The Seven Deadly Sins of Prologues—What Doesn't Work and What Does

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We writers have a vast array of tools at our disposal to craft stories readers will love. But like any tool, it helps if we know how to use it properly. Theme is wonderful. It can keep us plunging a story’s depths for years when used correctly. Applied incorrectly? It just makes a story annoying and preachy.

Description! Love me some description! But pile on too much and we can render a story unreadable.

The same can be said of prologues. Now, before we get into this, I want to make it clear that certain genres lend themselves to prologues. But even then, we are wise to make sure the prologue is serving the story.

So, to prologue or not to prologue? That is the question.

The problem with the prologue is it has kind of gotten a bad rap over the years, especially with agents. They generally hate them. Why? In my opinion, it is because far too many writers don’t use prologues properly and that, in itself, has created its own problem.

Because of the steady misuse of prologues, many readers skip them. Thus, the question of whether or not the prologue is even considered the beginning of your novel can become a gray area if the reader just thumbs pages until she sees Chapter One.

So without further ado…

The 7 Deadly Sins of Prologues

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Evil Odin.

Sin #1 If your prologue is really just a vehicle for massive information dump…

This is one of the reasons I recommend writing detailed backgrounds of all main characters before we begin (especially when we are new writers). Get all of that precious backstory out of your system.

This is a useful tactic in that first, it can help us see if a) our characters are psychologically consistent, b) can provide us with a feel for the characters’ psychological motivations, which will help later in plotting.

I have a little formula: background–> motivations –>goals–>a plan–>a detailed plan, which = plot and c) can help us as writers honestly see what details are salient to the plot.

This helps us better fold the key details into the plotting process so that this vital information can be blended expertly into the story real-time.

Many new writers bungle the prologue because they lack a system that allows them to discern key details or keep track of key background details. This makes for clumsy writing, namely a giant “fish head” labeled prologue (which we editors will just lop off).

Sin #2 If your prologue really has nothing to do with the main story.

This point ties into the earlier sin. Do this. Cut off the prologue. Now ask, “Has this integrally affected the story?” If it hasn’t? It’s likely a fish head masquerading as a prologue.

Sin #3 If your prologue’s sole purpose is to “hook” the reader…

If readers have a bad tendency to skip past prologues, and the only point of our prologue is to hook the reader, then we have just effectively shot ourselves in the foot. We must have a great hook in a prologue, but then we need to also have a hook in Chapter One. If we can merely move the prologue to Chapter One and it not upset the flow of the story? Then that is a lot of pressure off our shoulders to be “doubly” interesting.

Sin #4 If your prologue is overly long…

Prologues need to be short and sweet and to the point. Get too long and that is a warning flag that this prologue is being used to cover for sloppy writing or really should have just been Chapter One.

Sin #5 If your prologue is written in a totally different style and voice that is never tied back into the main story…

Pretty self-explanatory.

Sin #6 If your prologue is über-condensed world-building…

World-building is generally one of those things, like backstory, that can and should be folded into the narrative. Sometimes it might be necessary to do a little world-building, but think “floating words in Star Wars.” The yellow floating words that drift off into space help the reader get grounded in the larger picture before the story begins. But note the floating words are not super-detailed Tolkien world-building.

They are simple and, above all, brief.

Sin #7 If your prologue is there solely to “set the mood…”

We have to set the mood in Chapter One anyway, so like the hook, why do it twice?

The Prologue Virtues

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Still Evil Odin but with “Cute Face.”

Now that we have discussed the 7 Deadly Sins of Prologues, you might be asking yourself, “So when is it okay to use a prologue?” Glad you asked.

Virtue #1 Prologues can be used to resolve a time gap with information critical to the story.

Genre will have a lot to do with whether one uses a prologue or not. Thrillers generally employ prologues because what our hero is up against may be an old enemy. In James Rollins’s The Doomsday Key the prologue introduces the “adversary” Sigma will face in the book. Two monks come upon a village where every person has literally starved to death when there is more than an abundance of food.

