Potency of Prologues

[Addison]

How and when are prologues relevant? When are they really used? True it could, and most likely does, depend on the author.

But I heard in some book, forget which, that the first chapter in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" could have been a great prologue.

Prologues could be used if you need to describe the epic, other world setting, or if the events the story centers around started so many years ago and the prologue tells what happened.

But I think prologues can also come in different formats. Like a transcript or a police interrogation or a newspaper clipping. Something like that.

What do you guys think?

 

[Devor]

But I heard in some book, forget which, that the first chapter in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" could have been a great prologue.

I consider it one - it's not about the heading. The chapter presents something which happens outside of the main narrative flow.

A prologue is like anything else - what you make of it. It's a chance to show readers something from a different POV or else something that your characters might not see as clearly. It's a tool.

A lot of authors do it very poorly. There's no denying that. Many of them should cut it - I guess that's another thing we can learn from film. But at the same time, two of my favorite five movies open with prologues that are absolutely incredible - that's LOTR, and Up.


((geesh that was a lot of dashes))

 

[AnnaBlixt]

Prologues are very useful in fantasy, right? =) It's a neat way to set the stage before the actors take their places, and introduce totally new concepts so you don't have to bother with everything within the narrative.

My least favorite is probably Tolkien's "concerning hobbits". I always skip it, it's such a yawn.

My favorite is Friedman's prologues in the Coldfire trilogy, where she uses the prologues to explain about the nature of the planet Erna, and uses the prlogues of part 2 and 3 to answer some of the readers' questions about the history of the planet, as well as provide backstory for the Hunter - who thanks to this can remain somewhat illusive about his past in interactions with other characters.

 

[Steerpike]

I don't like prologues. Most of the ones I see are poorly done and unnecessary. It's like the author is saying "Hey, I know the story starts at point X, but let me bore you with all this other stuff first."

There are exceptions, of course. I thought the prologues in the Coldfire Trilogy were OK, as AnnaBlixt noted.

 

[AnnaBlixt]

Oh, I've got another least favorite one! One of Jordan's. It's like 5 pages of the wind bouncing off things, the wheel turning, legends turning into myths, yada yada... (to set the mood?) and then 15 pages of some tart needing a spanking riding around with an army somewhere in the outskirts of Whocares... and the prologue ends with someone reporting to her that they have seen something. 2000 pages later, I still don't know why she was in the story at all.

But speaking of good ones... I love the mini-prologues leading each chapter i Hobb's Farseer-trilogy, contributing some fact or other about the forged or the coteries, things that would have been a bit odd to tell in the narrative, seeing as how the books are in 1st person POV.

 

[ndmellen]

I agree with some of these points, and disagree with others. As much as I love Jordan's work, yes, his prologues only make sense once you have read the series through.

On prologues, themselves...I think that they can serve a huge purpose. I've always lived by the concept of "Catch them in the first line." (The man in black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed.- S.K., The Dark Tower series) Prologues give a perfect opportunity to hook a reader, to state blatant points that have no answer...yet. you only get the answers if you turn the pages.

Short, sparse, concisely done...I think it can make a book succesful all by itself.

 

[wordwalker]

Short, sparse, concisely done...I think it can make a book succesful all by itself.

Exactly: "successful." It's not quite the same thing as making the book good, but it can very easily be the difference between a decent book people don't finish reading and one that they do. Including getting editors to read it.

(If only the form wasn't so popular among hacks, and too-comfortable established writers, who keep abusing it out of laziness.)

 

[Steerpike]

I don't think you "need" a prologue to do any of those things. And if you need a prologue to hook the reader, you should probably take a hard look at your first chapter and figure out what is wrong with it.

 

[Devor]

The best reason to use a prologue, I think, is if something about your book requires you to open in advance of the main conflict, and you need the chapter to foreshadow that conflict for the readers who want to know where things are going. So if chapter one is a hundred men marching on the home of your protagonist, skip it. If that doesn't can't happen until chapter 8, then maybe take a prologue and show them planning the raid.

 

[Jabrosky]

I wonder why people even invented prologues in the first place. Surely they must have served some important literary function in the past.

 

[ndmellen]

Devor- Well put, and thank you, sir.

Steerpike, Mr. Moderator, Sir-"if you need a prologue to hook the reader, you should probably take a hard look at your first chapter and figure out what is wrong with it. "

Challenge accepted. (smiley face) I will gladly stack the intro of my manuscript up against one of your own.

