To Prologue or Not to Prologue
Some say prologues are a bad idea. Agents don’t want to see them. Editors don’t want to see them. But then, it seems like every book you open has a prologue. So, is it a good thing? A bad thing? I really think it boils down to personal taste and whether or not the prologue is really necessary. Miss Snark certainly doesn’t like them, but that doesn’t mean all agents don’t…or at least I hope not.
I’ve never written one personally, just because I’ve never had a story that called for one. TG, my new WIP, definitely has one. A quick note here on why I’m not sharing the name. Yet, at least. I’m a bit superstitious about it to tell you the truth. I find it hard for me to share many details about my story to anyone before I reach a certain point. Somehow, I feel like the story will get warped and sharing too many details will make them seep out of my brain and I won’t be able to write the story anymore. Yeah, it doesn’t make sense, but there it is. So, for now, it’s just known as TG.
Anyway, the prologue in this one is really important to the way I’m framing the story. There’s a prologue and an epilogue, and I feel they’re both incredibly vital to the book. And no, they wouldn’t work as chapters on their own because…well, I can’t give that away yet.
Is including the prologue a mistake then? No, I don’t think so. I’m going to keep it in there because it’s what I believe the story needs. There’s a pretty interesting post here about the misuse of prologues. And I like what the blogger says because I’m not doing any of those “bad” things in mine. It isn’t an info dump by any means. It’s my way of introducing the end of the novel before actually getting into what happens to get to that point. It’s from a different perspective, and it ties in with the epilogue which goes back to that perspective. Distinguishable from the rest of the book? Check. Very different kind of scene and voice.
So, I’m just going to chug along with my prologue intact. The way I look at it, it can always be taken out if that’s the only thing separating it from being in print and staying in my box of shelved manuscripts.
What about you? Do you prologue?
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Comments
Ack! Sorry I’ve been absent from the blog comments, but for some reason your blog dropped to the bottom of my favorites, and I almost never make it through all my fav blogs.
I’ve written prologues and epilogues. I think it all depends on how you wrap it in, and how necessary it is for the book. If it’s just a place to dump info, then it probably isn’t necessary, because the info could be woven into the story elsewhere. My third book didn’t have either until my CP told me I needed an epilogue to wrap things up. I wrote it and she was so very right. It made the book better.
It depends. Right now, I’m working on a chick lit (as is the next book in line), and prologues are pretty much useless there.
However, out of my planned fantasies, 1 definitely will be getting a prologue, and another… well, it probably should.
As far as reading them goes, it depends on the author. I’ve often found that if the prologue is handled well, the book is excellent, and vice versa. I used to shun all prologues (same as with first person), but that was until I found authors that were skilled enough to pull it off.
I know many people don’t, but I like them…
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