Many centuries pass and the very thing that laid waste to that small village is now once more a threat. But this gives the reader a feel for the fact that this is an old adversary. The prologue also paints a gripping picture of what this “adversary” can do if unleashed once more.

The prologue allows the reader to pass centuries of time without getting a brain cramp. Prologue is set in medieval times. Chapter One is in modern times. Prologue is also pivotal for understanding all that is to follow.

Prologues are used a lot in thrillers and mysteries to see the crime or event that sets off the story. Readers of these genres have been trained to read prologues and generally won’t skip. The serial killer dumping his latest victim is important to the story. It’s a genre thing. Yet, still? Keep it brief. Reveal too much and readers won’t want to turn pages to learn more.

Virtue # 2 Prologues can be used if there is a critical element in the backstory relevant to the plot.

The first Harry Potter book is a good example of a book that could have used a prologue, but didn’t (likely because Rowling knew it would likely get skipped). Therese Walsh in her blog Once Before A Time Part 2 said this:

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is told in a close 3rd person POV (Harry’s), but her first chapter is quite different, told when Harry is a baby and switching between omniscient and 3rd person POVs (Mr. Dursley’s and Dumbledore’s). Rowling may have considered setting this information aside as a prologue because of those different voices and the ten-year lag between it and the next scene, but she didn’t do it. The info contained in those first pages is critical, it helps to set the story up and makes it more easily digested for readers. And it’s 17 pages long.

This battle is vital for the reader to be able to understand the following events and thus would have been an excellent example of a good prologue. But, Rowling, despite the fact this chapter would have made a prime prologue still chose to make it Chapter One so the reader would actually read this essential piece of story information.

Food for thought for sure.

Yes, I had Seven Sins and only Two Virtues. So sue me :P . That should be a huge hint that there are a lot more reasons to NOT use a prologue than there are to employ one (that and I didn’t want this blog to be 10,000 words long).

Prologues, when done properly can be amazing literary devices. Yet, with a clear reader propensity to skip them, then that might at least make us pause before we decide our novel must have one. Make sure you ask yourself honest questions about what purpose these pages are really serving. Are they an essential component of a larger whole? Or are you using Bondo to patch together a weak plot?

But, don’t take my word for it. Over the ages, I’ve collected great blogs regarding prologues to help you guys become stronger in your craft. These are older posts, but timeless:

Once Before a Time: Prologues Part 1 by Therese Walsh

Once Before a Time Part 2 by Therese Walsh

Agent Nathan Bransford offers his opinion as does literary agent Kristin Nelson

Carol Benedict’s blog Story Elements: Using a Prologue

To Prologue or Not To Prologue by Holly Jennings

If after all of this information, you decide you must have a prologue because all the coolest kids have one, then at least do it properly. Here is a great e-how article.

So if you must write a prologue, then write one that will blow a reader away. Take my First Five Pages class (below) and I can give you some expert perspective of whether to keep or ditch or if you want to keep your prologue, then how can you make it WORK?

What are some of the questions, concerns, troubles you guys have had with prologues? Which ones worked? Which ones bombed? What are your solutions or suggestions?

What are your thoughts?

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15 comments

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  1. Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA.

  2. Finally! A succinct go-to on prologues!! With extra links no less!!! Thank you thank you thank you…

  3. Reblogged this on adaratrosclair and commented:
    To Prologue or Not to Prologue?
    Thou shalt not if . . . (read to find out what Kristen Lamb has to say about the subject).

  4. I used to write prologues all the time. A lot of the books I read had them so I thought it was the proper way to start a story. In the last few years, I haven’t written a single prologue. I haven’t written a start to a story that didn’t belong in Chapter One.

  5. Reblogged this on authorkdrose.

  6. Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.

