the dark so long as they are confident the author will turn on the light eventually (otherwise I doubt Agatha Christie would have had the career she did . . .)

Blackfire · Mar 12, 2012

Toothpaste said:
Well do you want your audience to know the mystery before your character does or have that "ah ha!" moment at the same time as your character? As a fan of cozy mysteries, I have always rather enjoyed the "ah ha!" moment as a reader myself, so I can say readers don't mind being left in the dark so long as they are confident the author will turn on the light eventually (otherwise I doubt Agatha Christie would have had the career she did . . .)

The "ah ha!" moment is all well and good in mystery novels, but my novel isn't exactly mystery. >_>

pandaponies · Mar 13, 2012

Why is the dramatic irony effective? What does the reader gain from knowing this information? Serious questions.

I also am of the aha!-enjoying persuasion, and I read fantasy (no mystery novels at all). I like a slow reveal where the reader can piece things together him/herself.

I adore Robin Hobb, for the record. ;D The Liveship Traders trilogy were easily some of the most engaging, addictive books I have ever read in my entire life. But I mean, how much less ridiculously amazing would those books be if there was a prologue detailing, ex. the history of the Elderlings and facts about the Rain Wilds that we gradually discover whilst reading?

I am in the "Say no to infodump prologues" camp. XD I feel like generally speaking, information in prologues either A) could be more effectively worked in throughout the novel or B) is not important. The only time I want to read a prologue is when it's SHORT and intriguing and sets up the tone of the novel. ...Like the serpent prologues in Liveship Traders.

All JMO! Take it with a grain of salt!

n3onkn1ght · Mar 13, 2012

Prologues are, in essence, a literary tool.

Tools can be put to good or bad usage. You can use a hammer to hit a nail, or you can use it to bludgeon someone to death. The hammer, however, won't be anything more than a hammer.

Do you need to use a prologue? Only you can tell us, because we don't know what your fully finished story will look like. In general, prologues should only be used if they are discontinuous with the main text, separated by time or distance or POV.

For instance, I was going to have a short prologue to my work in progress, because it was in the third person POV of someone meeting the main character. But then I decided to intersperse their two stories and make them both 1st person, so the prologue got bumped up into a full chapter, because its not discontinuous with the main body of the text anymore.

Stijn Hommes · Mar 13, 2012

Blackfire said:
My prologue sets out a group of MCs, and a lengthy bit of history about the land, and ends with a cliffhanger. This is probably because I had been reading Robin Hobb's Dragon Keeper around the time of starting this novel.

(bolding mine)
Even when the land is not normal, you're probably better off without including a lengthy bit of history. Leak such info as necessary and not in one big lump at the start. Give the reader some credit. They'll figure it out.

Also, if the prologue includes a group of MCs, why not simply call it chapter 1? The prologue haters won't skip it and without the lengthy history bit, you don't need to call it a prologue anyway.

seun · Mar 13, 2012

A prologue? What's that?

Drogona · Mar 13, 2012

I think prologues get bad rep because many writers dumps hefty information there when the readers don't really care about the story yet. That doesn't mean prologues can't be done well though if the writer first manages to hook the reader making him curious about the things he is going to be shown in the prologue.

Fins Left · Mar 13, 2012

At this point, I'm more of a reader than a writer. As a reader, when I see a prologue:

If it is short, I assume the book will start out slow and the prologue is to bait you into slogging through the first couple (dull) chapters. In those cases, I skip the prologue and go straight to Chapter 1 (or its equivalent).

If it is long (like a whole chapter long): I figure the book is going to be really dull. After all, if you have to write a chapter before the first chapter to keep me slogging through the dull, up front bits… then the book is going to be more work than I'm willing to put in.

I don’t think I actually ever read prologues unless I’m trapped on an airplane and I've already read the SkyMall and InFlight magazines cover to cover.

Fins Left · Mar 13, 2012

Drogona said:
...many writers dumps hefty information there when the readers don't really care about the story yet.

This.

Hamilton · Mar 13, 2012

Blackfire said:
Here's a more relevant question:

Since, in my prologue, information is included that the main characters could never know at the time, and indeed don't find out until much, much later, would a prologue add much? I feel that the dramatic irony of including the events in a prologue would be much more effective than keeping the reader thinking it's a mystery novel they've picked up.

All stories are, at their core, based on mystery: what's going to happen next? Holding some of that information back instead of providing it all upfront could be yet another way of enticing a reader to continue throughout the story.

It can also be incredibly frustrating when the reader has been provided with an essential piece of information, but the main character hasn't, and they spend the entirety of the novel/movie/etc. running around making mistakes based on that ignorance (while the reader tears their hair out). This isn't an absolute, might be worth considering if the dramatic irony you're referring to could have that effect on the reader.

Deizelcore · Mar 13, 2012

Prologues aren't bad by themselves, it's just that most of the times they aren't written properly and don't add enough to the story.

RobJ · Mar 13, 2012

Fins Left said:
At this point, I'm more of a reader than a writer. As a reader, when I see a prologue:

If it is short, I assume the book will start out slow and the prologue is to bait you into slogging through the first couple (dull) chapters. In those cases, I skip the prologue and go straight to Chapter 1 (or its equivalent).

If it is long (like a whole chapter long): I figure the book is going to be really dull. After all, if you have to write a chapter before the first chapter to keep me slogging through the dull, up front bits… then the book is going to be more work than I'm willing to put in.

It sounds from the above as though you don't really understand the purpose of a prologue. It'd be worth searching some of the many prologue threads where I know it's been discussed to death. Of course, you may still choose to skip them, or perhaps you won't, but understanding why prologues are actually used will help you to make an informed choice.

Prologues, good or bad?

Blackfire

Ghost amidst the caligraphy.

RobJ

totopink

CrastersBabies

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Pikabuddy

Learning more every day

dpaterso

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Blackfire

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Al Stevens

Blackfire

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alexward1981

Linda Adams

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Blackfire

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Jamesaritchie

Toothpaste

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Blackfire

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pandaponies

in ur boardz, correctin ur grammar

n3onkn1ght

Stijn Hommes

Know what you write...

seun

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Drogona

Fins Left

Fins Left

Hamilton

Deizelcore

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RobJ