Last week I asked about epilogues and whether you liked epilogues. I promised that this week we’d talk about prologues, which I think is probably a more divisive topic, especially for authors, because they tend, from what I’ve noticed over the past decade, to be much more attached to the use of prologues than epilogues.
Of course, I’m an editor, and if you’ve heard it once you’ve probably heard it from an editor or agent: we’re not always fans of prologues. I think this has morphed into authors saying that we HATE prologues, but that’s not true. What’s true is this: we see a lot of stories come through our slush pile that start with prologues, and 9 out of 10 times, they’re not necessary.
Why do we think they’re not necessary and what are some of the things that turn me off of prologues?
*Time and again we talk about the importance of starting the story in the right place. Prologues are often backstory, set-up, info-dump and history and for the most part, this is NOT starting your story in the right place.
*Prologues often show us a POV from a character we may never see again. Usually it’s so the author can impart information they feel is important to the reader but can’t show us from the main POVs.
*They’re sometimes written in a style that doesn’t match the tone of the rest of the story.
*They’re written in all italics. Pages and pages of italics.
* You’re using them to set up your entire series all at once.
* Nothing happens.
* The prologue ends up all telling.
Now, before you think I actually do hate prologues, I don’t. In fact, there’s one book I edited where I actually suggested the author ADD a prologue (it’s true, I did. And she did. And it was perfect!) but most of the prologues I do see in submissions are unnecessary. And I’m going to go a step farther and tell you that I don’t actually read the prologues in submissions. I skip them. And, I shamefully admit, sometimes I skip them in published books too. Or at least skim them.
Now you tell us. As a reader, do you like/dislike prologues? Do you read them, skim them, skip them? Or if a book has a prologue, do you pass it up? Authors, have you ever used a prologue or do you try to avoid them? Ever had an editor tell you to cut a prologue? Or add one?
Tags: prologues, you tell us
I read prologues. I agree that often they are not necessary, however a subsequent book in a series can benefit a new reader with some necessary back story, or a historical novel can give the reader some insight into the period (i.e. in my Native American adventure, I talked about the period and the fact that there were no horses…most people don’t realize that the horse didn’t arrive in North America until 1500).
I agree, pages of italics are irritating. Also, a prologue should be about two pages max.
Of course I read them! Since I’m reading the finished product, I assume they’re necessary for the story. (But I don’t necessarily read them when rereading a series like The Belgariad, as I already know the story and the prologues are somewhat tedious. But I reread The Belgariad a lot…)
Funny you bring up The Belgariad because I was thinking of it as I wrote this post. I could have gone deeper into the topic and discussed how I think some genres, like fantasy, have more room in them for prologues that do many of the things I said (tell a story, present in a different POV, are in a voice different from rest of story, etc) and that The Belgariad is a good example of that. Like you, I don’t re-read that prologue either. However, I did start listening to the first book on audio, and it’s interesting hearing the prologue versus reading it.
When I see a prologue I do read it, often feeling cross or even resentful about it. But by the end of the story, I usually decide it needed that prologue.
As a writer, aware of all you say above about prologues, I’ve only used one once – but couldn’t see how to start that story any other way [bearing in mind editing constraints and word limits from the publisher - Robert Hale]. The story, “April and May” had a gap of four years between the events of the prologue and the main action.
I do read prologues. I don’t necessarily have a strong opinion on their use. The times I really like them are in something like a romantic suspense, when we’re given the victim or the bad guy’s POV for the only time in the story.
But, my husband refuses to read prologues. He believes that if what’s in them is important, they should be in the story itself. He always skips them.
Hi
I always read them since I believe they are there for a reason. Sometimes if they are long I will inwardly groan a little but still read on! I have never passed up a book because it has one.
Great post.
Pam
I always read them if they’re there, but I don’t necessarily enjoy them. Especially if they’re a sort of in media res opening where the author is trying to hook me with an exciting moment and then the first chapter beings with “Six Months Earlier.” In my mind, that’s not a prologue, or it shouldn’t be, but I’ve seen a number of them and they invariably drive me nuts. I don’t mind the boring/info dumpy prologues as much. They may not be necessary but they don’t feel like a bait and switch.