  7. I’m not sure if this is what you mean, but…

    One of the later “Harry Potter” novels (I think it was “Order of the Phoenix,” but it could have just as easily have been “Half-Blood Prince) started with a chapter that just didn’t fit. As I remember, it started with Cornelius Fudge walking out of someone’s fireplace and holding this long and disjointed conversation with someone. The chapter was a long one, and halfway through I put the book down and decided, if the whole book was like that, I was going to sit that one out and probably skip the remainder of the series. About a week later I picked the book up again and started with Chapter 2, and read it in one sitting. Even though JK Rowling called it “Chapter 1,” it was a prologue, and not one that added anything to my understanding of the story, but one that frustrated the hell out of me. In your terms, that prologue committed all seven of your deadly sins…

  8. It seems to me that there are two separate issues here. First, is this scene the right way to start your story, no matter what you call it? And second, should you call it a “prologue” given that so many people admit to skipping prologues? Put another way, given the virulent animosity toward this term, what’s the incentive to call it a prologue instead of “chapter 1”? People might not like your chapter 1, but that’s a risk with all chapter 1’s. Is there any downside – e.g., does anyone who likes the chapter ever get peeved that it really should have been called a prologue?

  9. Holly Jennings article is here: http://www.scribophile.com/blog/to-prologue-or-not-to-prologue/

  10. Or your editor/beta reader/agent tells you that you really need to add a prologue to show how the hero and heroine met as teens because of a ghost who saved her life, then you write it and forget to remove all the backstory from the first chapter. Just finished a Heather Graham where she obviously did just that.

  11. I’ve seen two types of prologues. One tends to be a mythical “once upon a time, in the distant past”, and the other is essentially a quick scene that stands apart from the rest.
    In both cases, when it’s worked for me as an audience, I think the key has been contrast.
    The mythic has hinted at some grand prophecy or long forgotten event that is beginning to become relevant once again.
    The scene tends to be from a POV never adopted again, and often introduces big questions, which won’t otherwise be engaged until much later in the story.
    It’s interesting to realize that even though they are referred to as chapter 1, I’ve often regarded the first chapter of many Harry Potter books like a prologue. Books 1, 4, 6, and 7 all open on a very different scene, a quick glimpse of something very different from the first leg of the journey.
    Now that I think about it, the film Aladdin added in a prologue to establish the Robin Williams style humor early on in the narrative, so that could be part of the role of prologue as well.
    Certainly an interesting topic to consider.

  12. I’ve heard lots of angst about prologues, and this is a great summary. Do you have any similar thoughts about epilogues? I’ve not yet used a prologue, but for some reason I keep feeling an that epilogue brings things to a tidy conclusion after the main climax of the story.

    • Melissa Lewicki on March 11, 2017 at 3:38 pm
    • Reply

    I stumbled on some old Columbo episodes recently. Those shows use a kind of prologue, don’t you think? They always show the murderer going about his murdering. Then, Columbo comes along and solves it. It was a very different way to tell a murder story.

  13. Great tips to keep guide you on writing prologues – and help you decide if you need one 🙂 . I never read prologues though so would never write one – LOL. I always skip right to chapter one when I read a book as I figure THAT is where the story starts.

  14. Hey there! This is my first time visiting your blog and I just loved it!

    I have just finished someone’s beginning of a novel and was trying to find some good resources to try to convince him to cut out his prologue. Your post is DEFINITELY making it to my list! It was just so on point and has a list of further resources! Loved it!

    As a writer, I began by loving prologues and epilogues. Years of study later? I can’t stand them! They are so unnecessary! I mean, most of the time. As a reader, I never really skip them, though I find them annoying. I like to have a reminder on why I should never make a prologue myself, haha! A few friends have tried to convince me to put a world-building prologue in my WIP`, but they are not writers. I’m just going to keep on refusing that. Especially since my book is a YA novel, and we all know YA readers have short attention spans and get bored easily, right?

    Anyways, this was a great blog post! It’s great to meet you! =)

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