How long prologues should be

A lot of readers are already not fans of prologues, so the sight of a lengthy one will definitely annoy them. Chances are that they just skip it altogether. Thus, allowing readers to easily move to Chapter One without having invested too much in the prologue. A well written prologue acts as the first hook to make the readers want to keep reading. Some readers even gauge a novel through its prologue to find out whether they should even invest their time into it.

A little bit of mystery does the trick. You can tie the loose ends later as the story progresses. Another important thing to keep in mind is that you have to strike a balance between keeping your reader hooked and not overpowering the first chapter.

The prologue should be consistent with the tone, language and genre of your novel. This is especially useful when writing fantasy or science fiction where you have to introduce your readers to a different world. However, it should still display important characteristics of the world of your story. And going forward, your readers will feel rewarded when they can figure out the connection themselves.

Prologues can be great literary devices to enhance the story and promote your plot in a creative and intriguing manner.

However, if they used ineffectively, they can really put off your readers. So when considering writing one, be very sure that your story requires a prologue. And use these tips and suggestions to create a powerful prologue for your novel. Switch skin.

So I scraped it and made a hole new first chapter. Then I was told I needed a prologue to round it out, give some of the information I no longer had but needed in a way. So I have been on the fence as to wether or not I will be using it.

My first chapter takes place years before after my prologue, I have fixed it 4 or 5 times now to get it just write, its written in 3rd person POV but my novel in first person POV. That is terrible. Suzanne, for real??? Is this or ? Does he refuse to allow you to write unless his underwear have been properly starched and his nose hairs trimmed? Does he take away your computer if you forgot to line up the hand towels in the guest room with a ruler?

For real? If you want to write, dammit, write! Does he have any hobbies? If you want to blog, blog! I hope you can both find ways to bring about a more supportive response from him. Hugs to you, along with hopes that the situation evolves with time. Thanks for this, Kristen! Newbie writers looooove their prologues.

So they should write away and throw everything they want into that prologue in the first draft. Then cut it for the final draft and put any essential info into the main body of the book and toss the rest. You explain exactly why that is with all those prologue sins.. Not yet. Thanks so much for gathering all of this information in one spot for easy reference and for your explanations. Must be ESP! I was wondering about this issue for my book. Your post helped me realize how little I know about the structure and techniques of a novel.

After a career in writing and editing, mostly at newspapers, I thought a novel was just a long story. I jumped and started telling the story, without understanding what makes a novel tick. Thanks for the great post. I read everything in a novel. I guess we are all different. A tough decision—whether to prologue or not—but like you said, perhaps starting with the first chap is the answer.

Great post. Until I read this, I was a staunch defender of prologues, but you are right. Too often a prologue is a sign of an inexperienced or inept writer.

Readers today are more sophisticated and expect to piece together the back story as they go. Requiring everyone in your crit group to write extensive backgrounds for every character? I really hope this post gets circulated around the Twitterverse.

Okay, you inspired me to do some research. I read this post and then consulted my Kindle. Here goes:. Not forewords. Or just a really obvious error? Furthermore, two of the eight short stories I downloaded during this time contain prologues. Interesting numbers, eh? My experience with traditionally published novels is very different.

I wish all of my research numbers turned out to be so nice and rounded. This never happens in real research. And I know this is an extremely small sample. In his book The First 50 Pages, Jeff Gerke of Marcher Lord Press suggests that even if you want a prologue and have good reason to use a prologue, you should just call is chapter 1 as it seems J.

Rowling did. He says too many agents and editors are biased against prologues and will refuse to read them. Kristen, you have helped me solve a problem in my novel. I can hardly wait to get home to re-read this blog in depth.

Great post! I think it really needed it to help set the story. Still, it seems to have worked, and then the pelude scene developed into a finale for the first movement, which ran into a prelude to the second and a finale at the end of that, The construction turned out necessary for a certain pathos at the end.

Used a prologue once on a longish short story to give the protagonist a beginning. It was less than wds. Had to put him in an orphanage and a little backstory seemed to do it.

Also it helped set atmosphere. Thank you so much! I had wondered about this and was leaning towards skipping it. You have convinced me. Me, I have an almost obsessive-compulsive tendency to read every word of everything. Then again, his real prologue at the beginning of The Eye of the World was rather long, rather bizarre, and rather irrelevant and could be skipped without sacrificing too much comprehension of the overall story.

I may well do that in both these cases; one is already on my site my OTHER other site and simply needs revising for style and technical errors. I have a short prologue in my current first WIP. One little nitpick, however. They were mostly distant third person — sometimes even switching to omniscient POV — with only the occasional close third person scenes when she wanted us to experience what Harry was feeling.

Like I said, just a nitpick. I got blasted for a prologue by a judge because the character in my prologue was the body on page 2 of Chapter 1.

She was mad because she started liking that character and then had to deal with her being killed off.

