Prologue chapters, how important are they?

[Avarice_Of_The_Seven]

Okay so, I'm in the process of restructuring my novel to make it more marketable and was doing research on that front.

Based on what I've read about the topic and the research I've done, one of the most important factors for web novel popularity is the beginning of the story and the early chapters. It's very important for reader retention.

And this has confused me to no end.

My early chapters were heavily inspired by ORV and Trash of the count's family. But my problem was that unlike them my novel is a reincarnation story and it gets interesting gradually instead of delivering an earth shattering plot right at the beginning. So my current beginning makes my novel feel slow (don't get me wrong, it is slow.) and this makes reader retention hard.

I was brainstorming a solution for this problem and one of the ways to somewhat resolve this would be to create a Prologue Chapter.

You can add a cool scene or a very small incident from the later parts of your story as the first chapter and label that chapter as Prologue. This prologue first chapter serves no other purpose besides reader retention and it will have almost no connection to the second chapter or the early part of your web novel.

I was in the process of an intense self argument on the topic about whether I should create a prologue chapter or not.

So, I want your opinion on the matter and want to know about how effective a prologue chapter can be and whether it's even necessary.

My story is in essence, a reincarnation story and the protagonists will remain 10-year-old kids for the first major arc of my novel. They could even remain 10-year-olds for the first volume. And this childhood part is the least interesting part of my story.

So tell me, should I create a prologue chapter or do I find some other solution?

 

[Macha]

Just don't do things Rudeus way. Beginning with the protagonist waking up as a baby is not ideal because of the limitations of what you can do as a baby.

 

[Avarice_Of_The_Seven]

Just don't do things Rudeus way. Beginning with the protagonist waking up as a baby is not ideal because of the limitations of what you can do as a baby.

Yeah, that's exactly the problem I was trying to fix. my initial fix to this problem was a 5 year time skip after waking up as a baby but this solution wasn't good enough either.

 

[Zinless]

You don't have to make a prologue chapter, and honestly, sometimes a prologue chapter can be a detriment if the interesting part wouldn't happen anytime soon.

Best advice I could give you is to find a way to make that early chapters/arcs interesting. It's the best solution if you could find a way to do it properly.

But I do have to ask, what made you to decide to keep the 10-year old arc if it's not interesting? Does it have important worldbuilding? Character interactions? Can it be delegated to later chapters or shown through flashbacks instead?

 

[Wenlock]

Just don't do things Rudeus way. Beginning with the protagonist waking up as a baby is not ideal because of the limitations of what you can do as a baby.

Oshi no ko also had that but they skipped over it so its cool

 

[Bartun]

I wrote the prologue chapter, and while many people praise it, most of my potential readers dropped my story in the early chapters because they found the pace too slow. I need to find a better way to make those few chapters more interesting. That's why I've been rewriting my story.

 

[Terrate]

If you're dead set on making a prologue, then it should be a chapter that would give the overall tone of your work. Whether you could continue from that prologue or maybe it's a snippet from the future is up to you.

But I do have to ask, what made you to decide to keep the 10-year old arc if it's not interesting? Does it have important worldbuilding? Character interactions? Can it be delegated to later chapters or shown through flashbacks instead?

I second this. Why would you add the 10-year old arc if you - yourself - find it not interesting? I don't know about you, but readers can pick up that feeling with how you write that arc, and might even just drop your work if you still went with it begrudgingly.

 

[Wenlock]

Yeah, that's exactly the problem I was trying to fix. my initial fix to this problem was a 5 year time skip after waking up as a baby but this solution wasn't good enough either.

How about just adding an interesting preview like in Boruto (no i don't like boruto) so that the reader actively looks forward to it while reading the prologue chapters

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Web readers often ignore prologue chapters unless they are explicitly referenced later, then they go back and read them.
Your best bet is to start en medias res = with an event from later in the series, something engaging that hints at the ultimate story, then flash back to the story, if you NEED the slow burn.
An example of how this works reasonably well is something called "The Mech Touch" on Pocket FM - it has a chapter that you don't find out anything about for over 100 chapters as the start of the story, and then dives into the slow burn part and builds up with smaller arcs until you finally get a hint of what happened in the beginning.

 

[Avarice_Of_The_Seven]

But I do have to ask, what made you to decide to keep the 10-year old arc if it's not interesting? Does it have important worldbuilding? Character interactions? Can it be delegated to later chapters or shown through flashbacks instead?

Well, that 10-year-old part is necessary. You can say that adding it is more of a strategic decision.
My novel has two different protagonists and they are connected through a political engagement that happened in their childhood. The story will have too many POV shifts if the protagonists are far from each other for prolong periods of time and controlling the flow of the story will become harder. You can take Ending Maker novel as an example.

I decided to create the childhood phase of my story in order to introduce the engagement part, basic growth part and their relationship dynamic formation part.

