Comments on: The use and misuse of prologues http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/ A mutual support group for SF/F Novelists Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:39:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: JenWriter: Writing, Reading and Blogging » To Prologue or Not to Prologue http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-2901 JenWriter: Writing, Reading and Blogging » To Prologue or Not to Prologue Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:51:06 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-2901 [...] going to keep it in there because it’s what I believe the story needs. There’s a pretty interesting post here about the misuse of prologues. And I like what the blogger says because I’m not doing any of [...] [...] going to keep it in there because it’s what I believe the story needs. There’s a pretty interesting post here about the misuse of prologues. And I like what the blogger says because I’m not doing any of [...]

]]> By: Bright Meadow » Sunday Roast: I thought you were meeting a psycho-killer for lunch? http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1689 Bright Meadow » Sunday Roast: I thought you were meeting a psycho-killer for lunch? Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:07:51 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1689 [...] the use and misuse of prologues. This is one of those articles I read and go “oh…” not just because I’m [...] [...] the use and misuse of prologues. This is one of those articles I read and go “oh…” not just because I’m [...]

]]> By: Sam http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1665 Sam Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:30:58 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1665 Most memorable prologue for me (ok, it's called a prelude in the book) is easily Brian Aldiss' Helliconia Spring. Somewhat stretching the definition, it certainly stands on its own merits, but the shock when 113 pages later you reach the end of it and "the real story" starts is a bit of a surprise. It did however set the scene for the tone of the trilogy. Most memorable prologue for me (ok, it’s called a prelude in the book) is easily Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia Spring. Somewhat stretching the definition, it certainly stands on its own merits, but the shock when 113 pages later you reach the end of it and “the real story” starts is a bit of a surprise.

It did however set the scene for the tone of the trilogy.

]]> By: Marie Brennan http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1651 Marie Brennan Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:46:34 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1651 That too. Prologues that try too hard to be "hooky" (killing a character off or whatever) usually end up feeling like so much of a gimmick that they fail. That too. Prologues that try too hard to be “hooky” (killing a character off or whatever) usually end up feeling like so much of a gimmick that they fail.

]]> By: James Alan Gardner http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1650 James Alan Gardner Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:32:19 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1650 It's also a cliché to go the other way: the prologue that kills someone bloodily just to start things off with a bang. (A poor meaningless peasant is chased by something nasty in the forest. Now THAT's what makes me want to skip to Chapter 1.) The point is that a prologue should be essential, not just tacked on for exposition, melodrama, or anything else. Ideally, it should also be short. I can stand a page or two of almost anything, but I lose patience quickly if I think I'm just getting froth. It’s also a cliché to go the other way: the prologue that kills someone bloodily just to start things off with a bang. (A poor meaningless peasant is chased by something nasty in the forest. Now THAT’s what makes me want to skip to Chapter 1.)

The point is that a prologue should be essential, not just tacked on for exposition, melodrama, or anything else. Ideally, it should also be short. I can stand a page or two of almost anything, but I lose patience quickly if I think I’m just getting froth.

]]> By: Marie Brennan http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1649 Marie Brennan Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:46:14 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1649 Of course, the thing to bear in mind is, no matter how good and justified your prologue, if it ends up in the hands of an agent or editor or prospective book-buyer who simply <i>does not like them</i>, you may put them off before they get to the rest of the narrative. It's a risk you take, as with many other artistic choices involved in writing a novel. (Some people hate first person, for example. Not much you can do about that.) Of course, the thing to bear in mind is, no matter how good and justified your prologue, if it ends up in the hands of an agent or editor or prospective book-buyer who simply does not like them, you may put them off before they get to the rest of the narrative.

It’s a risk you take, as with many other artistic choices involved in writing a novel. (Some people hate first person, for example. Not much you can do about that.)

]]> By: Phil http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1648 Phil Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:39:58 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1648 I've been wrestling with the idea of keeping my prologue ever since I read Elmore Leonard's gentle injunction that they be integrated into the body of the novel. The reason I wrote it was because it sounded themes that I hope will resonate throughout the rest of the novel. If my book were a piece of music, then I see the prologue as a chance to open with the first motif, which then recurs more subtly throughout, each instance of which is enriched (I hope) by that first occurrence. Thank you for writing this post, Marie. My prologue seems to match your requirements, and as such I find myself greatly reassured. It's short (700 words), is told in the first person POV by the character for whom the protagonist searches for throughout the novel, and recounts a terrifying experience he had when he was young. I'm going to keep it, and hope for the best! I’ve been wrestling with the idea of keeping my prologue ever since I read Elmore Leonard’s gentle injunction that they be integrated into the body of the novel.

The reason I wrote it was because it sounded themes that I hope will resonate throughout the rest of the novel. If my book were a piece of music, then I see the prologue as a chance to open with the first motif, which then recurs more subtly throughout, each instance of which is enriched (I hope) by that first occurrence.

Thank you for writing this post, Marie. My prologue seems to match your requirements, and as such I find myself greatly reassured. It’s short (700 words), is told in the first person POV by the character for whom the protagonist searches for throughout the novel, and recounts a terrifying experience he had when he was young.

I’m going to keep it, and hope for the best!

