Should we bother with prologues?

[Black Dragon]

Prologues are very popular in the fantasy genre. But are they actually helpful?

Orson Scott Card once said the following:

"I have learned, as a book reviewer, that's it's usually best to skip the prologue entirely and begin with the story - as the author should also have done. I have never - not once - found that by skipping the prologue I missed some information I needed in order to read the story; and when I have read the prologue first, I have never - not once - fount it interesting, helpful, or even understandable."

In my current project I do not have a prologue, although I have toyed with the idea.

What do you think? Are prologues worth writing, or should they be skipped entirely?

 

[Ravana]

Only if you have something to say in it. And keep in mind that most people won't read it, simply because it probably doesn't include information vital to the story–if it did, you would've put the information in the story itself, right? That having been said, I have run across the occasional prologue that contains information which, if not vital, might be at least interesting… "historical" background on a well worked-up setting that the author felt could be skipped, but which might be of interest to some readers.

 

[Donny Bruso]

I have a prologue on the larger of my current fantasy projects. I suppose the information in it isn't vital to the story, but I don't think it's particularly harmful or boring either. I used the prologue to more or less introduce one of my POV characters from another person's viewpoint, allowing him to be seen for what he actually is, without the bias we all build for ourselves in our heads.

Also, the prologue to that particular piece is one of the highest rated items in my portfolio on writing.com. I don't think that it means I've necessarily succeeded where so many others have failed, but in my opinion, prologues work better when you treat them as what they are supposed to be, a pre-chapter, not an excuse to load the reader up with all the historical and cultural information that you have created for your world and couldn't work into the actual text of the story. Put all that in an appendix at the end if you really feel you must include it. If the reader is interested in that after reading your story they will read that too.

 

[willg71]

I find it a shame that the prologue would be viewed as limiting if not useless. It is a perfect chance to contain a story within a story, mind you I'm not saying it need be thirty or more pages. A single page could do the trick, though not my style. A linking continuity between proverbial works is what I'm talking about. A primer for the good read. Not only this but the data obtained from the prologue can be used as a tool to close out a series, to come to full circle have you. I think it was the dark sword series that illustrates this well by example. The prologue had nearly nothing to do with the tale other than as a brief and seemingly inadequate explanation on how a civilization came to be. It later can be recognized as role reversals and In the end you learn of the consequences of the creation of such a civilization. Bare in mind, I am over simplifying that Great work but it is the prologue which makes that over simplification possible and allows readers to convey those concepts to others. With out it, I'm not so sure all readers would have grasped the intended ramifications. So fine, limit your possibilities, throw away a clever tool you can use or not use as you see fit. As for me I think I'll stick with it.

 

[Black Dragon]

Perhaps the problem is that too many authors use prologues as an information dump?

Personally, I prefer using prologues as a framing device. An effective prologue can offer a glimpse of an earlier story and foreshadow what is to come.

 

[Legerdemain]

Prologues in my mind should only set a scene that may need setting. Truthfully, most authors find that they can do this easier to do after they've started. For example, start the story, and then go, "I bet you're wondering how I came to be running from these wolf-people wearing nothing but an elk hide and loads of shame?" going into some backstory.

Will, I do see the uses, but I would prefer to be more tactful in relaying the story within the story. BD, I do think that mostly the prologue is an information dump for a lot of stories, and sadly, sometime this information takes the fun out of the story. For example, if the Lord of the Ring movies went "By the way, there is a distinct possibly Gimli knew stories of some dwarves that were kidnapped or tortured by the wood elves, thus he very much dislikes them." Right before the council, you'd be like, "Oh, that's why he doesn't like elves." That said, it would also make you want to know the whole back-story between the two races, and you'd create a situation where you introduced a story that is not fleshed out in the book. That can be a trap as well, if they like the prologue information but find the story isn't about the same exact sorts of things.

Does anyone else share my concerns?

 

[Labochur]

I have also heard or read somewhere that prologues are not suggested and for new authors are considered illegal. Personally the novel I am writing now has a prologue but it's more of a history of the land than a prologue to the sory and probably wont be included in the final draft

 

[Ophiucha]

Prologues that have any useful information in them are called "Chapter One".

 

[Mdnight Falling]

I've learned when you're writing a series, or even a trilogy... a prologue is a must. If only to remind your reader of what happened last in the book before LOL. My novel for instance has a 31 page prologue, this was a must since the prologue is almost a seperate entity from the rest of the novel, yet without it, my readers wouldn't understand certain key things in the rest of the novel. So yeah in some instances the prologue is good, it's the beginning of the story, or a reminder of the end of a part of the story if it's done properly with a series

 

[Black Dragon]

Mdnight,

How is your prologue presented? Is it a scene with characters and dialogue? Or does it simply recount past events?

