Prologues----How and why to write one

[Lunaairis]

NOTE: This is more of an observation than a question, aimed to help get more good prologues out there.

PROLOGUES --- How and why to write one

I was looking at a post about prologues and I couldn’t help but think that there seems to be something wrong with people’s reactions to them. I for one like prologues as they can set the tone for the rest of the story; When they are prologues and not just masses of text. After reading Farlander (By Col Buchanan) I have realized what makes a prologue good, and why more fantasy stories need them.

1) A prologue should be like the story you will tell but in miniature, it should be no longer then your longest chapter and should never be split into parts (I’ve seen this done and it’s just horrendous). That said you should always leave the prologue to be the last thing you write.

A prologue is so much like a door hinge I can’t even begin to explain. It is best used with the idea to gather readers; it’s a chapter the average man/woman or child can read at a book store to get a feel for the authors writing without going into the main story. It is what an author should use for getting the reader from the real world to their fictional world. Again like a door hinge it keeps the book open for the public eye to grab a glimpse.

2) The author can also use the prologue to slip in information that the other characters in the novel might already know (if it is important to the story). You wouldn’t want to write a chapter about a city falling to pieces, only for it to have no purpose for the rest of the story, waste-of-space much? While Farlander presents an assassination never spoken of again, the reader soon finds it wasn’t the assassination that was important but the state of mind the main character- Ash- finds himself in. Don’t allow prologues to become information dumps, remember you are trying to get the average reader into your story, don’t bombard them with names that won’t or can’t be explained till 2-3 chapters in.

3) Prologues, after keeping in mind that they should not be long, they should also not be short. A prologue consisting of 1-4 paragraphs is rather useless; all the information presented could be bleed into the speech of some of the characters. Removing the need for the prologue all together. If there are only 1-4 paragraphs it’s likely that you just wrote an information dump and should delete it anyways.

4) There should be a story going on in your prologue, a beginning and an end. Introduce a key character in your story, Maybe a villan? The main character? A magic object? Something that has reason to exist, and has wants and needs. Present them a challenge; it could be a rival, a theft ( the theft of a person’s life, an object, a person or a way of thinking) or maybe the end of a cycle. Farlander presents Ash the main character challenging a revolting king who has killed someone he shouldn’t have ( the theft of a person’s life). Remember when coming up with the challenge, it may be a good idea to take the main problem of you fiction but show it on a miniature scale. If your story is about racism show a glimpse of the racism here.

5) Now show off the character or object’s skills by somehow getting them though the situation. This is a great way to get your reader interested in the character or object they are going to follow for the rest of the book. It’s time to show their talents, as this character or object may not be the only main character or object of the novel but is the one that pulls the story along, and likely won’t be showing up again for a few chapters.

6) Never talk history in the prologue; write as it happens. Do you remember sitting in those boring history classes with your unexciting history teacher? Thank god I loved history and never had a crappy history teacher. But I know other people who have and I also know they don’t like to read about it in their fiction, so keep it out of there! There is a time and a place to talk about the last great war between the Jubjubwicks and the Didolgigs but the prologue is not the place to be talking politics from a second source.



I believe I have covered everything and I hope from this list you will know if your story needs a prologue or not, and I’d hope that you would always leave this question till after you finish writing the story. That’s the best place to tell if your story has too much of a gap that the average reader will have no idea what’s going on in the beginning of it.

If you don’t think I’m right in my thinking or have other points to talk about leave a comment/ post and discuss things below. Thanks guys!

[CupofJoe]

Lunaairis
Thank you for your post.
You have thought about this.
For me if there is a prologue [and that is a big “if”], it is setting up the story for the reader, explain why things are as they are so they can jump right in to the action.
I don't see the prologue as a teaser roll for the rest of the story – it is the history of people, places or objects. I don't want to show that my master thief really is “that good” until they are trapped with their back to the wall and escape is impossible... and then they come up with the incredible plan... “that might just work”.
The prologue is as you say a way of getting information to the reader that doesn't slow down the plot. We've all read or watched pieces where someone effective says “But doctor how did you know...” and for fifteen pages/minutes the story stops.
[For me – on TV – Buffy was great at exposition and the West Wing ignored it entirely]
If the war between the Jubjubwicks and the Didolgigs affects the story but isn't taking place then maybe you need to explain why no-one goes down that road or eats Didolgigs steaks any more... if it doesn't affect them then it should be in the prologue anyway.
I love “pre-history” it lets me as a writer make my characters do things because I want them to happen that way and not always what might seem most logical. I have a character that was in a desperate siege and now wont stay in fortified positions, he prefers to live in the woods and keep his options open. So far the only reference as to why he does this is one word “Scoona” passed between two other characters. I might have to explain why that is important at some point – a prologue could do this especially if we end up at Scoona...

