I don’t know about that. I’ve edited more books than I can count over the years and many from new authors who didn’t understand the purpose of the prologue. I had to get them to either adjust it, move it or cut it. In the old days of all books being traditionally published, I could say that at least a skilled editor was overseeing if the device was used correctly or not. With modern publishing? Misuse is much more rampant. But, in that case, I probably (as a reader) would simply skip the entire book.

When I started writing, I knew nothing. I’d not done a creative writing degree, done no courses, didn’t know about all the wonderful authors, like yourself, who spend time to help others hone their craft. I just sat before my computer and started writing.
And yes, I wrote a prologue.
This prologue was one that happened several hundred years in the past and explained about the lost magical sword the companions had to find Inthe main story.
I thought this would be a single book. Find sword, find why the prophecy said it would be needed, discover who is the bad guy and kill him.
However, by the time they found the sword, it was already one book.
So, a trilogy, then. Second book had to have a prologue as the first did, I thought, so I wrote one. This book split the companions near the beginning, and followed one half of the group. So a third was needed for the other half. So, as the first two books had prologues, this one needed one, too.
I’m currently on book 4, and in the rewriting phase. I’m struggling with the idea of another prologue for book 5.
Do you think that if the first, or even the first couple of books have a prologue, all subsequent ones need one, too? Must the format be the same for all books in a series?
Oh, and I don’t skip prologues myself. I think that if the author thought one was necessary, he/she must have some information to give that is important to understanding the story.

Nathan is awesome. If it’s short, I usually don’t mind. Just so many are used improperly and it makes my head hurt. BUT that is why I take the time to write these posts! 😀

Which is why it is critical to know WHY we use them. What is the purpose? Otherwise we could just be shooting our stories in the foot. Thanks for the comment!

What bugs me is an epilogue. I hate them. All they do is sum up or explain what happened. Why doesn’t anyone ever talk about them? And if there’s a prologue, shouldn’t there be an epilogue so the story is neatly bookended?

A prologue should be there for *contrast.* It’s when the best place to begin the main line of the story provides a solid Chapter One, but all that works even better with a glimpse of something else first, and the contrast between the two is so useful that it’s worth making it that all-important first thing readers see. It’s when we simply can’t understand the big celebrity hero unless we first glimpse him waking up hung over — when a slow-build horror story needs a glimpse of the monster eating someone to promise where it’s going — when an epic tale really needs to open with a chronicler or record to give it that sense of history.

Choosing the true Chapter One is one of the most important skills a writer can have, because it’s always the one we get to show off first. A prologue means a chance to do it twice in different ways, and show off the synergy between them too, and it’s glorious… When. It. Works.