Have you ever skipped a prologue when starting to read a book?

Unless the book is recommended, I don't read books with prologues. And even then I skip the prologue.

escritora said:

Unless the book is recommended, I don't read books with prologues. And even then I skip the prologue.

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Isn't that a bit too much? I mean, why would you reject a whole entire book just because a section has the title "prologue" slapped onto it instead of "Chapter One"?

Prologues can be interesting and action-packed, depending on how well the author writes it.

Isn't that a bit too much?

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No. It's my preference.

I've skipped prologues before, mostly because I didn't know they were there. I didn't miss anything.

I often skip prologs. Occasionally I don't. Most of the the prologs I do read are awful.

I think it very much depends on what is in the prologue. Some authors have part of the story itself in the prologue. Why? Perhaps there are multiple POVs and it isn't sensible to write it as a chapter (Eg. Wheel of Time Book 6).

Sometimes, the prologue is a scene that happened long before the main story, or that scene may involve characters who are not there in the rest of the book. Such a scene may be needed to explain a certain event in the past (Eg. many Epic Fantasy books).

Some prologues are just infodumps. (THOSE I will not read). Even the LOTR books have a prologue, which I found boring initally and so skipped. I read the prologue after finishing the books. I doubt it would have made much difference if I'd read it beforehand.

I generally read prologues, unless they are over 20 pages and are nothing but info dumps. I just can't take info dumps.

I used to think of them about the same way I did acknowledgments, didn't read them. Then read a few and thought, this is all way back when stuff relative to the book. So if they are short okay, I'll read them. But if I get a choice I'd rather have a list of the important characters, actually all the characters in the book. It's the unimportant ones you forget then are going 'Who the hey is that guy?'

Stlight to be annoying

I generally skip prologues (don't hit me!) and am sure to go over it if it's not explained later in the story or is crucial to the plot, or I read it a second time. This way, it doesn't get old fast because there's still fresh material. I've only read prologues a few times in my life, and more often than not, I can get away with doing just that.

Well, maybe I'm weird that way. I read the whole book from cover to cover, including table of contents, acknowledgment, preface (for non-fiction), copyright page (which contains the one line summary), plus the "to the dear reader" letter at the end.

Am I mental or what?

I skip them. There was a film once - in fact it's been doing the rounds again on TV recently - about a bunch of people who chase hurricanes. There is a prologue which is set in the MC's childhood and shows how her father was blown away in a hurricane. I didn't "get it" until I had seen the film three times. I kept thinking "who was that little girl supposed to be and why did they bother including that scene, other than to show that hurricanes can be life threatening?"
Maybe I'm just thick.

I sometimes wonder if people are not confusing "forewards" which can be nothing but info dump---with an actual prologue that lends to the plot.

For instance, I’ve just finished a book that had a prologue in present tense, very well written, then chapter 1 started: Six years earlier, etc. ) the story line continued to the present tense epilogue that contined to the end of story. It was good, and I really can’t imagine it written any other way. Oh, and I read prologues.

Sometimes I read them, but often they confirm my reason to skip them next time. In one mystery, it showed the victim of the crime being found, and then in the first chapter, it gave us exactly the same information the prologue provided. In another book, it gave away an important plot element that would have made the book more suspenseful if the reader didn't know. In several other books, the prologue was backstory, which was also detailed in the main story.

Though it does depend on the author. I'll always read Clive Cussler's prologues because they are interesting and provide an additional element to the story.

I never read them.

I look at them. If they are ten pages of 'How the Gods made the world' info dump with huge chunks of tell - I skip them. My favourite book has a prologue similar to this, which I read once, and have never read on the re-readings because, well I think it was unnecessary.

However if it's an actual scene, then I read it, provided it hooks me. Because whereas a huge chunk of backstory you can live without, a scene may well be very pertinent to the story. Like mine And why isn't it chapter one? Because it's from the viewpoint of someone who isn't the POV character, and she doesn't know anything about it so I can't show it any other way, it happened several thousand years before, plus it kinda sets the tone for the book. Anyone skips it, the climax will make less sense. *shrug* not a lot I can do about that.

