Prologue length

[Orilindë]

I'm not sure if there are any right or wrongs to this, if there are, please enlighten me. But I think I feel that I now have a prologue for my story I'm working on. As of now, it's roughly 3000 words. The dos' and don'ts are maybe of prologues might be hard to define depending on if it's actually a good prologue or not. Maybe I should post it in Critique Requests even tough I'm super nervous about that of course...

 

[pmmg]

Most people skip prologs.

Prolog's tend to introduce things that would not get an introduction otherwise, such as the world, or some forgotten part of the bigger conflict.

Prologs are as long as they need to be to accomplish that.

3000 words is long for me. Most of my prologs are under 500 words.

And yes, if you want people to have a more useful opinion to offer, you will have to post it up.

 

[Finchbearer]

I like prologues when they feel right. And that’s a hard thing to define, but one example I can give you is a famous one; the prologue to the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Game of Thrones. It sets up the story so that it lets the reader in on a secret, and I’d bet it’s at least 3000 words long or more.

 

[Penpilot]

Maybe I should post it in Critique Requests even tough I'm super nervous about that of course...

For me, I always assume that someone is going to rip my stuff to shreds, like burn it, nuke the rest, and launch what's left into outer-space. Because when (almost) nobody does that, all other constructive criticism feels like nerf shots.

 

[Orilindë]

Most people skip prologs.

Prolog's tend to introduce things that would not get an introduction otherwise, such as the world, or some forgotten part of the bigger conflict.

Prologs are as long as they need to be to accomplish that.

3000 words is long for me. Most of my prologs are under 500 words.

And yes, if you want people to have a more useful opinion to offer, you will have to post it up.

I first intended it to be chapter one. But for myself, I wanted to explore the background to parts of the conflict I'm working on. I guess one thought I had was that I wanted to practice my writing as well, by saving the introduction of the protagonist a bit. But still introduce the elements he eventually will be exposed to.

 

[Orilindë]

I like prologues when they feel right. And that’s a hard thing to define, but one example I can give you is a famous one; the prologue to the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Game of Thrones. It sets up the story so that it lets the reader in on a secret, and I’d bet it’s at least 3000 words long or more.

Personally, I really like that prologue. Gives me some good perspective on what I might try to accomplish with my own prologue perhaps.

 

[Orilindë]

For me, I always assume that someone is going to rip my stuff to shreds, like burn it, nuke the rest, and launch what's left into outer-space. Because when (almost) nobody does that, all other constructive criticism feels like nerf shots.

So I guess you're telling me to post it there

 

[Incanus]

What I'm wondering is--is this prologue a dramatic scene (like, with dialogue, action, setting, etc.), or is it a description of stuff specific to the story world (history, mythology, how magic works, geography, etc.)?

I'd say 3000 words of the former would be fine (like the ASoIaF prologue); while 3000 words of the latter could be problematic.

 

[pmmg]

I would say, if all you have written and prolog, you should move along with the story, Seeking feedback at every stop is a recipe to never get past the opening. See rules below.

 

[Orilindë]

What I'm wondering is--is this prologue a dramatic scene (like, with dialogue, action, setting, etc.), or is it a description of stuff specific to the story world (history, mythology, how magic works, geography, etc.)?

I'd say 3000 words of the former would be fine (like the ASoIaF prologue); while 3000 words of the latter could be problematic.

Great input. Simply put, the prologue is confined to a scene in which elements of the antagonistic force is introduced alongside elements of which the protagonist will be effected by. So in your words I would describe it as a dramatic scene with with dialogue, action and setting. With hints of history, geography and mythology.

 

[Orilindë]

I would say, if all you have written and prolog, you should move along with the story, Seeking feedback at every stop is a recipe to never get past the opening. See rules below.

Dang it, I was about to muster the confidence to post the prologue for critique By nature, I often seek feedback on things I do (writing, work, etc.) but what are the downsides to that would you say pmmg?

