These days if you mention prologues in a writing group just
about everyone will tell you not to write them. I’ve even been told that
editors hate them, but I happen to think there are times when a prologue is
good and helpful, and even needed.
I’ve also heard that anywhere from ten to fifty percent of
readers even read prologues. Well guess what, I’m in that group. I read them, I
find them just as important as the story itself, and I have written a few. And
by a few, I mean a grand total of five out of my over thirty stories that I’ve
at least started. So not very many, and I have no intention of writing
prologues for the stories that don’t have them. As far as I’m concerned, they
don’t need them, but the five I have prologues for, well, in my opinion, they
need them.
And I can explain why I have everyone I do have.
The first one is in the POV a minor character in the story,
but the information in that scene is of vital importance. All of the remaining
scenes are either in the hero’s or the heroine’s POV, but neither were present
in that one scene. These few paragraphs inform the reader what the story is
about. And frankly I tried to get away without writing that scene, because
after all, I’d been told many times to avoid prologues, but well, this scene
was needed, I wrote it.
The second one is partly in the POV of a secondary character
and partly in the POV of the hero, its short, but it also says what, and who,
the story is about. I guess it could be the first chapter, but its rather short
for that.
The next two are short scenes, one in the hero’s POV, and in the other story in the heroine’s POV. They also say what the story is about, but at first it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the rest of the story, its only later that you see what it has to do with the story, sort of like in my first prologue.
The final one is for my sci-fi, and the prologue is an ancient
story in the world where my sci-fi is set. A story as old as time, as my
heroine later tells the hero. This story is mentioned often throughout what
will be my sci-fi series, but I didn’t want it actually in the story, so I put
it in the prologue, skip it if you want, but you may end up referring to it
later. 😊
I know none of these stories are published, only one is even
in the finished rough stage, and I’m currently working on the sci-fi, but each
time I read these prologues I’ve worried about how the publishers will feel about
them, and what they will do to my chances of being published, because after
all, we are told to avoid them at all costs.
Then this past week Konnie came across this blog post: https://www.septembercfawkes.com/2018/06/how-prologues-actually-function-6-types.html
by September C. Fawkes, who is an editor. It’s a pretty good outline of the uses for a prologue.
I particularly like when Fawkes says, “. . . prologues are
about making promises of one kind or another to the audience. This is the main function
of a prologue.”
Okay, I do make promises. In four of my prologues, they tell
what the story is about, they show something that is important or vital to the
story. In my final one, well that story lets the reader know the story does not
happen in our world. All of them set the stage for what is to follow.
Fawkes also says, “Like all writing rules, there may be some
exceptions once in a while, but I’d argue almost always prologues = promises.”
According to what Fawkes says in her blog post my first one
is an Alternative Viewpoint prologue, my second is partly an Alternative
Viewpoint, and partly a Time Displacement because it happens months before the
main story, my next two are little bit Theatrical and a little bit Dual Draw (Well
actually, all of these have a bit of the Theatrical in them.), and my final one
is both Informational and Time Displacement.
They all serve a purpose, and they all make a promise about
what is to come.
In other words, I’ve used prologues correctly the few times
I’ve used them. 😊
So, how many of you read prologues?
How many of you skip prologues?
And how many of you have written a prologue?
Happy writing everyone! 😊
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