We’ve talked before on Go Teen Writers about what a prologue is, how tricky they are to use correctly, and that some readers skip them altogether. Here are links to those posts:
#WeWriteBooks, post 15: Prologues
But what about if you’ve decided that a prologue is right for your book, and you want to write a stellar one? There are lots of wonderfully crafted prologues in published books, and we haven’t talked much on the blog about what qualities a prologue needs to be amazing. (Thank you, Camille, for this post suggestion!)
Here is the best tip I can give you about writing a prologue:
The number one job of your prologue is to BE INTERESTING.
While chapter one has all these boxes we need to check (introducing the main character in a likeable and intriguing way, setting up the storyworld, setting up the conflict, etc.) if you ONLY check the “It’s interesting” box for your prologue, that can be enough. While your prologue can pull some of the weight that chapter one usually does, it doesn’t have to in order to “work.”
The job of your prologue is to hook your reader. You might do that with a one-paragraph prologue, like this one from Jill’s Thirst:
“Six days into our wilderness survival adventure in the La Plata Mountains of Colorado, Comet Pulon passed by the earth. We had no way of knowing that it had come much closer than expected, that it had forever changed our planet, and that it had left a killer among us. Oblivious, the twelve of us camped in a clearing, cheered as the bright yellow fireball soared overhead, roasted marshmallows, and toasted with canteens of water we had purified ourselves.
And as we celebrated in awe of nature’s majesty, the rest of the world began to die.”
Thirst, by Jill Williamson
This is a brilliant prologue. Not only is it interesting, but it sets up the apocalyptic storyworld for readers in one intriguing paragraph. The reader is now intrigued, and they’re ready to be launched into the action of chapter one. As the main character is discovering what happened while he was away on his wilderness trip, the reader already knows.
And while it’s a good idea to be concise in your prologue, you don’t have to be that concise.
Shannon’s Winter, White and Wicked opens with a prologue as well. Hers is probably a thousand words, and it also gives the reader details about the storyworld. This can be tricky to pull off in an interesting way. Shannon’s prologue is in a similar style of how Frozen 2 opens, with an important legend being told to the main character when they were a child. What makes this interesting in Winter, White and Wicked is the main character’s resistance to the story, as well as how she keeps trying to get away to be with Winter. And I love the intriguing way Shannon closes her prologue:
I flatten myself against the wall and Winter laughs, a rumble that sets the icicles ringing overhead.
“Foolish child,” Mystra grumbles.
“She’ll be back,” Leni tells her. “She always comes back.”
“My dear girl,” Mystra says, the window squealing on its hinges. “I’m not entirely sure she was ever here.”
Winter, White and Wicked by Shannon Dittemore
That last line is such a beautiful and compelling invitation to turn the page, isn’t it?
You might not need or want your prologue for sharing details about your storyworld. Instead, you may want to use it for sharing a different perspective.
This is common in books that are primarily told from one POV, and it can be helpful (or just interesting) for the readers to see this glimpse into another character’s thoughts.
J. K. Rowling does this in some of the Harry Potter novels, where she opens with a not-Harry POV character. (Though it’s worth noting, these are always labeled as Chapter One, not as a prologue, even though they function more like prologues.)
Frequently her prologue-like chapter ones are told from the POV of a character on the opposing side of the story, which we otherwise don’t have much visibility to. Though not always. Like in book four, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, the first chapter is told from Frank’s perspective, and he’s not a bad guy. Just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But the purpose of the perspective remains to show us some of the bad guy’s plans.
A quick word of caution: There are some prologues that work for book four of a series that wouldn’t work for book one. By book four, readers are already bought in. We understand why the Riddle house matters to the story, even if we don’t know who Frank is.
If you read many mysteries, you’ve maybe noticed that the prologue is often told from the perspective of the character who becomes our “dead body discovery” in chapter one. This is an interesting way to give the reader more details about the mystery than the main character has.
In the YA mystery I just finished, Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson, the prologue is told from the POV of our about-to-die character. She’s interacting with the killer and tries to leave behind clues about what’s happening. In later chapters, as our sleuth comes across the clues and tries to decide if they mean anything, us readers are piecing things together alongside her. We also care more about the case being solved because we’ve had insight to this character. We feel like we know them a little bit, therefore we want to know what happened to them, and ideally we want to see justice.
Another good reason for using a prologue is to show readers a scene that doesn’t fit within the timeline of the story. Frequently, this is a meaningful event that happened to the character as a child or several years before the story started. This isn’t a bad way to start a story, but it might be one of the easiest to misuse.
The first scene in the first Harry Potter novel is primarily told from the POV of Uncle Vernon and takes place when Harry is one. (Though, again, this scene functions like a prologue but is actually chapter one.) This scene gives us insights into Harry’s story that the readers can’t have if we’re exclusively in his head.