It was a challenge, wasn't it? (smiley face). Sorry; maybe my blunt, muscle bound brain is too slow to grasp the concept. (smiley face)

Yours vs. Mine.

I'm sure to lose, of course, your reputation, as is, being beyond repute.

Competition is good for the soul, or so I was taught. Winning is easy; losing is where you actually learn to be better. This, in turn, presents us with a unique opportunity: let's do a competition. A bracket, of sorts.

Let's see if Black Dragon will allow us to set it up. Sixteen eager writers from this site, stacked up in competition. The winner of each bracket will be decided by vote. The winner will gain "acclaim", and everyone else will be better from the experience.

Your line has been drawn in the sand, sir, and I've accepted.

You have the connections, so the next move is yours. This could be great fun for all (smiley face)

 

[Ireth]

I have kinks to iron out with the first scene of Winter's Queen even after several revisions. If a challenge it is, then I readily accept it, Steerpike and ndmellen!

 

[Steerpike]

You have the connections, so the next move is yours. This could be great fun for all (smiley face)

We have a challenge forum. If you wish to start a challenge, all you have to do is post it there. No connections required.

 

[ndmellen]

Game on; let's go. This is going to be awesome. I'm halfway retarded with technology/ forums...any suggestions on getting others involved? Even on the websites I write for, most prefer to read rather than contribute.

C'mon, people; get in on this...it'll be fun, and we can only get better.

"The Black Directive" is ready to scrap...are you?

 

[Steerpike]

Make a post announcing the details. Give it a long enough time frame that a lot of people will have a chance to get involved. You could mention it in chat, when public chat is up with a lot of people in it. That's usually all people do. If you notice a few days go by and not many people have committed to it, post an update in the thread to get people's attention on it again. A lot of it comes down to availability. Some of the Challenges get a big response, and others don't, and it seems to come down to how busy people are at any given time.

 

[ndmellen]

Ireth, you're my hero!

Who doesn't have kinks to iron out? Let's go, Doll; we'll get some real work in!

Steerpike- You coming with us? Not gonna lie, bud (insert friendly competitive chuckle, here)...I've always had a quirk for wanting to see how I do, "Knuckle for knuckle" as it were, against my competition. I don't want some meager post in the "Challange section" that no one responds to...Bring some heavy hitters (moderators) in...if they all rise to the top, we fledgling writers will know whose advice is truly sound.

 

[Steerpike]

If you make the time frame for the challenge a couple of weeks, I can come up with something for it. It's not really directly related to prologues, but a challenge for a strong opening hook is a good idea.

We've had a lot of challenges on this site since it went online, and I wouldn't go so far as to say that when someone wins a challenge it means their advice is sound, or that when someone loses a challenge it means their advice isn't sound. Better to judge the advice on its own merits.

Getting back to prologues - even if you're going to use one, that's not a good excuse for a weak opening chapter, so I don't like the approach of relying on the prologue to hook the reader without at the same time putting a strong hook in chapter 1. Also, some readers skip prologues entirely, so if that's the only place you have a hook, you're not going to hook them. I will buy a book with a prologue if chapter 1 is intriguing enough, but plenty of times I end up skipping the prologue. Then I get to find out whether the story presented in chapters 1 through whatever stands on its own or not.

 

[Addison]

Wow you guys have been busy.

Hmmm....what about a beginning which is broken in two parts? The first part, the background like part is the prologue and then the main narrative starts in chapter 1? That's kind of what J.K Rowling did in Sorcerer's Stone.

On a personal observation note, writers appear to sweat more over the beginning than the middle. Why? The middle is the beef of the story, where the action is. True the beginning is what hooks the reader, but the middle of the story is what the reader will really care about.

 

[ndmellen]

Challenge is posted. Addison, you get in, too!

What does everyone think: wait a week for interested parties to sign on, then a week more to submit your work? "Story vs. Story" challenge round every three or four days?

Call it whatever you want. Chapter one, prologue, broken intro...the first words are the first words. Is your story strong enough to keep the reader turning the page?

This is gonna be great; spread the word.

 

[Addison]

I'm so in buddy! Uh...but 300k words? Each? ....How exactly will everyone post so stories aren't mixed up?

I just realized that prologues and weak-beginnings, the dilema anyway, can be connected to the backstory thing. Is what we write about character background what the reader needs to know or something we just want them to know? How much of it can be revealed in bits through the book? As long as the readers are hooked to the character in the present time then that's what's important. So, in my opinion, prologues should be used more as a reader's field guide if the story takes place in another world.