Basically, my 10-year-old arc goes something like this;

A man and a woman reincarnated in a fantasy world under different circumstances, they awakened magical powers and their noble families had them politically engaged, The girl insisted on going to short adventures regularly in the city. they clashed a bit in their early interactions cuz they had conflicting motivations and it concludes with the boy needing to find a purpose in life, then they try various things during their regular adventures in order for the boy to find his purpose in his new life.

The major part of this childhood arc will include only the male and female protagonists with almost no characters being introduced and it mainly includes them receiving lessons about power system and world settings as well as their regular adventures/dates.

I thought that this part was necessary in order to properly introduce and develop my protagonist's motivation and relationship dynamics. I can even add world and power system info through lessons. it's also important cuz my male protagonist cerates his cheat in this part and this cheat is very important for story progression.

 

[foxes]

I think prologues can be quite different. The main thing is to show a part of some epic so that the reader knows what to expect. But it doesn't have to be in the future. If the story is global enough, it can be a significant stage from the past that leads to a climax in the future. But it is also possible to fill interesting moments and what you already have. Depends on how much you are willing to sacrifice the main idea of the beginning. To be honest, I don't see a difference between a well-written warehouse fire and a divine battle.

My story is in essence, a reincarnation story and the protagonists will remain 10-year-old kids for the first major arc of my novel. They could even remain 10-year-olds for the first volume. And this childhood part is the least interesting part of my story.

"The world of the Funnel is cruel from the very beginning of your life. Since childhood, we've watched viruses turn ordinary people into piles of shit in seconds. And the creatures that emerged from them devoured the survivors."
It's really boring and uninteresting.

 

[FRWriter]

Many people skip prologues... most of them find them confusing.

I don't think they are important. If you don't know what you're doing or don't have any real good reason for one, I would always suggest you skip them.

 

[Eldoria]

So tell me, should I create a prologue chapter or do I find some other solution?

For some, a prologue isn't important. But for me (a niche author), a prologue is crucial and serves as the premise of the arc. Without reading the prologue, readers won't understand the main problem/issue that will be discussed throughout the arc (I define arcs as volumes, with 1 arc = 1 volume).

In short, for me, a prologue is equivalent to a thesis statement that will be tested throughout the arc, from the opening to the resolution.

 

[Esden-Noir]

Okay so, I'm in the process of restructuring my novel to make it more marketable and was doing research on that front.

Based on what I've read about the topic and the research I've done, one of the most important factors for web novel popularity is the beginning of the story and the early chapters. It's very important for reader retention.

And this has confused me to no end.

My early chapters were heavily inspired by ORV and Trash of the count's family. But my problem was that unlike them my novel is a reincarnation story and it gets interesting gradually instead of delivering an earth shattering plot right at the beginning. So my current beginning makes my novel feel slow (don't get me wrong, it is slow.) and this makes reader retention hard.

I was brainstorming a solution for this problem and one of the ways to somewhat resolve this would be to create a Prologue Chapter.

You can add a cool scene or a very small incident from the later parts of your story as the first chapter and label that chapter as Prologue. This prologue first chapter serves no other purpose besides reader retention and it will have almost no connection to the second chapter or the early part of your web novel.

I was in the process of an intense self argument on the topic about whether I should create a prologue chapter or not.

So, I want your opinion on the matter and want to know about how effective a prologue chapter can be and whether it's even necessary.

My story is in essence, a reincarnation story and the protagonists will remain 10-year-old kids for the first major arc of my novel. They could even remain 10-year-olds for the first volume. And this childhood part is the least interesting part of my story.

So tell me, should I create a prologue chapter or do I find some other solution?

Prologues are important no matter what people say, but there are reasons why their important. Firstly Prologues are a must if your book is physical, because buyers only read the start(where the prologue resides) if they find it interesting boom that's a sell. But for digital books it's not necessary and it's discouraged if the story has a strong start or a fast build up.

 

[Tetrahedron]

So tell me, should I create a prologue chapter or do I find some other solution?

I think the general rule of thumb for making a prologue is if you want to set a precedent for future events, like what comes before the main story.

...for digital books it's not necessary and it's discouraged if the story has a strong start or a fast build up.

Agreed. Though for any author who do long-term storytelling, it's best for them to keep making prologue to set a tone on future events afterwards on each Arc/Act/Volume

 

[Esden-Noir]

I think the general rule of thumb for making a prologue is if you want to set a precedent for future events, like what comes before the main story.

Agreed. Though for any author who do long-term storytelling, it's best for them to keep making prologue to set a tone on future events afterwards on each Arc/Act/Volume

I agree prologues are like a glimpse at what the arc might hold. But nowadays it kinda lost the meaning, people just use it for the start of the story (to make it impactful) but in the sense of what you said, it's a mutual agreement.