What are they?
Prologues.
With only a few hundred words, they can give us a hint of what's to come. They also can inspire intense debates among writers about whether to include one.
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| Marlena Cassidy |
What is the role of a good prologue?
I think a prologue's purpose should be to sow questions in a reader's mind, to plant an image in their head that can be called up later in the novel as sort of an "aha moment." It should introduce you to a key character or maybe two, but shouldn't give away too much too soon; it's not the middle of your book, it's just a quick set up that will be important later but interesting now.
Some sort of suspense is a must as well. It doesn't have to be quite as much suspense as you would see in the middle of a crime drama or a thriller novel where the main character is speeding away on a car that's on fire and she has a crateful of puppies to save in the backseat, but I do believe that there should be some kind of tension in it, especially since this is going to be the first thing your readers experience when they open your book. So a killer first sentence is also necessary. If your prologue is boring or if it's not attention grabbing, then your reader is probably not going to stick around or won't be expecting quite as much from your writing.
What makes for a bad one?
For me, if the prologue feels like it's been taken from the middle of the novel and pasted on the first page as a cheap way of garnering interest, then I tend to get put out with the novel and gloss over it. A prologue is a scene that happened before the start of your story, not after it's begun. It should be at least partly responsible for setting the actions of the story into motion, so having one that seems cut from the middle of your novel defeats that purpose.
A poorly written one that gives away too much too soon is also makes me sad. It's a fine line an author has to walk with a prologue, and if you as a writer and more importantly as a reader aren't happy with your prologue, then it either needs more work or maybe you should just scrap it and try your story without one.
Why do you think people either love them or hate them?
I think experience is a big thing. If you've had a lot of bad run-ins with prologues, then you're not going to like them in general. And since prologues are fairly difficult to do right at times without the help of an editor who knows what he/she is doing, there are probably a lot of bad ones floating around out there. It's also just a matter of preference. Some readers might see them as spoilers and not like that. Or they may just see them as extraneous and unnecessary.
I suppose you could also see a prologue as leftover material that couldn't be worked into the story and in that sense, perceive it as a cheat in a way, as a way to stick that scene you really want into your novel without having to work it in for real. I don't really agree with this viewpoint, but it does help explain the hate for them.
Do you think prologues work better for certain genres than others?
I definitely think that some genres lend themselves better to prologues than others. Mystery novels and thrillers, for example, tend to work well with prologues, because suspense is inherent in these novels. Young adult novels can also work well with them if you start off with your character as an older adult, looking back on life specifically at the point in time that your novel takes place or, in your case, Michelle, if you have multiple viewpoints. But you shouldn't limit yourself.
I think a prologue could work for any genre as long as it's done right and fits with your story. It's more the story that determines a prologue's need rather than the genre, so if you're working on something that either doesn't fit a genre (like I am) or isn't one of the ones I mentioned above, don't discount the prologue just yet.
How does an author know whether to include one in his or her book?
If you feel that your story is further enhanced by a prologue, then go for it! But I would also get opinions of fellow writers and readers to see if they agree with you as well. Sometimes we're so invested in our writing that we tend to blind ourselves to any faults that might be in it. So having a few other opinions keeps us grounded and non-egomaniacal.
Is there anything else writers should keep in mind when considering a prologue?
Like I mentioned before, a killer first sentence is a must. It needs to pack a punch right to the gut so that your reader is hooked and doesn't want to put your book down. Consider these two opening prologue sentences that I've just made up:
1. The car was parked at the intersection of Lexington and East 81st Street.
2. It'd been three hours since he'd crawled under Richardson's car, waiting for the CEO to come out, and the smell of motor oil and gasoline was almost enough to kill him faster than what that rat had planned.
I'll leave it to you to decide which one you'd like to read more of.
Oh, and stay open to suggestion. You don't have to take all of what you're told to heart, but just listening to it and considering it can be extremely helpful in the long run, for all of your writing.
Thank you very much, Marlena, for this excellent advice!
P.S. Author Sharon Bayliss of The Blue Word wrote an excellent post last month about which agents are anti-prologue. Like Marlena, Sharon has a blog that rocks!