 

[Ravana]

Prologues that have any useful information in them are called "Chapter One".

Hee hee. While I don't agree completely, I'd certainly say that in general one should at least put all the necessary information in the main text… and that not doing so is a failure in writing.

A prologue as "Chapter Zero"–a vignette displaying some action that becomes background for the main text–can work, and I often see it used effectively… though, as mentioned, if you call it "Prologue," there's a good chance the reader will skip it. (I can actually cite one example that began with "Chapter Two"… and another from the same author that, while it wasn't labeled as such, began with what would have been chapter six if put in chronological sequence. Both were effectively "prologues," in the sense of introductory vignettes… though both were unquestionably also part of the main text.)

Another use of prologues is the opportunity to speak directly as the "author" of the work–whether the speaker is "you" or not, and probably it won't be. I play with this quite a bit; it lets me provide "asides" that aren't part of the main story, but which "shed light on" some points therein… and which can make the prologue entertaining in its own right. One exceptional use of this device I've seen is in Steven Brust's "Viscount of Adrilankha" trilogy (one of his Dumas pastiches)–where the books are treated as the work of a (fictional) author, who provides his own "prefaces" to each (a practice he considers objectionable, by the way… for that matter, he also objects to his work being broken up into three volumes…), as well as a "conclusion" in the final volume; where the first book in the series also includes a preface from the (fictional) "publisher" of the trilogy; and where other (fictional) "scholars" in the same world provide "afterwords," the one in the last book being a disquisition on "how to write like" both the fictional author and his "translator" (that is to say, Steven Brust). (In another book, which preceded this trilogy, the same fictional author and Brust interview each other in an afterword!) So I wouldn't say that "external" text is useless or misplaced: it has its uses. It's just easy to use it incorrectly… say, as an excuse for sloppiness in writing your main text.

Midnight: I have to disagree with you. Think of all the trilogies, series, etc. you've read: how many of them included prologues in each successive book? Most of the ones I'm familiar with don't recap information at all… and if they do, it's because a character has occasion (and reason) to sit down and go over past events in his mind, or hash them out with someone else. Assuming that your readers require prologues is tantamount to assuming they're idiots… if nothing else, if they can't remember what went before, they can always go reread the last book, right?

 

[Mdnight Falling]

Black Dragon - It's presented as a recount... with characters and dialogue... However it would have been out of place as chapter one of the book since the events are historical to the rest of the story by hundreds of years. I tried it as the first chapter a few years ago, but it being there confused everyone that read it. So I decided it would be best to put it as the prologue and it works wonderfully. As for the other 4 in the series, I'm not sure if they will have a prologue yet. It will really depend on how I lay out the story itself on whether or not the other four volumes will need one or not.

Ravana - Just about every fantasy series I've ever read has had a prologue and epilogue. Whether they are bits of info from the previous and forthcoming volumes varies by author. But I have yet to read a fantasy saga that didn't include one or both in every volume. But again as stated before, it really depends on how the story is laid out. I personally enjoy the books with prologues and epilogues and to me they are a must.

And I do agree that most can go back and re-read what happened in the previous book.. IF they own it. If they checked it out from a library or something that would make it a little more difficult. But you do have a point in that it isn't needed in ALL cases, but in others it is. If I go with the prologue for all the books in my saga... It won't be a typical one, it would be a history lesson on the area that particular book takes place. The prologue I have written for this first in the saga is different then a simple history lesson, but I deemed it necessary for the integrity and further enjoyment of the entire story.. All five parts of said story

 

[Kelise]

Most fantasy books I've read have a prologue, but... not really ever as a recount. It would be a very singular book - say, by Rothfuss - that I would trust them to do such a thing.

I can't remember which author it was who said it, whether it was Abercrombie or Rothfuss, but one said that if you write well enough, readers won't realise it's a recount or dumping information on the reader. So... well, if it's written well enough so you don't notice what the author is doing, then I think it's just more words to enjoy.
However, if there's a need to recount as if it's a... well, a Baby-sitters Club book - because that's the only series that comes to mind that does such a thing - then... well. I would consider a rewrite.

I'm sure you've written it well enough, as you stated so many times You've probably made it work, and well done!


Back on the topic though, personally, I enjoy prologues.

 

[Mdnight Falling]

If I thought I wrote it well enough I wouldn't have rewritten it so many times LOL! That seems to be the problem, everyone who reads says it says it's good... I look at it and say "nu" x.x

 

[Ravana]

Ravana - Just about every fantasy series I've ever read has had a prologue and epilogue.