So it depends. If it works, if it's action, pertinent action, do it. If it's backstory, dump it. If your reader wants to skip it, their priviledge. They might miss out, but that's their problem

I always read the prologue. Always.

I generally don't read them.

I dislike prologues. If it's short, I might skim it, but if it's a long one, I'll probably put the book back on the bookstore shelf.

If I purchase a novel, I will read every page, foreword, prologue, acknowledgement, the works.

Exir said:

Well, maybe I'm weird that way. I read the whole book from cover to cover, including table of contents, acknowledgment, preface (for non-fiction), copyright page (which contains the one line summary), plus the "to the dear reader" letter at the end.

Am I mental or what?

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Mental or not, I'm like that, too.

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I find that generally books I like have prologues I like, and prologues I don't like precede books I don't like. (As always, there are exceptions.) Not reading the prologue would feel especially strange to me. It would feel just as strange as always starting at chapter 2. To me prologues just feel part of the story (even if they have nothing to do with the plot proper.)

I usually skip prologues and then go back to them when I'm midway through the books.

I haven't read all the other replies, so this response is based on the original post's question and not on others' responses.

I never skip prologues, and I always find it mystifying (and infuriating) when people do. Just because some "writers" misuse the prologue doesn't mean everyone does. My prologues are actual CHAPTERS with actual PLOT which is IMPORTANT TO THE STORY, so when people skip them, it's like skipping one of the chapters. In fact that's exactly what it is. (And reading it out of order carries the same risks--the rest of the story might not make immediate sense, just like skipping Chapter 1.) So it makes no sense to me. Would you skip reading Chapter 10, too? Or the last chapter? Or--*gasp*--the epilogue? (Which, in my works, is ALSO a chapter of the story!)

One should at least LOOK at the prologue to make sure it's an actual chapter, like mine are, as opposed to one of those infodump prefaces/author's notes or something. It's the people who write those lame infodump prefaces who have made getting people to read prologues so hard for writers like me. Although it steams me when readers skip the prologue, it's the bad prologue writers who are really to blame. Learn to incorporate it all in the story, people!! Then maybe I wouldn't have to beg readers to read the actual beginning of my stories.

*had to recently edit Chapter 1 of her novels online to insist that readers READ THE PROLOGUES because they are part of the story!*

This emoticon sums it all up nicely.

Look this conversation has been done to death. You probably won't get half the answers you want because people are avoiding it now like the plague, they know what will come of it. It is already happening, the last post started insulting the reader, what the reader owes the writer, and then soon it will turn into "I'm a better reader than you" from both sides.

The simple answer is you can't write something that will please everybody. Here you have people who insist they will read every part of the book front to back, and you also have people who choose what they wish to read.

I personally find it really odd that some people skip to the end to find out what happens, instead of reading through to it, but I don't consider them lesser readers.

Fact is we have no control (and no right to control) over our readers. They will read our work however they darn well please and we just have to deal with it. If we went around trying to please everyone we would wind up pleasing no one.

And tehuti - I'm sorry you get so upset over your lack of control over your audience (I recall you saying something else about that a few days ago), but I would highly recommend taking a step back and accepting you simply will never have that kind of control. Use the energy you expend on being frustrated that way on your writing instead. As someone who craves absolute control herself, I can tell you the moment you do is very freeing. I agree with you 100%, though, about the bad prologue writers, indeed they are completely to blame for this current debate.

Anyway, just my two cents.

...ps I always do glance at prologues to get an idea if they're essential to the novels. Usually they're not, so I postpone reading them till later on as they're usually rather dull in comparison to the actual stories.

Classify me with the folks who read everything. Prologues. Dedications. Author's notes. Appendices. Even bibliographies. If it's between those covers, I'm going to read it, if only because the author and the editor both thought it belonged there, and I want the full experience that I've paid for.