HELPING HANDS AWARD
The end of August, critique partner and blogger extraordinaire Elizabeth Varadan of Elizabeth Varadan's Fourth Wish honored me with the Helping Hands Award. Few people deserve this more than Marlena, as she is a true champion of others' writing careers through her thoughtful blog comments and Twitter shout outs.
No obligation goes with this award except to pass it to those you feel have helped you.
Your turn: Do you like prologues in books you read? Do you include prologues in books you write?
44 comments:
Hmmmmm. Prologues can be hit and miss.
I didn't write one for my first novel, but the publishers asked me to add one, in the style of a wiki-entry, to give readers a stronger sense of place. It's only one page and then it's on with the story.
It's a personal taste thing. I skipped right over the prologue in LA Confidential to my peril. I read it after I finished reading the novel and .... well, more fool me.
Hi Ebony, Michelle!
Ebony: I think a page is good for a prologue, but like you said, it's a matter of preference. They have the potential to seriously help or hurt a novel. Thank you for stopping by!
Michelle: Thank you so much for having me over here today to guest post on your blog! And an award too! I was not expecting that at all! You're just hands-down amazing.
A most interesting issue, I guess at the endo of the day it is all down to the author,
Yvonne.
I've always wondered people's views. For me personally I don't mind them, as long as they're done well! I'm also never sure how long they should be, then again I'm not one to use them!!
Great post!
Hi Yvonne, Jen!
Yvonne: The author and the editor, I suppose. There's really no right or wrong answer.
Jen: Thanks! I don't use them that often unless I feel that it's super necessary. And if they work with a book I'm reading, I don't mind them there either!
Thank you both for stopping by!
Thanks so much for this excellent post. It's been suggested that I add a prologue to my manuscript, and all I've ever read says 'no'. It's good to read the other side of the argument to help me decide.
My first book had a prologue as the request of my publisher. It was an incident that took place many years before the beginning of the story, but affected the main character's path in life. It also helped start the book with some action.
My second book won't have one though!
I don't mind a prologue if it's done well--I like the idea of a quick snippet into the past or into the mindset of the antagonist. I think the thing is to keep them short--an amuse bouche of the literary world.
Some prologues are great. The ones I hate are the ones that are either all backstory or it's the best POV of the book and I never get to go back .
:)
Tirz
I've never been much of a Prologue writer, but I'm certainly not opposed to them. Well-done ones, of course. Thanks, Marlena! :o)
Hi everyone!
Carol: I've seen arguments go both ways. Some literary agents absolutely hate them and some seem ambivalent towards them. I think it's like fashion: they go out of style and come back every once in a while.
Alex: Yours sounds like an awesome prologue! It think it really depends on the book that you're writing.
julie: Short is always better for a prologue. ling-winded ones tend to drag and feel more like a backstory dump than anything else.
Tirzah: The dreaded backstory! It can ruin a good book, never mind the prologue. And my rule is if you have POV anywhere in your book, you're not allowed to just hit it once. It needs to come back eventually.
LTM: Thank you for stopping by! Well-done is the other must.
Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments! I really appreciate it.
@Ebony, I was fascinated to learn you were asked to add a prologue to your Ondine book. It totally worked. I also love your tale about skipping the prologue in L.A. Confidential; my mom always skips prologues, but not always to her benefit. :)
@Marlena, you're amazing too, being so willing to tackle this thorny topic!
@Yvonne, **waves**
@Jen, I've always like my prologues on the short side, but more importantly I just want them to work. :)
@Carol, I'd be delighted if this post could help you decide which route to take. I think it's important to know when a guideline helps or hinders us as authors.
@Alex, I think you addressed the key issue here--use prologues only if they strengthen, not weaken or cheapen, your book.
@Julie and Tirzah, I couldn't agree more!
@LTM, **waves**
My theory is that if your backstory is that interesting---write a book about it. :) They call those pre-quels.
:)
T
This was such an interesting post. As a reader, I enjoy them, and immediately start pondering them for clues that might be important in what follows. As a writer, the only time I wrote one, I through it out, because I decided it didn't really bring anything to the book. But I still wouldn't mind writing a winning prologue to a winning story.
