Prologues?

[ElijahRyne]

In the story I am currently writing, the prologue is of heavy importance. It was only recently that I remembered that some folks skip prologues. So, do you do so? Why do you do so if so? Also what are your general thoughts on prologues.

 

[HungrySheep]

I generally skip prologues unless it's a prologue in a paperback or otherwise published novel. The vast majority of people putting prologues don't know what they're doing and mostly use them as massive infodumps which could have been more organically introduced in the story.

 

[L1aei]

I do read them because usually prologues are... well, okay. I was about to say what they are designed to do, but that honestly should be based on the writer's intent with them. So, from my perspective, a prologue should be something written to hook readers in, to give them something to look forward to and leave it on a cliffhanger on what will happen as a result of what just happened, then the readers start from the beginning that leads up towards that scene.

 

[ElijahRyne]

I generally skip prologues unless it's a prologue in a paperback or otherwise published novel. The vast majority of people putting prologues don't know what they're doing and mostly use them as massive infodumps which could have been more organically introduced in the story.

Unfortunately mine ain’t an info dump, but a driving question of the story. It is the thing that haunts the protag for the first few arcs. I worry that if someone skips it they will miss it, and a big point of the story.

I do read them because usually prologues are... well, okay. I was about to say what they are designed to do, but that honestly should be based on the writer's intent with them. So, from my perspective, a prologue should be something written to hook readers in, to give them something to look forward to and leave it on a cliffhanger on what will happen as a result of what just happened, then the readers start from the beginning that leads up towards that scene.

I tend to see them as the beginning of the story, so I just start reading from there.

 

[HungrySheep]

Unfortunately mine ain’t an info dump, but a driving question of the story. It is the thing that haunts the protag for the first few arcs. I worry that if someone skips it they will miss it, and a big point of the story.

You could just label it as Chapter 1 or Chapter 0 to prevent prologue skippers. Sounds like a prologue worth reading for sure, though.

 

[Rachel_Leia_Cole]

I do read them. But I don’t write them. I had given some thought about turning my first chapter into a prologue, but so many people skip them. My story would make a lot less sense if that info was skipped over, so I kept it as chapter one.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

Prologues are generally boring or tell me too much to make me not even want to bother reading further.
It's the same reason I hate when youtubers do little previews of what the video is about, or key things that happen. I know it's to drive engagement and get you to look forward to w/e happens, but it just annoys the shit out of me, personally.

Idk, might be just my autism, but I like finding things out naturally on my own through seeing/reading. I'd only look at a prologue if I really needed to find a certain piece of info I couldn't find at all in the rest of the story.

 

[L1aei]

About a decade ago, I remember reading a story on another platform that had a good hook for me in a form of a prologue. I remember that the story began with the prologue having the protagonist laying on the ground, floor, a bed, whatever... they were laid out. They were silently crying, staring off into nothing, completely broken and just not there mentally; disassociating.

Then we start the story with it rewinding time to them going to a party. That there had me wanting to know how in the hell did they get to that state.

 

[ElijahRyne]

You could just label it as Chapter 1 or Chapter 0 to prevent prologue skippers. Sounds like a prologue worth reading for sure, though.

But then I miss out on the wordplay of Prologue: Epilogue of a Hopeful…

I do read them. But I don’t write them. I had given some thought about turning my first chapter into a prologue, but so many people skip them. My story would make a lot less sense if that info was skipped over, so I kept it as chapter one.

Yes but the wordplay, it also makes more sense as a prologue than as a CH 1 or CH 0, imo…

Prologues are generally boring or tell me too much to make me not even want to bother reading further.
It's the same reason I hate when youtubers do little previews of what the video is about, or key things that happen. I know it's to drive engagement and get you to look forward to w/e happens, but it just annoys the shit out of me, personally.

Idk, might be just my autism, but I like finding things out naturally on my own through seeing/reading. I'd only look at a prologue if I really needed to find a certain piece of info I couldn't find at all in the rest of the story.

The thing is I don’t know what to do outside of calling it a prologue since it is so short, and set before the story…

 

[HungrySheep]

But then I miss out on the wordplay of Prologue: Epilogue of a Hopeful…

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

I write prologues as part of my overall story, and not infodumps. Kinda like you skip it, and you miss some points/details in my story.