I think the Prologue in that situation was good, but I found a way to replace the critical information it provided about the murder another way. I would take this as really encouraging feedback—she really liked your character, and was crushed when she died.

That tells me you wrote a great character! You actually triggered an emotional response that hit the reader very hard. My Kindle throws me right to the first page of the book—be that prologue or chapter 1. Has anyone collected data on that? When you create your ebook, you can control what pops up first, and maybe most readers want to cut right to the story. But it does raise a few Interesting questions. How do consumers of electronic information differ from those that read traditional print?

What are their reading habits? How can you influence guide their journey through your book? I decided to bookend my trilogy of books with prologues and epilogues so I read this post with interest.

Thank goodness, because they became such an integral part of the stories that I love them to bits…. I notice other folks have their photos on their comments, how do I get my pic on mine? Hate that! They were like a gentle lead-in to that world and at the end it was like taking a breath and having a cup of tea afterwards….

Any story with that kind of time lapse works as an example, really. Hard to say whether that has the same problem. But if Harry Potter can start off in book one with Chapter 1 being basically a disguised prologue, then so can I. You know… I love a good prologue. Hamburgers are good, but if you get ten badly made ones dried out, raw, no condiments, etc. Thanks, Kristen, great points as always. By the way, is it just me, or does this post seem veeerrry familiar?

I posted this lesson before, over a year ago. I have writers ask questions and it might be from an older article. And actually a lot of the submissions I have gotten have come with prologues used improperly which is a huge part of why I decided to address this again.

We can always learn :D. Thanks for these fantastic points. Reblogged this on Parchment Place and commented: I am one of those people who often write prologues, and then I end up editing them out. I am also one of those people who hate reading them, unless they are done really well. Epic fantasy novels often have amazing prologues. Young Adult novels — I could probably pass on. There are 7 deadly sins with prologues, and there is damn good reasoning behind them. Take heed… pay attention.

But you make some very good points that have opened my eyes. However, I would like to argue number 3 purpose to hook. It has been my experience that some readers actually read the prologue in order to decide if they will read the book me for one. I also feel like a prologue might be appropriate for sequels. Sequels should stand on their own and not absolutely require that you read part one. So am I a sinner? Am I so far gone as not to be saved?

I think Prologues do work well for sequels. The thing is this. It has just been misused so much that it has gotten a bad rap and many people skip it.

Our job as writers then is to make that discernment. Do we need a prologue THAT badly when we understand it is likely to be skipped?

Prologues are great when executed properly. Problem is most of the time they are just…executed. Hm, better not. I might hurt myself and I have physical therapy to go to today. That made my day, Kristen.

I wrote a prologue once and discovered it was a a part of the story that I needed to tell. It doubled the size of my then-WIP. I even let my father read it he said there was too much sex and how did I know so much about war? I received an incredibly nice rejection letter with specific suggestions to make the work better for another publisher. It was one of the best rejections a person could ever get and it utterly depressed me.

I shelved the novel and did not touch it again until the beginning of this year. Thank you for your experiences and for another invaluable blog article. Nothing better than opening a Blog to Elizabeth Hurley in red leather. Oh wait, I get the reference of the prologue as a temptress that can lead us down the road of pain and disappointment. The prologue has often screwed with me when I have an opening I want but it always seems too long. I never liked prologues that go on forever. Too much world building too early is like introducing too many characters early on.

Mind boggling. I do like the introduction of the villain idea. Keeping it short and mysterious but revealing how bad things could end up builds suspense. I must try that. Never having been a great fan of prologues, I have no argument with you listing seven sins and only two virtues. I agree that there should be very limited use of prologues. After all, this is not yet another synopsis! I think a prologue, if done well, will move the story forward. It has to be told in an active voice and pull the reader in.

Some get carried away with prologues and information dumps. One author I love is James Michener — but his books take two hundred pages to get to the main plot — some even start at the first cell.

This was informative and I appreciated the links to the other posts. Nice post. An exception would be the Twilight prologue, written, IMO, with the sole purpose of hooking readers. It worked, though most likely because at one page in length, few people probably skipped it. Me too Evangeline! I had my book assessed and the professional assessor advised me to lose the prologue.

So it stays. Great post on prologues. I have attempted it once. Your post offers a lot for me to consider the next time around. Gave me lots to think about. Awesome article. What is the prologue of a book and how long is it supposed to be?

Can it be paragraphs long? Aug 28, Explanation: A prologue at least in the writing sense is an introduction to the story or piece you are writing. As an example, if I was to write a story about Bob's last days on earth, I could do it this way: Prologue: "Bob's last thought as he slipped into the longest sleep he would ever have was gratitude for friends and family who had allowed him to make up for lost time.

So in the above example, I can literally do a 1-sentence prologue. Good luck with the writing! Related questions Can you summarize A Doll's House in 7 bullet points? Is there such a thing as second person? We've all heard of first and third person in creative Should I write my novel in first, second, or third person?