So I am thinking of having a “postlogue” to fill some of the blanks if the reader is still interested so I don't have to set things up in a prologue and others can read the story without all the facts.

[Steerpike]

Lunaairis:

I like the tips you've given here, by and large. If a person is going to write a prologue, they could do worse than to adhere to what you have here. I will disagree with a central premise, though. No story, fantasy or otherwise, ever "needs" a prologue (in other words, it won't work without one). An author may choose to include one (and I may choose to skip it), but I can't imagine any case in which there is no choice but to include a prologue to make the book work.

[BWFoster78]

In general, I'm anti-prologue.

I tend to think of prologues to be more about world building than character development. As you say:

It is what an author should use for getting the reader from the real world to their fictional world.

I don't want to transport the reader to my fictional world nearly as much as I want to transport them inside my characters. As such, I want to spend every single word on character development.

[Steerpike]

By definition, a prologue is an acknowledgment that you know the story starts elsewhere, but you are going to subject the reader to this other stuff before getting to it. I'd rather just start with the story, personally.

[Lunaairis]

This is why I said leave the prologue for the last thing you write. If you believe you have a solid novel in which there is no reason to show character or objects before they appear in the story- As if to give the reader solid ground in the character or objects personality or mental state, then there is no reason to have a prologue.

The best prologues I have ever read show pre-history that is important to the story an example being, Mister Monday: The Keys to the Kingdom series. In which the first paragraph is using pre-history to set the scene as to why this man in a top hat and suit is walking on a dead sun. Its just its not written as a second source, its written as description rather then a retelling.

I'm not talking about the war between Jubjubwicks and Didolgigs being unimportant I'm saying not many people like to read things from a second source, don't write from a second source, write as its happening, as it keeps readers interested.

If you're going to talk about some holy object that created the universe and then was stolen, and the rest of the story will revolve around finding this object. Make the prologue following one of the guards or maybe a priest who guards this object, and then show their reaction to the object going missing. It will give your reader a better understanding as to why this object is important to begin with, and someone who picks up your book at the book store will have a better understanding as to what the rest of the book is about, then reading the first chapter of the actual story.

[JCFarnham]

By definition, a prologue is an acknowledgment that you know the story starts elsewhere, but you are going to subject the reader to this other stuff before getting to it. I'd rather just start with the story, personally.

And this right here is my biggest problem with the common, badly-used prologue. If that prologue flows straight into the main story, includes your main character, begins the main conflict... to me that should all be the first chapter onwards.

The best prologues for me have always been tangential. Game of Thrones, case in point. If you've read it you'll see what I mean. That has next to nothing to do with the book (and if it does only in passing, becoming more important later in the series). What I'm saying is this: The very best prologues I have ever read, period, have always been an allegory of the main theme. And Martin's prologue was that allegory. Winter is coming.

However, that's just how I prefer them.

As Steerpike suggested the prologue by definition is something that can't possibly be present within the book proper. It has to be essential. The story needs to make absolutely no sense with out it. Any tool or element a writer uses should probably have a significant reason for existing in the manuscript. If not it's dead wood.

[Benjamin Clayborne]

I still think there's nothing wrong with a prologue if it does the following:

- Actually has a beginning, middle, and end, so it's a mini-story of its own
- Introduces you to the world by way of ancillary or expendable characters
- As JCFarnham says, enscapsulates or is an allegory for the book's main themes

The story is the main course, but there's no reason you can't have an appetizer first, especially if it complements the rest of the meal.

[The Din]

Soon as I saw the title of this post, I knew to expect the same few scribes propagandaring their anti-prologue postulations. Good to see some sterling advice got thrown in before succumbing to the inane to-and-fro. Thanks lunaairis.

[T.Allen.Smith]

Soon as I saw the title of this post, I knew to expect the same few scribes propagandaring their anti-prologue postulations. Good to see some sterling advice got thrown in before succumbing to the inane to-and-fro. Thanks lunaairis.

Anything of actual value to add to the discussion?

Seems like your simply taking shots at people with differing opinions on prologues with "propagandaring postulations" & "inane to-and-fro" comments.