Do prologues work or not?

Your question should really be does/can a prologue work, and the answer is it all depends. If it's done well and serves its purpose- yes.

You seem to feel the information in your prologue doesn't belong there, so in a sense you've answered your own question.

Yes, they can work. But since your already having doubts, as Bufty said you may already sense it needs to be elsewhere.

Ninka said:

Currently my novel starts with a prologue that is also supposed to serve as a cliffhanger. I am starting to doubt its efficiency, and I am considering moving it where it really belongs - the second half of the novel, towards the end.

Maybe this was discussed before (I have to admit I did not research) - do you think prologues work or not? Can they work for a debut suspense novel?

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Hi Ninka. Prologues are a risk - some agents say they don't like them and some readers don't read them. If it really serves your story well, fine, but if you can do without one, you probably should. You can work on hooking your reader in the first chapter.

Ninka said:

Maybe this was discussed before (I have to admit I did not research) - do you think prologues work or not? Can they work for a debut suspense novel?

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1) Research. Always. First.

2) Good prologues work, bad prologues don't.

3) See answer 2.

Jeff

I've read some agents say they think prologues are falling out of style, but then I read at least four new books a year with them. (references Weasel's post, nods)

i never really read them, so i've never really considered writing one.

It's all in the execution, but fwiw, I would advise not using a prologue unless it truly enhances the story and/or is absolutely necessary. And it sounds like your better instincts are telling you what to do about yours.

Some prologues enhance the experience, some slow it down. I've read brilliant prologues, but I've also skipped over a few. If it's a snippet from later on in the book, please don't. If it can stand its own and further the plot, please do. Prologues as a whole can't be judged, but its significance to a certain story can.

Like others have said, depends on your particular project.

Personally, I start nearly every project with a prologue and, in nearly every project, the prologue at some point gets cut. I've found it a useful way to get the ball rolling, but I haven't found that they serve any pressing narrative purpose.

Recently I've noticed a lot of agents prefer the prologue cut out and personally I tend to skip over them if they're very long, confusing, or they could be merged seamlessly into the first chapter. Some are necessary because it helps reduce infodumping in your first chapter and helps set up your story while others could be better implemented elsewhere. Also, if it's done well and pulls the reader in, I say go for it. Honestly, it's a very subjective matter and it's up to you and your readers to decide whether your prologue helps amplify your story or slows it down before chapter one even arrives.

Since you already sense that the information in your prologue could be put to better use elsewhere in your story, it seems that you're not sold on its placement either. Go with your gut and get some feedback. It might help you decide where it is most efficient in your story.

If you're cooking, does a recipe work or not?

Depends on how well you do it.

caw

It depends for me. If, like several fantasy authors, thinks works even though it really doesn't most of the time, is to info dump their world, I drop those books right then. On the other hand, flashforward prologues never seem to work as I'm always waiting for that scene while reading the book. A good prologue can work, but I hate the two examples I listed.

I think most of the other posts are saying, more or less, what I think. It really depends on the content and writing in the prologue and on the author's reason for including it.

Prologues that don't always work for me include ones that contain a bunch of dull, telly world building or background that doesn't read like an actual scene (these were once pretty common in SF and F, and I tended to skim, or skip, them unless they were really interesting). Also, I tend to dislike ones that get me rooting for a character who won't be in the main story at all, because they die at the end of the prologue or because they did something that's really far removed from the story's main events. They tend to work better for me when they show the protagonist, or someone else who will be an important part of the story, doing something that takes place some time before the main story starts (but not lifetimes before, generally) that is the catalyst for the main story arc that commences months or years later.

Mainly, they need to be so interesting that they get me reading.

An editor (for a big five subsidiary) who spoke at a writer's workshop I attended said she tends to dislike prologues personally, but added that since about 1/3 of recent, trade-published novels have prologues, maybe we should take strong statements about how much agents and editors (and readers too) hate prologues with a grain of salt.

Roxxsmom nails it.

