Prologue???

Nope. A prologue can be anywhere chronologically. A novel I just picked up (At First Sight by N. Sparks) starts with a prologue. Then, chapter one reads, FIVE YEARS EARLIER.

My prologue occurs 60 years before chapter 1. I've never read a novel where the prologue is the end chapter, but I can see how that could work.

A prologue is a prequel you never wrote. Why not just start your story at the beginning, and do a second book on the material from your prologue? Many mystery and thriller writers have recurring characters.

dianeP said:

Ex. I start my book with the last scene. Then I back track to the beginning of the story and, at the end, finish the last scene that first appeared at the start of the book. (does that make any sense...? I remember reading a Sidney Sheldon book a long time ago that started like this.)

So my question is, is this still called a prologue or is it the epilogue, (can you have the epilogue at the beginning) or should I simply have this last scene be the first chapter?

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A prologue is what comes before chapter 1. It can be anything you want. What you describe is a perfectly fine way to do a prologue. It sets the stage and hooks the readers from the get-go until the actual event happens later in the book. If the readers choose to skip it, they won't get lost either.

You can also make it chapter 1. IIRC, that's what Chuck Palahniuk did in Fight Club (or was it a prologue? I don't remember -- but the point is, he did the same thing, placing the last scene at the beginning, and then pick it up again at the end of the book).

Bruzilla said:

My prologue occurs 60 years before chapter 1. I've never read a novel where the prologue is the end chapter, but I can see how that could work.

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A question we often ask (here on AW): why do you need to tell the story 60 years prior? Is there any significance to the main story? Is it all just backstories? Can you integrate the backstories in the main story? The problem with many prologues is the info-dumpy backstory that the author feels "you need to know before the real story starts." That's not true in most cases. It's not to say you can't do prologues like that, but you should do it well and it should be the BEST approach to tell that backstory. Because it's one of those things agents and publishers see a lot from amateur writers, and such prologues are often poorly written.

Back in the day, when electricity was new and radio and TV were just a dream for Nicky Tesla, a prologue was used to set the scene. People had more time to devote to the adventure of reading a book. There were fewer titles crowding the bookstore shelves than we have now. They loved a slow, slogging read as evidenced by the popularity of Bulwer-Lytton and his chums. Writers could be pretentious and get away with it.

These days, a prologue contains absolutely vital information to the story that somehow cannot be incorporated into the main body of the book. It wants its own hook, instantly engaging a reader so that after a few pages the reader doesn't mind a sudden viewpoint and even time shift to chapter one.

Or so it should.

The problem is, many new writers don't know how to write a good one.

Tolkein wrote a good prologue with information necessary to his story. I did not. My editor ordered me to write one, and I argued bitterly against including it since what he wanted did not help the story one whit. I did my best, but the book would have been better without it.

Most prologues can be improved upon with the use of the delete key.

I don't mind an epilogue, as they can tie up loose ends.

But your prologue better be a freakin' masterpiece if it hits my desk.
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Wow, prologues are a tricky thing, aren't they? I personally love to read books with them, but I hate to write 'em. For my particular book, I started the story at the story's beginning and was going nowhere fast for keeping people's interest.

Somebody suggested I try a prologue that sets up the story a bit more, so I tried 3 pages of quick action and dialogue, set a certain amount of years earlier. It worked for me. It allowed me to snip out over 20 pages of info-dumping throughout the rest of the book, to keep the action going, and it garnered a lot more interest from agents (since I include the first 5 pages of the story in the query).

I've heard action / suspense books can get away with prologues, though. Is that the difference?

Barber said:

I've heard action / suspense books can get away with prologues, though. Is that the difference?

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Probably. For example, mysteries, suspense and thrillers usually open with a prologue in which someone gets killed or injured or a bomb goes off somewhere, etc. It's related to, but apart from the main story. It sets the tone and stage, but it's not the start of the plot proper. Usually, those prologues are short, to the point, and fast-paced. They're also not info dumps. In fact, sometimes you only see those characters once, in the prologue ("a woman gets killed by a mysterious man!").

Most prologues can be improved upon with the use of the delete key.

I don't mind an epilogue, as they can tie up loose ends.

But your prologue better be a freakin' masterpiece if it hits my desk.

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You invoked the specter of Tolkien. Consider Mr Martin's A Game of Thrones, which I'm willing to bet you're familiar with. It's a more modern example, and somewhat different. Would you argue his was unnecessary?

Without it, the reader would have no idea who the true antagonists of the story are--at least, not until well into the later volumes in the series. It introduces the underlying conflict which drives several characters/factions, and without the prologue, the reader would not understand various motivations.

That, in my opinion, is when a prologue is necessary: when it must exist because there are no surviving POV characters to relate that part of the story.

Of course, I would never write a prologue myself. I avoid them because I don't have Mr Martin's skill.

maestrowork said:

For example, mysteries, suspense and thrillers usually open with a prologue in which...

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Wow. All I can say is, I'm so embarrassed at how cliche my Prologue is!!! I can't believe anybody wanted to read past it. I'm just going to crawl into a hole and work on a new one...

Barber said:

Wow. All I can say is, I'm so embarrassed at how cliche my Prologue is!!! I can't believe anybody wanted to read past it. I'm just going to crawl into a hole and work on a new one...

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What genre are you writing?


You may also post your prologue in Share Your Work in the appropriate genre subforums and see what others think. There may not be anything wrong with it, even if it sounds clichéd.

It's Sci-Fi / Action. I think I should post it once I get past the humiliation, LOL.

Seriously, though, I didn't even know how cliche it was. SIGH, maybe it's so cliche it's a formula? Maybe I didn't even realize I was following a formula. Yeah... that's it.

My prologue occurs several thousands of years before the main story. It is engaging and yet cryptic in its content. This is for a reason; as the story reaches its climax, I want the readers to suddenly say "OH!", flip back to the first few pages of the novel, and fully understand what happened.

Is that a good idea?

Oasilhael said:

My prologue occurs several thousands of years before the main story. It is engaging and yet cryptic in its content. This is for a reason; as the story reaches its climax, I want the readers to suddenly say "OH!", flip back to the first few pages of the novel, and fully understand what happened.

Is that a good idea?

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Sounds good on paper... hope it works!

My prologue opens up the novel with a character who isn't main, but extremely important. Then, I go into chapter one with the main character and I pick back up with the other character a couple of chapters later. That chapter picks up right where the prologue left off. It's the prologue because the character is sort of taken back in time through the use of an imp. She meets a child, and she starts to slowly gain her memories back. That child is extremely important and is I guess the second main character? I keep forgetting what it's called.