Yes. It’s a part of the book, and I figure if the author wrote the prologue, they consider it important to their story.
If I’m browsing in a bookstore, trying to decide if I want to buy a book or not, I will skip the prologue and take a look at chapter one. If I buy, I’ll go back and read the prologue.
The type of prologue I find annoying are the glimpse-at-the-end ones (like the Twilight books). These seem like a cheat to me. as if the author is saying ‘I couldn’t come up with an interesting beginning, but look, exciting stuff will happen two hundred pages from now’.
I read them, but only about 30% seem necessary. (I prefer a prologue to an epilogue for sure.) I hate when the prologue seems completely unconnected to the first chapter.
@Nicole and Corina
I’m not a fan of the “in the future” prologue either. I struggle with books that start me in the future and THEN take me through the past. That used to be an especially favored technique in the 80s glam novels and some contemporaries. I know Nora Roberts and Judith Michaels used it several times. I remember always being driven a little nuts by thinking I now had to read a bunch of backstory to get to the main story. Now I think it’s almost like the author starts with the black moment, because it’s the most interesting hook. I don’t want to start with the black moment, I want to build to it!
I remember Marsha Canham’s (where did she go?) Through a Dark Mist having a prologue and it sucked me straight into the story. If done properly, it definitely can serve a purpose. But is it necessary? The first book in the Harry Potter series didn’t have a prologue, but the first chapter could definitely be regarded as such.
I always read prologues, and I’ll even own to enjoying them. They don’t affect my buying choices.
I do read prologues, but agree they aren’t always needed.
One thing I do not understand is why so many digital books leave the prologue off the table of contents. If the prologue was included in the book, it should also be in the toc.
I read them. Sometimes I find them useful, sometimes I think they’re a waste of space and time, but I still read them. Oh, and who ever decided on the pages of italics needs to be smacked. Prologues, if you must have them, need to be in a readable type.
I do however approve of the use of italics for the antagonist. Some authors, Catherine Coulter comes to mind off hand, will give you small bits, snippets at the ends of some chapters that are from the antagonist’s point of view. Those, I think, I are appropriate use of italics (though for the life of me I can’t recall if they actually are in italics, I just think they *should* be.)
In middle school, a friend of mine wrote a story where the prologue revealed that the main story’s villain was actually in the right, and the heroes had been duped into trying to kill her. They died at the end. It was intended as a punishment for people who don’t read prologues. We’re all sure we’re right in middle school.
I want prologues, like epilogues, to be short stories connected to the main plot but sufficient in themselves. I’ll read them whatever they are, though. If an author, an agent, an editor, and all those other people in the process think the prologue is good enough to keep, probably it’s worth reading, and anyway it’s part of the book. I don’t take novels and only read the dialogue because I’d rather be reading a play. If I’m reading a thing (for pleasure; I skim ALL THE TIME for mandatory reading) I’ll put up with how it’s presented.
Yes, I read prologues.
Some auithors have fantastic ones. Karin Slaughter comes to mind right away.
However most of the time, I find them dull and irrelivant. I read them, because I don’t want to miss something critical. However its annoying.
I read them, but, often I forget all about them soon after. I really dislike those that take place way in the past–common device with fantasy, showing a battle between some long gone nations, world-building, blah, blah, blah.
Many seem to serve as some kind of info dump, or the author’s clever way of dropping in a crucial plot detail on the sly. Except I’m not a particularly subtle reader. The brief mention of a McGuffin in the prologue isn’t going to stay in my mind beyond the first chapter, if that long. So ultimately, it’s a waste of ink.
That said, I seem to have written a prologue in my latest WIP. Hello, hypocrite.
I believe it depends on the prologue…I like them if the book is a part of a series. I always read them, I never skim them. I sometimes wish the writer could have found a way to incorporate the prologue into the body of the story. Having said that, I never let a prologue stop me from purchasing a book and/or reading the story that follows.