I'd have to look to be sure about Moorcock's series (Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum, etc.), but I don't recall those in any of them. Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series didn't use them… though since most of those were written as short stories, they wouldn't have been appropriate. Howard's Conan and Solomon Kane books don't use them (for reasons similar to Leiber's, if no other); I have no idea if they appeared in works "completed" by others. Peake's Gormenghast trilogy doesn't use them. While Brust uses them as literary devices in one set of his books, they don't appear in the much longer Taltos series, apart from the most recent (where there is an afterword of "deleted scenes," where again he's playing with a convention, not including "additional" material). Cook's Black Company series doesn't have them; the only book of his I recall which does have one–and that was a stand-alone, not part of a series–employs an opening vignette, as well as what functions as an epilogue (not sure what he labels it). I don't remember such material in Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series, though I have no intention of locating them once more to verify this. Kurtz's first Deryni trilogy doesn't use them; I haven't read the rest of that series. Karl Edward Wagner's Kane books don't use them as connecting devices, though some include opening vignettes. Roger Zelazny doesn't use prologues in his two five-volume Amber series–though nearly every one of those books does include a point at which the protagonist mentally recaps previous action. I'd have to check to see if any of his other fantasy works included vignette openings; in any event, none of his series use opening synopses, and none have epilogues. Ranging into "science fantasy," Marion Zimmer Bradley's lengthy Darkover series never employs these, nor does McCaffrey's Dragonrider series; I'd have to double-check on C. J. Cherryh's Morgaine series, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't use them.

In fact, I was having trouble remembering a fantasy series that did use prologues–until I thought to double-check LoTR. Much to my surprise, Tolkien does in fact give synopses at the beginning of each book… "surprise," because I absolutely do not remember ever reading these. On the other hand, it's entirely possible I never did read them; I certainly haven't looked at them in decades, as I hardly needed to. Tolkien does include additional material at the end of Return of the King, but it's entirely background, and as such is appropriately placed; there's no "epilogue" per se either there or in the Hobbit. Whether or not any section of the Silmarillion is labeled as either prologue or epilogue is pretty much irrelevant, as the entire book is "background" material… not to mention having been assembled from a variety of independent pieces, none of which was ever intended for publication.

I honestly can't remember one way or the other about Eddings' Belgariad or Saberhagen's Swords series; I'm too lazy right now to dig those out. I don't know if Brooks used them (and frankly couldn't care less… since I never read more than the first book, this may account for why recollection fails me here). I don't remember them in Piers Anthony's books, but am fairly certain at least that they didn't include epilogues. I'm pretty sure both are absent in LeGuin's Earthsea books, though it's been too long for me to be sure. Same with the Narnia series. Mercedes Lackey's Herald Mage series left insufficient impressions on my mind for me to even speculate as to whether these included such sections. Perhaps others can help with these.

Still, I think it's safe to say that my experience is far from being "just about every" series I've read. There are other fantasy series I know I've read, but am having difficulty calling to mind even authors or titles, so I can hardly address whether or not these use plot summaries or other such devices. In fact, were it not for the example of Tolkien, one might even go so far as to postulate whether the "need" for such is directly proportional to how memorable the books themselves aren't.…

 

[Mdnight Falling]

Ravana - Most of the series you've named I've never even heard of LOL. I've read all of one of the LotR books and that was the fellowship of the ring and it does have an almost 50 page recap of the hobbit in it... I've only read one Terry Brooks book.. the Black Unicorn but it was AGES ago I don't remember if it had one or not... Salvatore uses "Preludes" in EVERY Legend of Drizzt book including the Clerics series...Robert Jordan used them in the wheel of time series....Tamora Pierce used them in her Tortall books.. I dunno about the Magic Circle books I never read those... There's more I'm just tired and lazy to go looking on my book cases for them LOL.. I will look into the ones you mentioned though cause I always like reading new stuff >^.^< I can't speak for anyone else on this topic really.. I just prefer to use Prologues... I'm nto sure if I'll use them in the rest of the series I just feel in book one it's mandatory

 

[Donny Bruso]

@ravana Eddings put a prologue on every volume of the Belgariad and Malloreon, and an epilogue at the end of the Malloreon. He also put a prologue on every volume of the the Elenium and Tamuli, and both prologues and epilogues on Belgarath the sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress.

Eddings, while I find his writing to be perfectly acceptable, is a classing example of how to misuse a prologue. Ever single one I've mentioned here, which is every work of his I've read, includes the prologue as an information dump. Every one consists of events that happened hundreds if not thousands of years earlier, and is not totally relevant to the story. They are dry, boring, and I'd be surprised if more than one person in twenty actually read them.