Prologues which are used because the writer can't work out how else to provide information about how their world works are not effective. Prologues which are well-written can be. And lots of agents and editors like them--when they're done well.

polishmuse said:

I've read some agents say they think prologues are falling out of style, but then I read at least four new books a year with them. (references Weasel's post, nods)

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Whenever I've attended writer's conferences or publishing events, and spoken to editors and agents, I always ask them where they stand on prologues. Not one has ever dismissed them out of hand or said they dislike them on principle. Nearly all of them respond with some form of caveat though, saying that prologues are so easy to mess up or misuse, that there's nothing guaranteed to turn them off more than a bad prologue.

When it comes to a prologue, bad usually means boring or irrelevant. The infodump worldbuilding prologue falls foul of both of these, in most cases.

We can't tell you whether your prologue is worth keeping or not, because we haven't read it nor have we read the rest of your book, so can't tell if it works as it should.

Consider what a prologue is there to do.

If you have a prologue then the reader already knows, to some extent, what's going to happen in the rest of the book. They know the point the book is working towards, so they have to want to enjoy the journey which is going to get them to that point. Prologues tend to reduce the tension in the book because a high-point is usually disclosed in the prologue, but they don't always have this effect.

If you don't have a prologue then the reader doesn't exactly know where the book is going. They can still enjoy the journey but there's likely to be a higher sense of tension as the book approaches its climax.

Which sort of experience do you want your reader to have? Which works better for your book?

I think the issue of whether or not you need a prologue is one that can only be answered after you have completed the story. Starting your actual writing with a prologue is to kick open the barn door and release a vast info-dump.

caw

Ninka said:

Prologue in question:

1. Contains an actual scene and not world building. The scene itself is intense.
2. My character doesn't die in the end of the scene. It is a main character. Hopefully people will be rooting for her.
3. Whatever happens in the prologue is not removed from the main story. All events in the novel are leading to what happens in the prologue.
4. It is flash forward prologue.

Now what? I am inclined to keep it. Today my gut instinct says the prologue is just fine.

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From Roxxsmom's anecdote above, it seems that only 33% of the current market had the writer decided, 'yes, this needs a prologue.'

If it's a flash forward, will it work better occurring where it's meant to be happening in the story?

Flash forward prologues are tempting - they let you throw a whole bunch of cool stuff happening, a hint of what's developing, imminent revelations, to try and catch a reader's attention. Which is all and good, but that's also what the first chapter should be doing. So you get a flashy flash forward prologue, and a boring first chapter, that's an issue.

Some advice I've heard more than once is that a lot manuscripts benefit from just cutting the first three chapters. Usually, this refers to the habit of those first three chapters being infordumps, exposition, too much buildup, and then, around chapter three or four, interesting things actually start happening and the STORY actually begins.

Prologues usually seem to end up as part of that clutter.

I'm biased, because I always write a prologue. I'm not sure why. It's not always the right one in the first draft (my first book went through three different prologues before it settled), but it just seems to be the way my stories hit the page.

Part of why they get a bad rap, I think, is because infodump prologues are a common newbie mistake; but so are a lot of other techniques that, when used properly (even by newbies), work fine.

To the OP, I'd suggest: Trust your gut, post it in Share Your Work, and keep an open mind.

My heart sinks when I open a book to a prologue. I also feel a bit angry.

Thomas Vail said:

From Roxxsmom's anecdote above, it seems that only 33% of the current market had the writer decided, 'yes, this needs a prologue.'

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I don't know where the person telling me this got the statistics, though she works in publishing. It is indeed an anecdote. I was actually amazed that the number was still so high, since so many people (readers and publishing people alike) insist that they dislike prologues.

I did a huge spreadsheet of SF and F novels I've read over the years. I robbed my bookcase, my e-readers, and also went online to Amazon to check out some books I'd read (or that were well known in the genre, at least) and looked at the novel openings and compiled some statistics about things like prologues, type of opening line, data about author and protagonist demographics (if known). This admittedly biased (limited to books I've read or know about) is also running about 1/3 with prologues.

I haven't done a regression to see if the percentage of SF and F novels with prologues has dropped over the past couple of decades. That might be interesting. Also, a comparison of self published versus trade published books with prologues (I don't read many self published titles, so I have no clue there).

Another thing I don't know is what percentage of prologues end up in published books because the author's original submission contained them, versus ones that the agent (or editor) felt should be added to provide context. I also don't know how many prologues that an author wanted end up getting taken out in the editing process.