For me, like any part of the book, the primary question is “what purpose does it serve?” If the prologue sets up something in a way that makes it clear why it’s there, then yes, it’s fine. If it’s just there without an identifiable reason, it should probably be cut.
Yep. I read them. If they suck… I may not read past them.
I also write them, though I don’t grow attached to them per se. I wrote one today actually, before sending the book off to my beta readers, and it was only a paragraph long, but it felt to me like it needed to be there. It could have been somewhere else in the story, maybe… but it felt good there.
I like prologues. They remind me of getting ready to settle down into an epic journey. I do expect to get a lot more from the story itself but I let prologues set the stage almost get me into the book’s mindset. I am more hit and miss on epilogues.
Bring on the prologues! Call them prologue, name them chapter 1, if the author/editors know that that tidbit needs to be there, I will appreciate it!
I read prologues, and I have to admit I’m baffled that so many people don’t. Some stories can’t be told any other way.
I’ve written two prologues so far. One, in my current manuscript, maybe isn’t strictly 100% necessary–I like it, but I’ll let my editor (and Angela! Hi, Angela!) make the ultimate call. The other, in an unsold manuscript I’d like to revisit someday, I wouldn’t dream of eliminating. It’s an alternative history, and the prologue shows the break point with our timeline–I kill an important historical figure about 25 years prematurely, and well before he BECAME important. It takes me all of two pages to kill him off, and then Chapter 1 opens 25 years later in a world that’s missing one of its heroes. To me, that’s a case where the prologue is necessary because readers in that genre are going to want to know where the timeline diverged, and there was no graceful way to introduce the information within the story’s present.
I love prologues, generally. The exception is info-dump prologues, giving a lot of info about characters we don’t care about or used as a shortcut for world-building. A good prologue is like a bonbon–just a taste of the world I’m about to enter, setting the tone of the story, teasing me to read further.
I’m a bit peverse. I skip them at first then, if I have enjoyed the book, I go back and read the prologue!
Until I started attempting to write romance, I never realized that someone wouldn’t read a prologue. Or that there were such aversions to them. Maybe I’ve read far too much fantasy (epic fantasy at that) where the prologue is part of the story, sometimes such a critical part that you really can’t skip it and know what is going on (I’m thinking Robert Jordan here, where the “prologue” of each book is really the first 50 pages of the book). I get the impression from reading (writing)craft books on sci-fi/fantasy that prologues aren’t universally hated or to be avoided–they’re just a technique for telling part of the story that can be used or not used depending on what the author is trying to accomplish.
If it’s one of those non-fiction type thesis-type introductions that are frequently tacked on to books you have to read for school, then I frequently skip it until I’ve finished the story, if I bother to read it at all.
Id rather it be chapter 1 and do a time stamp: like Chap 1
3 years ago…:OR: chap 1 – THEN. followed by chap 2. I read a ton of mystery and many start w/the body or in killer’s pov – and I find the jump works seamlessly. I think somehow the author writes a little more on point when it’s a for real chapter as opposed as a lets walk through time prologue.
They’re not a 1:1 comparison to an epilogue – I think most times they’re backstory that could be captured as frontstory. And the title of Epilogue may sensitize me to that, so I’m expecting backstory.
I’m definitely in the no-prologue camp here. I hate that in the wrong hands, they just dump the information on us, rather than letting us discover it gradually and organically. I’m OK with spending the first few chapters, getting to know the characters I’m spending time with. Tell me everything right up front and it ruins the surprise.
I never wrote a prologue until a couple rounds of con-crit with different groups insisted I needed one. The information in the prologue used to be in Chapter 3, but I was told that the reader needed that information up front in order to sympathize with the MC. (Although my alpha readers did not seem to have difficulty relating, so maybe I should have left it alone.) Having moved it to a prologue, I now find out people dislike or skip them.
Is there a better way to make a temporal jump between Event A and resulting Situation B? Personally, I hate the “Two Years Later” chapter headings more than I do prologues.