In Jenny B. Jones’s Save The Date, the book’s prologue is set two years before the main story. The scene Jenny chose is the main character going into a date believing her boyfriend is about to propose, and instead he breaks up with her. A prologue like this can be very helpful if you have an abrasive main character. Seeing this sympathetic side first can help soften their edges.
Sometimes authors grab an interesting scene from later in the book, and make it the prologue. While I’ve seen this work well (I think all four books in the Twilight Saga begin this way) they can also feel like cheater openings if they’re being used to cover up a lackluster chapter one. However, just because a technique is often used poorly doesn’t mean that you can’t do it well!
Remember the number one job of your prologue? To be interesting!
That’s all your reader cares about, really. They don’t care about your story structure or your adverb usage or where you start your story . . . in theory. They care about being interested in what they’re reading, and all tools—like prologues—are ultimately about delivering an interesting story.
I hadn’t really thought about using prologues before because I’ve read some that didn’t flow well, but there are so many opportunities to add intrigue!
I think I’ll try tackling one in my next story. Thank you!
Yes, they’re a great tool to use!
I finally remembered to check this!!! Cool post; I might come back for this for a future series.
We’re happy to have you any time, Macey!
Most of the books I read open with a prologue of some sort, and I use prologues in my writing a lot. I think they’re a fun way to give the reader important information that they can’t get from the POV character.
Thanks for the post!
Yes, agreed! That’s a great use for them.
Thank you for the post, Ms. Morrill! Your insight is helpful to the greatest degree and it makes me even more exited to write a prologue! 🙂
Thanks for pointing out something we hadn’t yet covered!
I’m writing a series now where each book has a prologue–that takes place 250 years before the main book and hints at the treasure the main characters will be hunting. =) Before that, I’ve only ever used one once in a published book! Which if funny, because I used to use them ALL THE TIME in my early writing days…
Great post, as always!!
I definitely have a box of stories from my tween and teen years with dramatic prologues! I absolutely love the prologues in your Scilly books! They offer a unique perspective in a way that you couldn’t without them.
Now that I read this, I realize that chapter 1 of my WIP functions more like a prologue: it takes place eleven years before the rest of the book, and while it reveals some information on a main character, most of the crucial details show up in chapter 2. Chapter 1 is more or less story world exposition and conflict set up presented through what I hope is a suspenseful scene. However, I’m not sure if I should call it a prologue in the finished version, because I feel like “chapter 1” and “prologue” give off different implications in the context of the book, which contains multiple POVs and stories within the story. “Chapter 1” says “This is Cora’s story, and this is where her story begins”, while “Prologue” says “This is Cora. She is part of our story. She gets the action started and will be important throughout. This is what you need to know about her to understand what comes next.”
I guess my final decision will be based on the type of story I want to tell in the end.
Also, Shannon, if you’re reading this, when I read the end of the Winter prologue, it put this movie-like image in my head where, after the closing quote, the camera zooms out and then dissolves into a snow flurry with dramatic music and a title sequence before fading in to the next scene!
Yes, no reason why you have to decide right now. A good thing to keep in mind for later!
I have several different scenes from my character’s pasts that I may use as a prologue. I’m not sure which one, though. Each explains the past of a different character and I can’t decide which one is most important.
As a side note, I hate prologues that take a scene from the end of the book and use it to begin. (But that’s just my opinion.:) )
Anna, I tend to not be a fan of that technique either. I used to be very outspoken about not liking it, but decided it’s not really my place to judge when it has obviously served some stories well!
The nice thing about your situation is that you can add that after you’ve written more of the story. Then it might be more obvious to you which scene will make the biggest impact.
In one book series, Keepers of the Lost Cities, the author begins every book with a preface that’s only a few pages long. The preface is always of a scene that happens later on, near the climax, but it makes me ask the immediate question of “What’s going to happen?!” It definitely checks off the interesting box.
I haven’t tried to write many prologues, mainly because my current story doesn’t seem to need one. The one book I did write a prologue for, it was of an important battle that had happened a thousand or so years before, and introduced important mythology for the book.
Riya, how funny that you’d mention that! My daughter is a huge Keeper fan, and when she asked me what my post was about this week, I said prologues. She told me, “Every Keeper book has a prologue, but I never read them.” Which made me laugh because in the past we’ve used that as a reason to caution writers against using a prologue.
I haven’t yet used a prologue either in a published book. But I do use epilogues in many of my books!
Thanks for the post! I’ve tried writing prologues in the past, but they usually just turn into information dumps, and I wonder if they will bore readers. I’m hoping I will get better with practice.
P.S.: Sometimes, when I’m reading, I skip reading the prologue until I’m halfway through the book! Then I’m like, Ohhh, so that’s why everyone is so terrified. There’s a growing population of fire-breathing dragons! (Sometimes the prologue provides vital information)
Oh, and Stephanie, I sent a comment a few days ago about second editions. Could someone respond to it please?
Yes, I saw that sitting in my inbox, Tracy! I usually have one day a week that I try to reply to all the emails, but I’m a little behind since I’m focused on edits. I’ll get you a response, though!