But I cannot write a prologue without an epilogue.

Edit: I'm not afraid of prologue skippers because it's a "them" problem, not mine.

 

[Eldoria]

For me, the prologue = chapter 1. The prologue is the entry point into the story, containing the story's premise. I didn't give it a number 0 because the prologue is mandatory to understand the narrative as a whole.

Meanwhile, the epilogue is the story's resolution, containing the story's conclusion—answering the premise or the main conflict throughout the arc.

 

[Envylope]

The only time I use prologue is if chapter 1 is not a good hook. And that rarely happens anymore since I am such a divine tier writer.

 

[ElijahRyne]

For me, the prologue = chapter 1. The prologue is the entry point into the story, containing the story's premise. I didn't give it a number 0 because the prologue is mandatory to understand the narrative as a whole.

Meanwhile, the epilogue is the story's resolution, containing the story's conclusion—answering the premise or the main conflict throughout the arc.

Same.

The only time I use prologue is if chapter 1 is not a good hook. And that rarely happens anymore since I am such a divine tier writer.

My chapter one is good, but the prologue serves as a much better start for the story.

I write prologues as part of my overall story, and not infodumps. Kinda like you skip it, and you miss some points/details in my story.

But I cannot write a prologue without an epilogue.

Edit: I'm not afraid of prologue skippers because it's a "them" problem, not mine.

I just want folks to have fun with my story. It is a them issue yes, but how would they know that without reading the prologue?

 

[KidBuu699]

The problem with prologues is that most people don't know what it actually is. They think the prologue and the synopsis is the same thing. So they just take their summary from the synopsis and just make it longer.

In my opinion the prologue is only needed if you need to explain something to the reader before the reader jumps into the story that isn't explained instantly in the story.

For example: If your world is in a permanent ice age and all of society now lives under ground, it would be best to explain that in a prologue. Especially in the case if the mc is starting as a child and won't learn this information until later in life. Another would be major social differences. If the mc lives in a matriarch society with a higher number of woman, then this is information for a prologue.

Ps I always read the prologue. The only chapter I skip in the beginning is if the author does a character list or a power/ability/pokemon list.

 

[Envylope]

Same.

My chapter one is good, but the prologue serves as a much better start for the story.

A serious answer of when to use prologues: If the first chapter cannot serve as a hook, if the first chapter doesn't do a good job of setting the tone, if the reader needs some background information.

The last one is the worst one, and it's the one webnovel authors use poorly. I advise to use it with caution.

 

[Jerynboe]

If I didn’t have enough faith in the writer’s ability to tell a story to read the part they put at the beginning I wouldn’t read their story. The entire question baffles me even after reading their response from the person who doesn’t read prologues. If someone has so little grasp of storytelling that they open with a blatant infodump or a synopsis that isn’t itself interesting to read, I’d like to know so I can reallocate this timeslot. There’s a lot of stuff I could be doing, and a lot of stories I could be reading.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

A serious answer of when to use prologues: If the first chapter cannot serve as a hook, if the first chapter doesn't do a good job of setting the tone, if the reader needs some background information.

The last one is the worst one, and it's the one webnovel authors use poorly. I advise to use it with caution.

Honestly, I thought this part is obvious among writers: prologues should serve to set the tone and as an appetizer for the story, not a convenient place to dump information and story settings.

I now understand why Benjephenet said my prologue is different.

 

[ElijahRyne]

With these comments I think it might be best if my prologue was actually available to read. It is in the spoiler if you wish to, or not to read it.

Spoiler: Prologue: Epilogue of a Hopeful

Prologue: Epilogue of a Hopeful





It will soon be the 40th year of the new era, and we were basking in the red of the setting sun. It was New Year’s Eve, and my family of two was having a celebration, as is our tradition. It is a bit lonely now that my parents have passed, but well, that was two years ago. Scars heal over time.





We looked at the massive hill of scrap metal. The Graveyard of the Hopefuls, as my grandfather calls it. My grandfather put his trembling hand on my shoulder as we looked at that pile of gigantic abstract humanoid metal forms melted and twisted together, screaming at the heavens in mock agony. Their metal forms extended as far as the eye could see. It was a battlefield frozen in time.