]]> By: Elf M. Sternberg http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1647 Elf M. Sternberg Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:45:29 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1647 I have one book with a prologue. I'm rather proud of the prologue, because it's a scene that does the 10/100/1000 word thing rather well, is written in a different voice from the rest of the novel, and is a complete piece of misdirection. It takes the view of one of the protagonists, who's convinced that the Great Evil is out to get her-- only for her to learn much later and to her great disappointment that she's not a primary actor in the great crisis. (Oh, but in book two, she is, and then she isn't, and then...) I have one book with a prologue. I’m rather proud of the prologue, because it’s a scene that does the 10/100/1000 word thing rather well, is written in a different voice from the rest of the novel, and is a complete piece of misdirection. It takes the view of one of the protagonists, who’s convinced that the Great Evil is out to get her– only for her to learn much later and to her great disappointment that she’s not a primary actor in the great crisis. (Oh, but in book two, she is, and then she isn’t, and then…)

]]> By: Alma Alexander http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1646 Alma Alexander Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:47:50 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1646 My own (writerly) experiences - I did a prologue for the book that became the Changer of Days duology - and that means that now, since the thing has been split into two books, I have a prologue for #1 and #2 just launches straight into the story after what was an unintentional cliffhanger ending for #1 (uninentaional because it was meant to be the end of a CHAPTER, not the end of the first book...) The prologue in question, the one that now sits uneasily and asymmetrically at the beginning of ONE book but not the other, was a scene which takes place before the book's story starts to unfold, and it sets up one of the critical premises of the book without going into detail. But knowing of the events in the prologue is definitely a bedrock for the rest of teh story - and this belonged in the prologue because it WASN'T part of the story, it was outside of it, the foundation of it. It worked as it stood. I still wish they would have published these two books as ONE volume, as I originally intended. It would have worked better then. In "Secrets of Jin Shei", I didn't have a prologue at first, at all. I wrote practically the whole book without it. And then something seemed to become... necessary. This prologue is not a separate scene that took place otherwhen and otherwhere from the rest of the book - it's an introspection, something that both serves as a basic introduction to the foreign concept of jin shei and links ever so delicately to the end of the book - because at this beginning (which is a quote from my main protagonist's journal, and obviously fairly late in life) and at the conclusion of the story the protagonist in question has obviously lived a long and interesting life and is reflecting back upon it. It works, as bookends. I would not do a prologue just *because*, and I do think (wearing my readerly hat) that infodumpish prologues are positively dangerous, enough to make me want to stop reading the book before ever I got to the story... My own (writerly) experiences – I did a prologue for the book that became the Changer of Days duology – and that means that now, since the thing has been split into two books, I have a prologue for #1 and #2 just launches straight into the story after what was an unintentional cliffhanger ending for #1 (uninentaional because it was meant to be the end of a CHAPTER, not the end of the first book…) The prologue in question, the one that now sits uneasily and asymmetrically at the beginning of ONE book but not the other, was a scene which takes place before the book’s story starts to unfold, and it sets up one of the critical premises of the book without going into detail. But knowing of the events in the prologue is definitely a bedrock for the rest of teh story – and this belonged in the prologue because it WASN’T part of the story, it was outside of it, the foundation of it. It worked as it stood. I still wish they would have published these two books as ONE volume, as I originally intended. It would have worked better then.

In “Secrets of Jin Shei”, I didn’t have a prologue at first, at all. I wrote practically the whole book without it. And then something seemed to become… necessary. This prologue is not a separate scene that took place otherwhen and otherwhere from the rest of the book – it’s an introspection, something that both serves as a basic introduction to the foreign concept of jin shei and links ever so delicately to the end of the book – because at this beginning (which is a quote from my main protagonist’s journal, and obviously fairly late in life) and at the conclusion of the story the protagonist in question has obviously lived a long and interesting life and is reflecting back upon it. It works, as bookends.

I would not do a prologue just *because*, and I do think (wearing my readerly hat) that infodumpish prologues are positively dangerous, enough to make me want to stop reading the book before ever I got to the story…

]]> By: Marie Brennan http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1645 Marie Brennan Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:17:45 +0000 http://www.sfnovelists.com/2008/01/16/the-use-and-misuse-of-prologues/#comment-1645 <i>He later told me that it all gets answer in the last book</i> For me, that's <i>way</i> too late of a payoff. <i>it’s sort of annoying to know what’s going on and have to read about the characters figuring it out</i> That's kind of what I was trying to address upstream in the comments: my preference is to see the interesting scene, and then get a brief acknowledgement of it later (NOT a complete rehash) when the characters learn it, so I get the fun of the showing without the boredom of going through it twice. The one exception is if you get a different perspective on that event later on. Sure, you could just tell me about it later, but some things, I think, can be more interesting when shown as full-fledged scenes, instead of boiled down to their basic components in the later narrative. If that makes sense. He later told me that it all gets answer in the last book

For me, that’s way too late of a payoff.

it’s sort of annoying to know what’s going on and have to read about the characters figuring it out

That’s kind of what I was trying to address upstream in the comments: my preference is to see the interesting scene, and then get a brief acknowledgement of it later (NOT a complete rehash) when the characters learn it, so I get the fun of the showing without the boredom of going through it twice. The one exception is if you get a different perspective on that event later on. Sure, you could just tell me about it later, but some things, I think, can be more interesting when shown as full-fledged scenes, instead of boiled down to their basic components in the later narrative.

If that makes sense.

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