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- Tom Bromley
- Include a prologue for the right reasons. Writers often insert a prologue into their book to prop up what they think is a flat or boring first chapter.
- Center your prologue on character action. Even if your prologue needs to relay information about your book's world, it should always focus on character action.
- Focus on what you want readers to take away. Prologues are an opportunity to plant key themes or motifs. In our Game of Thrones example, the prologue sets the tone for what is to come and provides readers with a context for the body of the narrative.
- Keep your foreshadowing subtle. Remember to pique your readers’ interest, not send their eyes rolling to the back of their heads. Heavy-handed foreshadowing runs the risk of spoiling the twists and turns that are to come, so ensure that any hints you do give aren't enough to deflate your readers’ sense of anticipation.
May 30, 2024 · Don’t info dump. You want your reader to race through your prologue, excited to learn more about your story, not skip over it because it’s boring and too info heavy. Don’t include a prologue that has nothing to do with the plot. This could mean a random POV that really doesn’t play into the rest of your story.
Dec 19, 2023 · A prologue provides some background information, context, or introduction to the characters, setting, or theme. They can have both benefits and negatives for a novel, depending on how they are ...
- Stephen Rowledge
- What Is A Prologue?
- Prologue Don'ts
- Types of Prologues
- Strengths of A Prologue
- Do I Need A Prologue?
Prologues come before chapter one and could be expository/introductory prose, a poem, diary letter, news clipping, or anything in between. As a reader, when I start reading a prologue, I’m usually impatient to get to chapter one. But by the end of a good prologue, I’m wondering about the subsequent story and excited to see how the event fits into t...
1. Using a prologue as a place for a massive dump… information dump.
Information dumps are one of the easiest ways to make readers’ eyes glaze over. Paragraphs of text that provide dense (albeit important) background information are tough to digest. Without strategically trickling this information throughout a scene or throughout the chapters/book, readers can be immediately turned off to a story. (4 Approaches for the First Chapter of Your Novel.) Not to mention, the opening pages are a make-or-break moment. You have mere seconds to hook a reader (or industry...
2. A boring prologue (that readers want to skip to get to chapter one).
Obviously writers don’t start writing a prologue saying, “What is the driest scene I can write? The more boring, the better!” If your scene lacks action or purpose that propels your story, you may be falling into this danger zone. Look at your manuscript with the critical eye of a reader and ask: “Would I skip this prologue and go right to chapter one?” If so, consider what you can do to spice things up a bit (while keeping the prologue relevant to your story).
3. A prologue that has nothing to do with the main story.
Prologues need to somehow propel or impact your main plot. Period. If your prologue is filled with action, offers bite-sized pieces of background information, and weaves a compelling scene but is not relevant to your main plot, you probably need to re-think your strategy. It doesn’t matter if your writing is solid if the scenes aren’t strategically moving toward that pretty plot arc—depicting an emotional journey for your character and exhibiting the stakes for your protagonist and the world...
Here are a few examples of different types of prologues: 1. Background/History: This type of prologue provides background to the history of the world and events that previously transpired—such as a major battle or betrayal. These events typically took place before the beginning of your story and somehow significantly impact the events going forward...
Fear not, writers. Prologues aren’t all bad. In fact, they come in handy in a number of scenarios: 1. To provide a “quick-and-dirty” glimpse of important background information without the need of flashbacks, dialogue, or memories that interrupt the action later on in the book. 2. Hook the reader into the action right away while having the readers ...
Trying to decide whether or not you should keep (or even write) a prologue? Consider the following questions: 1. What information am I providing in the prologue? Why is it important to reveal it up front? Can it be revealed throughout the story in smaller trickles and still be as impactful (or more)? 2. Does this character’s POV come up again later...
If you can finagle your prologue to be Chapter 1, do it. This ensures the reader won’t skip a hook present in your prologue, and that they read any important information that affects your plot. Write a prologue if you want to. A lot of writers, myself included, later realize that the prologue isn’t necessary.
Jun 29, 2016 · I won't DV this because it's not "wrong," but wow, I could not disagree more. The prologue doesn't have to be about the main character. In Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope mysteries, all the prologues are about minor or one-off characters, and what occurs is part of what kicks off the plot of the book. Maybe you've been reading the wrong prologues.
People also ask
Should a prologue be Chapter 1?
Should you write a prologue?
Does a prologue have to be about the main character?
Does boy ever read a prologue?
Can a writer have more than one prologue?
What is a prologue in a novel?
Prologues are more common in certain genres than others. You’re more likely to find a prologue in a thriller or fantasy novel, for example, than in a piece of literary fiction. Keep in mind that prologues aren’t a requirement of any genre, no matter how common they might appear to be. Never feel you have to write a prologue simply because a ...