I was expecting his usual boastful lecture on how this was the site where the Hopefuls defeated the Knights and banished the Mages, shattering the old world and giving birth to the new. How he was here 40 years ago today, fighting for the future. All steeped in his usual flowery dramatics. Yet when he spoke, his usual hearty voice was weak.





“If only you were there, you could have seen those beautiful days where our dreams parted the clouds of reaction. Nothing was impossible; all that was needed to make the formerly impossible possible was a bold step forward. Those days where we believed that our ideal was five or ten years away. Alas, alas…” My grandfather said that before he looked up towards the setting sun, his smile was faint.





“Those days still exist now in my heart. I wonder if I must pull it out to reignite now with that brilliant time with joyous red. Yes… Don’t get me wrong, we are still walking that long march to our ideal world, but you have only lived in the shadow of those days. That shadow cast from its brutal erasure by something that grew beside us Hopefuls. I wonder even now if that something ever had a name, no it must have.” His smile morphed into a weird smile, not quite one of hurt or regret, nor one of joy or hope. He looked confused.





“All things are erased by time, but rarely is that eraser so brash and visible to mortal eyes. Who was …he? Her…? It…? It was someone? I am talking nonsense again, aren’t I…” My grandfather muttered, barely audible. He looked me in my eyes before continuing. “For all my mistakes, Lenn, know that I have lived a life of little regret.” My grandfather looked away from my eyes before continuing. His eyes were confused and hurt. I contemplated speaking, stopping him from reliving those days as I used to, but his demeanor made it look like he was already lost in them. My voice failed me once more.





“Even with a time machine, I would not be able to stop the monster that something became; perhaps I may have been able to mitigate its destruction... The more time passes from that horrid reckoning, the more the scars of that month have faded from my notice, yet one does ache, a dull, ever-present ache. The scar tells me I was close to the monster, yet if it was true, why do I not know what it was before? Why do I not know its name?” My grandfather stared into my eyes with his desperate, hopeless, sore red eyes. “Lenn, do you know its name?” His eyes searched mine as he spoke. I shook my head no. My grandfather sighed and turned his back on me. I stood there for a minute as he stared at the setting sun. Then he turned his head as if he heard something. He walked to the pile of scrap. It looked as if he was floating in the wind; it was a carefree sight. I tried to call out to him, but before I could, he tripped, no, fell into it, that Hopeful Graveyard, like a swimmer falling into a pool. I ran to him, but it was too late; another Hopeful had died. His body was at the feet of a giant golden Hopeful, missing its head and arms. It was lying on the ground, weak and lifeless.

The problem with prologues is that most people don't know what it actually is. They think the prologue and the synopsis is the same thing. So they just take their summary from the synopsis and just make it longer.

In my opinion the prologue is only needed if you need to explain something to the reader before the reader jumps into the story that isn't explained instantly in the story.

For example: If your world is in a permanent ice age and all of society now lives under ground, it would be best to explain that in a prologue. Especially in the case if the mc is starting as a child and won't learn this information until later in life. Another would be major social differences. If the mc lives in a matriarch society with a higher number of woman, then this is information for a prologue.

Ps I always read the prologue. The only chapter I skip in the beginning is if the author does a character list or a power/ability/pokemon list.

I think my prologue fits that, at least vaguely, however the point of my prologue is to haunt the following chapters imo.

A serious answer of when to use prologues: If the first chapter cannot serve as a hook, if the first chapter doesn't do a good job of setting the tone, if the reader needs some background information.

The last one is the worst one, and it's the one webnovel authors use poorly. I advise to use it with caution.

The prologue and the first chapter are of different moods, but they serve their own purpose. The first chapter in the story I am writing is to establish the protagonist and the world indirectly and directly. However it is a good enough hook. The prologue is the ghost haunting the first arc(s) and the wider story.

If I didn’t have enough faith in the writer’s ability to tell a story to read the part they put at the beginning I wouldn’t read their story. The entire question baffles me even after reading their response from the person who doesn’t read prologues. If someone has so little grasp of storytelling that they open with a blatant infodump or a synopsis that isn’t itself interesting to read, I’d like to know so I can reallocate this timeslot. There’s a lot of stuff I could be doing, and a lot of stories I could be reading.

Tbh skipping prologues doesn’t make any sense imo.