One of the great cliches of writing seminars is that prologues are a mistake. For new writers in particular, prologues are purportedly seen as solid evidence that an editor or agent should reject the story out of hand. To include a prologue, it is said, is to doom your chances of selling your book. Is there any truth in this trope? Of course there is. That’s how tropes are born.
Yet, when I go to conferences and agree to critique the first few pages of a manuscript, a solid double-digit percentage of the submissions are prologues, and they fall into two broad categories: the teaser and the backstory dump. The teaser prologue typically presents a character in crisis only to break away at a cliffhanger moment before we turn the page to Chapter One. The backstory prologue often presents a scene from our character’s past by way of explanation of the events that will be revealed beginning at chapter one.
The teaser prologue more often than not presents itself as an exciting coming attraction, as if to tell the reader, Honestly, don’t be turned off by the first five boring chapters. It’ll get interesting, I promise. Maybe it will, but even in the best case, the writer has tipped their hand to peril that we, as readers, know is coming. The prologue squanders drama, and there is no greater sin. The better solution would be to rewrite the boring chapters so that the exciting story builds consistently.
The backstory prologue screams to me of a structural issue with the story. Relevant events from a character’s past are better revealed as references during the front story. An example I like to use when I teach deals with Harry Potter–specifically with regard to the need to start a story in the right spot. When I ask the class when Harry’s story begins–not where the book begins, but when the story begins–ten out of ten students will agree that it begins with Hagrid delivering infant Harry to the Dursley’s doorstep. And they are wrong. Harry’s story begins when his parents were themselves students at Hogwarts and giving Snape a hard time. I personally believe that JK Rowling was a genius to start the story in the middle and bleed off the details of backstory as the front story progressed.
“But I really, really, really need to reveal events from the past in order for the book to make sense.”
It happens. This is why tropes are not rules. Some prologues are, in fact, necessary and work well. It’s all in the execution. My upcoming Irene Rivers series debut, Burned Bridges, opens with two teenagers disposing of the body of another teenager. I call that scene Chapter One. Chapter Two opens with “Thirty-five years later.”
See what I did there? I could legitimately have called that opening sequence a prologue but I chose not to because I didn’t see the need. The P-word has enough of a bad rep that I chose to avoid it. To be really honest, I waffled back and forth on whether I should cut the scene altogether, but I chose to keep it because a) it’s a cool, very relevant scene that b) helps with a future reveal and there was no other place to put it but at the beginning.
Here’s my advice, then:
- Make sure that every scene in every chapter is engaging;
- If prologue feels necessary, consider the possibility that you’re starting your story in the wrong place;
- When possible, reveal backstory judiciously via the front story; and
- If you cannot avoid including a prologue, consider calling it Chapter One instead.
Did I miss anything? Do you think I’m way off base here? Please leave a comment.
Oh. Any Happy New Year!
I don’t recall having read a book with a prologue that made me think less of the story but your advice seems like a reasonable approach in determining the necessity of the prologue’s existence in your story.
Spot on, John. When a prologue works, I advise calling it Ch. 1 or what Harlan C. did once, no number at all. Blank heading.
I read a thriller once (can’t remember title) where author numbered the chapters, but cleverly labeled the prologue O. Then came 1, 2 etc. Original and engaging.
Excellent overview, John, and I especially appreciate the example of making the prologue chapter 1. Thank you for the summary advice, too!
Good advice, John. I agree that prologues have their place (if done well), but new writers often fill them with unnecessary backstory. If it’s helpful, write the throat-clearing for yourself, then start the book in the right place.
My first Mapleton mystery started with a prologue, but I think that’s the only time I didn’t start with “Chapter One.” My daughter referred to my openings of my early Blackthorne series as the “Macgyver Opening Gambit” but I still called them Chapter One.
I apply the same approach to epilogues. I prefer the “X days/weeks/months” later at the start of the chapter.
Excellent article, John. I have read Prologues that seemed to work but most often they fit into one of the categories you mentioned. Another way is to have Chapter 1 marked as say “October, 1983” and Chapter 2 “Present Day.” That often will solve the problem and allow the writer to supply the needed info/scene.
As an acquisitions editor, I almost always reject a manuscript with a prologue – why? Because novice writers seem to dump the back story into the prologue. I agree with the other commenters – start at Chapter 1 and trickle the backstory into the first few chapters.
Thanks, John! I feel like I just got a micro-lesson at a writers conference. 🙂
My 2nd novel, No Tomorrows, opens Chapter One with a half-page prologue, if you can even call it that. It’s a scene with the main character standing in front of a full-length mirror in her bedroom. She’s wondering who the woman in the mirror is…I won’t say anything else.
I wrote it after the novel was finished, and included it because it reveals the fear behind the mask she wears as she tries to navigate her “normal” world. It’s set apart from the next scene, where she goes downstairs to join her family for dinner, by a small graphic that’s used throughout the novel for scene breaks.
I didn’t know at first whether or not to include it, but I’m glad I did.
Have a great day!
As someone who has read thousands of first chapters by new writers, prologues are where writing careers die before the start.
You gotta ask yourself what the purpose of the prologue is in the grand scheme of things. I haven’t studied prologues much as I have yet to attempt writing a novel but I reckon it may be that the writer is a little too eager to set the stage rather than building the backstory into the structure of the novel. But I could be wrong and it’ll all depend on how artful the writer is,
I take the comments from our editorially aligned posters that a prologue to my magnum opus would be about the last thing I’d want to do.
Words to the wise for sure.
Happy New Year, John!
I’ve read books with and without prologues. Some were good. Others not-so-good. But as long as it serves the story, I don’t care what it’s called.