My opinion is that if you are going to use a prologue on your story, make sure that it is relevant to the story. Most history your readers need to know can be salted in with a few lines here and there. Or have someone tell the story to a kid, or have the kid learn it in school. There are better ways to dump information on your readers than a fifty page prologue that most of them will skip. I've never read Tolkien's prologues, because a lot of the time I can barely stand his prose, never mind his information dumps.

Opening vignettes, as Ravana mentioned earlier, is a bit different. My opinion is that this can be used to show an event previously in the life of one of your main characters. How they were picked to go on the mission that horribly scarred them, or how they lost their arm, or when their daughter the child of prophecy was born. These are still your main characters, so the reader will care and probably read the prologue. If you wax on about things that happened thousands of years ago... chances are they will skip to chapter one and read the real story.

 

[Mdnight Falling]

@ravana Eddings put a prologue on every volume of the Belgariad and Malloreon, and an epilogue at the end of the Malloreon. He also put a prologue on every volume of the the Elenium and Tamuli, and both prologues and epilogues on Belgarath the sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress.

Eddings, while I find his writing to be perfectly acceptable, is a classing example of how to misuse a prologue. Ever single one I've mentioned here, which is every work of his I've read, includes the prologue as an information dump. Every one consists of events that happened hundreds if not thousands of years earlier, and is not totally relevant to the story. They are dry, boring, and I'd be surprised if more than one person in twenty actually read them.

My opinion is that if you are going to use a prologue on your story, make sure that it is relevant to the story. Most history your readers need to know can be salted in with a few lines here and there. Or have someone tell the story to a kid, or have the kid learn it in school. There are better ways to dump information on your readers than a fifty page prologue that most of them will skip. I've never read Tolkien's prologues, because a lot of the time I can barely stand his prose, never mind his information dumps.

Opening vignettes, as Ravana mentioned earlier, is a bit different. My opinion is that this can be used to show an event previously in the life of one of your main characters. How they were picked to go on the mission that horribly scarred them, or how they lost their arm, or when their daughter the child of prophecy was born. These are still your main characters, so the reader will care and probably read the prologue. If you wax on about things that happened thousands of years ago... chances are they will skip to chapter one and read the real story.

Oh see I don't do boring >.< My prologue may have taken place hundreds of years before the rest of the series.. BUT it's like a story in itself Out of the whole manuscript.. my prologue is the one thing I refuse to change. It's the only part of the book I'm actually happy with >.<

 

[Amanita]

It's the only part of the book I'm actually happy with

Why don't you write a book about the historical events happening then, if this is the case?

Personally, I probably wouldn't be too happy too read a large amount of pages, or any amount of pages by the way, that describe an event which has little to do with the actual story and the characters I come to care for.
This might be possible if the event in question will actually be crucial for the people in the actual story, but even than I'd prefer to get the information another way within the actual story. Then I can see the characters react to it right away and know what it means to them.
I also don't really like prologues that give cultural or any other kind of background information? Who actually read and enjoyed "Concerning Hobbits" in LotR? I only did because I was a good girl, taught not to skip parts of books. And the story could have worked without it perfectly well, there weren't that many actual differences between Hobbit behavior and human behavior after all.

The only situation where I think a prologue might be really helpful is when there's been some important event in the main character's past which should be described in detail but isn't close enough to the start of the acutal plot.
If, to take a cliched example, the Dark Lord's troups killed the hero's parents in front of his eyes when he was five and he lived a relativly eventless life with his grandmother after that till he discovers that he can fight the Dark Lord when he's sixteen, it might be helpful to actually describe what has happend back than.

Something I really dislike are stories, where the reader finds out about something important in the prologue and the main character later stumbles around cluelessly and makes plenty of mistakes because he doesn't know that bit of information/doesn't understand the signs the reader sees. This is really frustrating and would be much more interesting if I could find out about it along with the protagonist.

Even though I have to admit, that I also feel tempted to add a prologue "Concerning Elonians" at the beginning of my story and describe in detail how glorious their history has been and how deeply they have fallen and how proud they still are despite of it...

 

[Mdnight Falling]

I agree with you wholeheartedly there Amanita.. I hate things like that.. and OMG I DID skip the Hobbit crap in the fellowship of the ring LMMFAO! It was boring x.x I don't do boring x.x! The prologue of my story is more like a short story in itself.. I felt it essential because without it the reader would be lost as to why events are taking place as they are. So I deemed my prologue "The Year of Exodus" to be a vital part of the story.. just not close enough to what is going on in the actual "now" events of it to be part of the novel itself as anything other the prologue did that make sense LOL