 

[pmmg]

How about instead the upsides. If you write on an finish your work, you will find that your writing gets better as you go. To the point that, when you are done, you will know without asking if the prolog is a fit or not, and you will know more what it needs to really say. Imagine the writer you are about to become, instead of the one you are, and write as if you will become them.

 

[Finchbearer]

I would say, if all you have written and prolog, you should move along with the story, Seeking feedback at every stop is a recipe to never get past the opening. See rules below.

When you say, ‘see rules below’ I am not seeing anything below. Maybe it’s different on the desktop version.

I like seeing people efforts in the form of a critique request, and if you feel compelled to share and get some feedback then it could be helpful for you.

 

[pmmg]

Your just not seeing the siggy's.

Goldie's Rules: 1) Write everyday. 2) Finish it. 3) Don't seek feedback till its finished.
4) Don't beat yourself up.

 

[Orilindë]

How about instead the upsides. If you write on an finish your work, you will find that your writing gets better as you go. To the point that, when you are done, you will know without asking if the prolog is a fit or not, and you will know more what it needs to really say. Imagine the writer you are about to become, instead of the one you are, and write as if you will become them.

Wow, okay you really sold that argument with a golden wrapper my friend.

But a part of me still wants to know if I'm good enough. I mainly write for myself and what I would like to read. But in all fairness I still would like to know if others would enjoy it as well. So with that, a part of me feels like I don't want to invest to much in it before I know that. But at the same time I want to... it's a bit of mixed feelings. Or I might also be too affected by the outside world that everything moves so fast theses days, meaning I have to finish fast..

 

[pmmg]

Well...hold on to the thought. I am sure Dems will appear to disagree with me

 

[Michael K. Eidson]

The January/February 2024 issue of Writer's Digest features an article on prologues. If you use one, they recommend keeping it brief, stating that a length of one to two pages is typical these days. They also go into reasons why one would consider using a prologue, and many more reasons as to why one wouldn't. It all boils down to this: If you can remove the prologue and your story stands without it, then you don't need it, so why use it? What they don't go into, but what I have to wonder, is if a story with a prologue can't stand without it, is something wrong with the story? I can see one way in which a prologue would be required: The story can't stand without it, and it's told from a different perspective than the other chapters in the book. If it's told from the same perspective as all the other chapters, then why isn't it simply chapter one?

 

[Finchbearer]

The January/February 2024 issue of Writer's Digest features an article on prologues. If you use one, they recommend keeping it brief, stating that a length of one to two pages is typical these days. They also go into reasons why one would consider using a prologue, and many more reasons as to why one wouldn't. It all boils down to this: If you can remove the prologue and your story stands without it, then you don't need it, so why use it? What they don't go into, but what I have to wonder, is if a story with a prologue can't stand without it, is something wrong with the story? I can see one way in which a prologue would be required: The story can't stand without it, and it's told from a different perspective than the other chapters in the book. If it's told from the same perspective as all the other chapters, then why isn't it simply chapter one?

I would generally agree with this, except the prologue for GoT breaks away from that convention and works incredibly well. It could have been ‘chapter 1’ but I’m guessing it was chosen to be a prologue because it really does stand separate from the rest of the story at large in book 1.

 

[Michael K. Eidson]

I would generally agree with this, except the prologue for GoT breaks away from that convention and works incredibly well. It could have been ‘chapter 1’ but I’m guessing it was chosen to be a prologue because it really does stand separate from the rest of the story at large in book 1.

If it stands separate from the rest of the story at large, then that's a good reason to make it a prologue, yeah? If it's well-written and can pull the reader along to chapter one, then it's serving its purpose well, and it doesn't matter much how long it is. But for those of us who are questioning what we're doing, we might be well-served to only go against convention after heavily weighing our reasons for doing so and deciding we absolutely must.

 

[Rexenm]

If you use a prologue is totally up to you. I call them preludes, but that is a musical term. They are also called a preface. A foreword is a totally different thing. The difference being, that one is a term that is romanticised, another is suggestive, but I think the roots of the words are about beginnings, or a little before a beginning.