You Might Have a Bad Prologue If ...

by R.C. Lewis

If you lurk around writing/publishing sites or follow such people on Twitter, you'll see a couple (hundred) comments on the evils of prologues. And they can be evil. I used to spend a lot of time on an online slushpile of a site. I've seen a lot of unpublished manuscripts, and I think I only ever saw a handful of prologues where I said, "Oh, yeah. That works. That's a keeper."

People wiser than I have posted on the topic (including FTWA's own Jemi Fraser a few months back), but I never let that stop me. So here's a Jeff Foxworthy-style (but probably not as entertaining) list. Read it over, take a good look at your prologue, and try to be honest about whether it fits any of these criteria.

YOU MIGHT HAVE A BAD PROLOGUE IF ...

 

• ... you only wrote the prologue because EVERY book in your genre has one. Every single one. Not one out there that doesn't in the whole wide world. Well, except those over there. They don't count.

 

• ... you only wrote the prologue because you're completely enamored with the idea of prologues. You love them. The books you worship most and aspire to be like have them, so clearly you must have a prologue so your books can be just like the oh-so-awesome works of [fill in the blank].

• ... your reader feels like they were walking to an important appointment and got held up by a chatterbox in the hallway who won't let them go until they've heard all about the stapler that keeps disappearing from the copy room. In other words, they feel like they're being held up from the real story. (Even a prologue should feel like part of the 'real' story.)

• ... your reader feels compelled to take notes on all the names of characters, their vital stats, and how they interrelate, only to find out none of them will show up again in the next 80,000 words.

• ... your reader learns something through the prologue that the main character is ignorant of until the third-to-last page of the novel, and spends the whole novel screaming, "No, you idiot! He's your FATHER!" (Or equivalent.) Letting the reader be in the know when the MC isn't can be cool. It can also be seriously frustrating. Fine line to tread.

• ... your reader gets annoyed because they already have a long-winded, boring history teacher, and it's no fun in real life, so even worse during pleasure reading, thank you very much!

• ... you could avoid all of the above with three well-placed sentences rather than the prologue, but you can't see that because you're utterly certain that your novel REQUIRES a prologue to work.

This doesn't mean all prologues are evil and bad and smelly and gross. Plenty of published books have them. They got past an editor's desk that way for a reason. Are you sure you likewise qualify?

Really sure?

If so, go ahead. Just remember, every time we assume we're one of the exceptions, we're taking a risk.

Can anyone add to the You Might Have a Bad Prologue If... list? I'm sure there are things I missed.

R.C. Lewis teaches math by day and writes YA fiction by every other time. Her YA sci-fi novel Stitching Snow will be published by Disney-Hyperion in Summer 2014. Meanwhile, you can find her at Crossing the Helix and on Twitter (@RC_Lewis).

Pro(logue) or Con

by Jemi Fraser

(source)

Lately I've heard a lot of authors talking about prologues. While a lot of authors enjoy writing them, the majority of agents and editors seem to be against them. Why? Here are my thoughts ...

Con #1 The voice doesn't match the rest of the novel.

Con #2 The prologue goes on. And on. And on.

Con #3 It's an infodump (sometimes ancient history or world building the author doesn't want to weave into the story)—nothing really happens.

Con #4 Agents expect the first few pages of the ms to match the query. If your prologue is about a different POV character or in a different time frame, you may have a problem.

So, you can see the dangers of the prologue—and why agents and editors probably shudder when they see the word typed in bold at the top of the ms. But can a prologue ever work? I think so.

I've read a few authors who do the prologue very well. How do they do it?

Pro #1 Keep it short. I think a good prologue reads like a short story in many ways—except for the ending. A short story wraps up the ending (mostly). A prologue entices you to read the book and find the resolution to the prologue within the story.

Pro #2 Focus on an event, conversation or thought sequence that is VITAL to the plot—often something that triggers the story itself.

Pro #3 The time frame or the POV character (or both) is different from the rest of the book—necessitating this being a prologue and not Chapter 1. For this to work, Pro #2 must still be in effect and you've got to be aware of Con #4.

Pro #4 Um ... I'm stuck. Any other pros you can think of?

In a story I wrote a few years ago (before I'd even thought of attempting to get published), I wrote a 'wonderful' story with a 'vital' prologue. The story was a contemporary romantic suspense and the prologue flashed back to the death of the main character's father. It was an important part of her family's past, it shaped her life and directly impacted the plot of the story. Many of her adult personality quirks depended on that event. But did I need to include the prologue? Nope. Absolutely not. Once I figured out I needed to weave those details into the actual story itself, my writing made a huge jump forward.

So, have a good look at that prologue. You might decide you really need it, you might decide to dump it, or you might be able to call it Chapter 1 and get on with the story!

What do you think? Are there more pros or cons to a prologue? Any authors you know who do them really well?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of YA steampunk and adult romantic mysteries. She blogs at Just Jemi and tweets @jemifraser.