Prologues are one of the most asked-about subjects in the publishingosphere. Do agents like them? Should I include mine in a partial? How many people dying at the hands of zombie mutants in the first page of my prologue is too many? And so on.
My post on all things prologue is here. But what I am curious about today is: do you like prologues? How strongly do you feel about them either way? Do your feelings run hot, cold, or lukewarm?
If you’re reading via a feed reader or by e-mail you’ll need to click through to see the poll.
If something is important enough to go into a prologue, it's important enough to go into chapter 1.
Chapter 1 is what you start your book with. That's the way I see it.
I voted: "It depends on how good the prologue is". Great writing comes in all forms.
I noticed many rhetorical questions in today's post. I especially like: "How many people dying at the hands of zombie mutants in the first page of my prologue is too many?" Now there’s an important question, and one that is never adequately covered in books about writing. LOL.
I was just reading this article by brain scientist and writer L. K. Blackburne on how to get and keep people's attention.
Creating a mystery does the trick, and the best prologues usually set up a question the reader wants answered. Hence, I think prologues have a place.
I rarely notice something's a prologue, so none of the poll answers apply to me. I start reading a book on Page 1, and if that's "Prologue", "Introduction", or "Chapter 1", so be it. The only time I really notice it is when I listen to audio books.
Most writers I talk to agree that having a prologue is okay, but it's probably better to just call it "Chapter 1".
Can't stand them. Never read them anymore.
If it's not important enough to be part of the book, why put it in at all? If you have to explain what we're about to read in the book, or set it up, then your first chapter is probably off.
Prologues seem unnecessary to me unless the book in question is a long awaited sequel. In that case, the prologue could be useful.
I keep skimming through prologues because I want to actually get into the story itself. The prologue is like a set-up or an opportunity for the author to express his views. (Granted, the expertise of the author could be the reason for so many failed prologues.)
So, I'm not crazy about them and I voted No.
I have read a few prologues that worked. My general impression is that the writer had something important about the story, but was otherwise unable to work it into the story–which translates to laziness. Sorry, to be so mean, but it's how I feel.
I like short prologues – the ones that are a paragraph or two long.
its like a nice backdrop on a stage, if its done well. It pulls you in makes you curious. Who are these people? What is this place?
I have to agree with Liberty, I just read from page one, whether it's a prologue or not, I just start at the beginning. 🙂
As a young adult writer I try to remember how I disliked prologues as a teen reader. I think there are very few circumstances where a prologue is essential. I would rather put the info in as chapter one or use flashbacks in the novel. That's just my opinion.
I HATE prologues–when I was little, I would never, ever read them. Prologues, introductions, nothing. If they weren't titled Chapter One, I wouldn't read them. I force myself to read them now, but only if it looks like they contain necessary information.
I'm partial to prologues, so long as they're GOOD prologues, so I selected option #3. I definitely think they can be used as a device to set the mood, or create a set-up for the story if you want to, say, start with a different POV or with an event that happens years before the main storyline.
However, they can definitely be useless or hokey. To be fair, though, MANY things in fiction can be useless or hokey if they're used poorly. One prologue I'm not a fan of is the sort that takes a scene from later in the book – usually just before the climax – and uses it to draw the reader immediately into action that they're not actually going to get to partake in until much later. Many times it's used because the first few chapters are slow. I kind of feel like that's cheating.
I voted "depends" because it's not just the quality of the prologue, it's the QUANTITY for me.
If a prologue is more than a couple pages, I think it should have been a chapter or worked into the body of the book itself. It makes me distrust the author and the rest of the book.
If they can't write this scene/info into the book, what other tricks are they going to pull? What else didn't they care enough to do well?
I generally don't like prologues either, but then there are the mind-blowingly good books like THE BOOK THIEF, which opens which a prologue. Go figure!
I think it really depends on how good the prologue is.