Prologues can be good, but they've got to be short, otherwise I'm liable to skip over them as I really want to get into the "meat" of the story. Epilogues, however, I'm much more lenient with:)
Great topic! I actually love prologues because they are hints but at the same time give nothing away...at least to me:)
I loved Becca Fitzpatrick's prologue in Hush Hush.
@Tirzah, great point!
@Elizabeth, I read prologues the same way. And having read your other books, I think your genre would be a great fit for this writing option.
@Mark, I'm with you!
@Deana, we are so on the same page. :)
Hi Michelle, most of the prologues I've read in books - I've thought could either be chap 1 or left out. I never write them - but this may change one day. They have to be written well and purposefully
xx
Michelle, you know how I feel about this - I'm definitely pro-prologue. For one of my books, it really is necessary. For those of you who don't know, my urban fantasy Countless starts with my antagonist stalking my MC, and she is unaware of this. Otherwise, the rest of the book is written from her point of view. This first event is absolutely essential, the thing that launches the whole story. So, I can't take it out. I cheat and call it chapter one since so many agents hate prologues :)
Great interview! And the post on Sharon's blog was very helpful, too!
I had a prologue to my memoir. When my publisher said no, I knew why. I prefer starting with a great opening sentence/paragraph/first page and moving chronologically forward. Then when your read is pulled into the story, flashbacks can work well. I did only one of these in my memoir, a long ways into it, and it worked there because by then the reader knew the characters.
I won't do a prologue with my second memoir that I'm thinking of self-publishing, as you discovered when you read my post and left a comment. And thanks for your confidence in me to write an equally good second book. Gosh, the pressure. But I'm going to try not to think about anything except the story, and doing the best I can with it.
(I see alexia's comment above. I would do it that way, too; call the beginning the first chapter. Bottom line: if a prologue works well, I see no reason not to do one.)
Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror, A Memoir of Shattered Secrets
Oh, so many comments!
Elizabeth: I've only done one prologue in my works, but I love to read them in thrillers and mysteries when they're well done. They can work out so well.
Mark: The shorter the better!
Deana: I haven't read Hush Hush but maybe I will soon!
Michelle: If it's backstory, it's not a prologue. Prologues are a bit of a microcosm in themselves and if they feel like they belong anywhere else in a book, that means you really don't need it.
alexia: It's too bad you have to hide your prologue! But if it gets your work noticed, then go for it.
Ann: Thanks for stopping by! I can't wait for your second memoir to come out.
Thank you everyone for commenting!
Great advice, Marlena! I think when used in the right way, a prologue can be a useful tool. But if a story can be told without it, that's the way to go. Thanks Marlena and Michelle!
@Michelle, you're so right that, like all the rest of the book, prologues have to be written well and purposely and fit no where else except that unique place where they live.
@Alexia, I've read some prologues that, it's true, don't work, but yours totally rocks. I can't imagine your book not starting with it.
@Ann, you've said it perfectly!
Really useful post, Marlena. I'm a fan of prologues, but I haven't used a lot of them in my work. You really have to know when they're doing the job they're supposed to, otherwise they fall flat. Sometimes, I'll read a prologue and then start the book only to wonder what one had to do with the other. :) Thanks for hosting, Michelle!
@E.R., great point!
@J.L., I'm so glad you found the post useful. I know what you mean, though, about disjointed prologues. What was the editing team thinking to let that get by? :)
I'm not a big fan of prologues, unless they're very short and moves the story forward rather than a recap of back story.
Great post. I believe my first manuscript had a prologue, but I mistakenly labeled it as "chapter one." Ever since then, I haven't written one, but I'm not closed to the idea. I think they can be tricky, but I've enjoyed reading them.
I love prologues. Prologues let my character talk directly to the reader about what is to come, even if the rest of the book isn't so inclusive. Also, I hate opening books with dialogue. It's just a pet peeve of mine and a prologue is an easy way to sidestep that hurdle.
