I was reviewing some of my writing this evening and wondering what made a prologue a prologue and not chapter 1. What do you think makes for a good prologue?
I’m not a professional writer, but I would say that a prologue is necessary when there is information you want to give the reader concerning the coming story but doesn’t actually have anything to do with the immediate story. Prologues almost always IME involve bit, secondary, or antagonist characters, or just exposition to establish the setting. The main protagonist is rarely if ever introduced in the prologue, as their story doesn’t begin until Chapter 1.
If the story works without needing to provide the expository info, then jumping right into Chapter 1 works just fine.
A prologue shows actions or background before the main story of the book or movie. It may be something years before, or something that sets up the situation.
As an example, in I Married a Witch, the prologue shows the witch being cursed back in colonial days, but the main action of the story is set in the present (when the movie was made).
Basically any establishing information that happens outside the primary–or at least initial primary–setting of the story whether in time, place or characters.
/hijacking Olive’s account
I know that many “good” authors use a prologue, I’ve been taught that it’s an easy way to get a lot of exposition out of the way, instead of challenging the reader to figure it out on their own during the course of the book - which also says the author is taking the easy way, instead of writing in a way to fill in the backstory during the course of the plot. I’ve written both with, and without, a prologue, and in every case, the prologue-less stories are much better received. Of course, I tend to write from a single POV, usually in 1st person, so a prologue is much more obviously a hack. Interestingly enough, renumbering the chapters so the prologue is now chapter one has greatly increased the acceptance of much of my past output. Just an opinion.
Mr. Olive, the Other, Other Reindeer
/end hijack, thanks Olive
I agree, a prologue sets up the story, then Chapter 1 gets into the story.
Interesting, so are you saying that you write your prologues with a different ( say 3rd omniscient ) POV than the rest of the book?
Reader here. I always felt that Prologues were best done by the franchise writers for the Star Wars X-Wing series, Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston. Yeah, not exactly high-brow literature, but very good writers for what they were doing.
Basically, it usually takes one or two characters - mainly protagonists but occasionally an antagonist - and puts them in a situation that casts a shadow over the rest of the narrative, as well as foreshadowing situations that come later in the book. Their prologues serve to set the pace, atmosphere and themes of the rest of the book, and you can easily tell if it’s something you want to spend time reading.
So, basically, what I want out of a prologue is a feel of the atmosphere and things to come in a book. I can forgive a lot of exposition and slow build-up in the beginning of a book, if the prologue colours it as important for more exiting bits later.
It, along with the Introduction, provides pages that facilitate a better grip with the left hand when one first starts reading the book.
I admit to having a strong prejudice against prologues in works of fiction. Often they’re evidence of authorial self-indulgence or laziness. Often they’re a piece of Writing (with a capital W) that doesn’t fit in the story but the author can’t bear to leave it out. They constitute an obstacle to getting into the story.
I don’t want a shadow over the rest of the narrative, and I don’t want cutesy hints of what’s to come way before it actually does or I care about anybody involved. I want to find things out when the P.O.V. characters do.
I suppose an example is in order. If you’ve seen the movie and read the book The Fellowship of the Ring, you know that they begin differently. The movie begins with a prologue, which maybe works cinematically, but I am so glad Tolkien didn’t choose to start his novel that way. Instead, he starts out grounded in his story’s here and now, the everyday reality of the hobbits, and only gradually lets us (and them) in on the darker and more epic matters that are afoot.
I like being immersed in the world of the story, not briefly dunked in one world, then pulled out and whisked away to a different one.
No, I keep the 1st person POV, but it’s all background or scene setting - stuff that more or less establishes the universe I’m writing in. Like I previously said, it’s a lazy way of doing it, instead of taking the time to work it into the narrative as I go along. A prologue tends to assume the reader isn’t smart enough to figure out the basics as they read - if you have to spell it all out for them, you’re underestimating them. That’s why I’ve tended to shy away from them lately.
Nothing wrong with someone who’s writing 3rd person with multiple POVs to use a prologue, but for my style, IMHO, it’s nearly the kiss of death.
The only prologues that I find even remotely useful are ones that show up in book series. If you’ve waited a year for book 3 of the series to come out, it’s useful to have a prologue that summarizes what happened in book 1 and 2 as a memory aid. If you happen to be reading the series all in a row, then you can skip it.
Now that I think about it, that’s not really a prologue. It’s more of an “introduction” or “backstory.”
Other than that, I don’t like 'em. If the scene is important, put it in the main story. If it’s not, leave it out.
Bad news, Thudlow–most of the copies of *Fellowship * printed since the movie come out do have a prologue, On Hobbits. You had better hang onto your prologue-free copy; it will be worth something as a collector’s item.
:smack: 
Okay, I’ll give you half a gotcha on that one, but that isn’t the kind of prologue I had in mind: the kind that shows something happening that’s remote from what happens at the beginning of Chapter 1.
Looking back at what I wrote, I never actually said the book didn’t have a prologue, so I stand behind what I said.