Prologues always seem to stir up controversy. Personally, I'm of the opinion that if they work, they work. If they don't, well, just like any other part of the book, you'll either skip past it or stop reading the book altogether. Everything we do as writers is risky, and everything we do is subjective.
As a reader, they don't bother me. I write thrillers, and of course I read a lot of thrillers, and prologues are common in my genre.
Great post, Michelle!
If a prologue is well-written and serves the story, I like it. Otherwise not :) I've heard that editors hate prologues, and I think they're hard to write well and most books don't benefit from them, so as a writer, I generally steer clear. That said, I do have one WIP with a prologue, but I'm trying to decide if I should keep it or not...!
Its great to meet you, MArlena. Prologues are tricky to write. I added a short story as a prologue to my book. Its a mini stand alone feature that I used, then added a few transition paragraphs to chapter two, which was my original chapter one.
@Maria, great point!
@Medeia, prologues definitely are tricky to do correctly; no wonder we're so often advised not to have one.
@McKenzie, I'm so with you! I know so often authors, especially that those you write for younger audiences such as picture book readers, are advised to start with dialogue, but I find that extremely difficult to do. I think that's because in the newsroom, editors will chop off your fingers if you do so. :)
@Jennifer, you said this perfectly. Prologues are no different than any other part of our novels, in that we should always toss what doesn't work.
@Susanna, IMO, even though I love prologues too often they aren't used correctly. This probably has happened enough that editors put forth an edict, "No prologues!" However, editors also say that about rhyming picture books, and look how many of them are on the shelves. :)
@Stephen, what an intriguing concept. I'd be interested is seeing how this works, as it is, if you'll excuse the pun, a novel-sounding idea.
Most of the time, I don't mind prologues. The only problem I have with them is if they're taken from the middle of the book: there's no way of knowing if it gives away too much information--and by the time it's figured out, it's too late.
I'm okay with prologues, as long as they're done right. If they're short, punchy, and pique my interest well enough, I'm a fan. Otherwise...it's probably best left out. The ones I especially dislike usually describe some event that happens before the story and use flat, boring characters I can't connect with. But I guess the character part is the subject of another rant. Great post!
@The Golden Eagle, a prologue that's a spoiler would be way wrong ...
@Jenna, welcome to Bird's-eye View! I love your phrase "short, punchy and pique my interest."
Great Post, Marlena. I like prologues where I can get inkling of better things to come later in the story.
Thanks Michelle!
Awesome post. There's this novel I have that I always write a prologue, then delete it, then write another one then delete it, lol. I'm so unsure about what to do. This helped, though! Thanks! :D
@Nas, we are so on the same page. :)
@Monica, I've done the same thing, countless times, with my first novel, The Underground Gift. I'm so glad to see I'm not alone!
Wonderful interview, Michelle and Marlena. Until reading this, I had no idea that prologues receive such strong reactions, either for or against. Next time I pick up a book with a prologue, I'll look at it with a new perspective! Regardless, Marlena, I think the advice you shared here is wise and helpful.
@Katie, I also was surprised about the strong reactions prologues generate; Marlena and I encountered this a couple of months ago during the Gearin' Up to Get an Agent blogfest and decided this apparently controversial writing option deserved a post. :)
Great post! Does this help you with your prologue thoughts, Michelle? I personally can't say I like them or don't like them. It depends on the book. Sometimes they irritate me and sometimes I love them.
@Laura, this post has been great for crystallizing my thoughts about prologues. I'll always love a well-written one, and if my publishing team is OK that we wait a couple dozen pages before introducing Reeca, the book's second antagonist, I'll be very cool with not having a prologue for Gift. For the last few weeks, the book's been back to not having one--but this is apparently subject to change with little advanced notice. :)
Hi Marlena!
Great post! So far I've completed 3 books and have not used a prologue in any of them. I think they are necessary to inform a reader of something that happened long ago or to set the stage for something about to happen.
I do not like when you think it's real and it turns out to be a dream. I agree, they have to be done well.
@Wendy, welcome to Bird's-eye View! Yours is a great definition and barometer of whether a book would benefit from a prologue. And I agree completely that dream prologues are a deal breaker.
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