Something Thats Said in the Beginning of a Book and Then Said Again Later on
A prologue comes at the kickoff of your book — after the technical data, the dedication, and the epigraph (if you have them), just before the first affiliate. It introduces information important to the story, like character backstory or a glimpse to the hereafter, though readers won't understand why or how these details are crucial to the story merely all the same.
❗ Note: A prologue is different from a preface — the latter is written from the perspective of the writer and isn't fictional.
Merely in what ways tin the prologue exist important to your story, and what are some examples of prologues in literature? We've got the answers to these questions right hither!
Creates intrigue correct from the get-get
Firstly, you tin can utilise the prologue to claw readers into your story. Picture your story structure like information technology's a roller coaster ride — what if you give the readers a gustation of the well-nigh exciting role, right as the ride begins to have a dive? Those who are in it for the adventure would be curious: how did the story come to this point, and what'southward going to happen side by side? By immediately introducing some kind of tension, a prologue tin pique the readers' interest and reel them in.
📚 Example: Ninth Firm by Leigh Bardugo
Packed with mystery and activeness, Ninth House begins in the heart of a crisis (a.1000.a. in medias res). Alex Stern, the protagonist, is seemingly stuck in a house, reading some notes left by members of a secret society that she'south somehow a role of. She's too injured — something has bitten her, and there'south no ane around to lend a helping hand. 
Laced with threads of data about a mysterious association and a strong dose of loftier stakes, Ninth Firm keeps readers asking questions with its prologue — questions that can only be answered by turning the pages.
✍ Writing tip: Avoid substituting a wearisome first chapter with a prologue
Nothing can supersede an engaging first chapter. If you lot're unsure whether your first chapter isn't strong enough and are hopeful that the prologue will prop it up, then it might be better to revise the chapter rather than invent something new. A prologue shouldn't be a substitute for your commencement chapter; if anything, a weak following act to a high-stake prologue tin can leave readers feeling let-down.
And so brand sure yous have a good start to the story first. Using a writing app similar the Reedsy Volume Editor, you can always hands circle dorsum to the beginning for a cheeky prologue later.
Pre-emptively adds layers to the narrative
Some other way that a prologue can serve your story is past introducing layers and points of view that are otherwise difficult to organically incorporate into the main narrative. You can cull to prefer a different graphic symbol'south voice, or go back or forth in fourth dimension, or pick an unusual setting for this kind of prologue. There's also the opportunity to experiment with unlike formats like a letter of the alphabet or a news clipping to portray an alternative perspective (see A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles). Regardless, this other side of the story can reveal insights that volition become of import subsequently on in the story, without muddling the narrative structure too much.
Utilize unexplored characters and viewpoints
Remember of interesting side characters or antagonists whose minds readers wouldn't become a glimpse of. They might provide some interesting insights that can deepen the reader's understanding of the story. And since adding a affiliate for their POV into the book would probably be jarring, the prologue is only the place to give them a voice.
📚 Example: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
This extravagant and satirical romcom lives up to its name by offset with a prologue prepare in the lobby of a luxury hotel, in the heart of an affluent function of London, 1986. The protagonist Nick Young's mother and aunts are there for a vacation. When the English hotel manager refuses to allow them check in to their suite considering of their race, 1 of the aunts indignantly makes a phone phone call that ends with her becoming the new owner of the hotel. Speak of crazy rich!
The prologue reveals the kind of power that Nick's family is used to wielding. It may bamboozle Nick's girlfriend, Rachel, subsequently on in the story, but readers will have been savvy to this information all forth. For those who bask popcorn with a side of drama, this is top-notch textile.
✍ Writing tip: Foreshadow the principal conflict
Information technology doesn't accept to exist obvious, but if you lot can begin foreshadowing the main disharmonize in the prologue, so yous're gilt. By highlighting the Youngs' unattainable lifestyle, the prologue of Crazy Rich Asians hints at the disparity that underlies the primal conflict of Nick and Rachel's romance. You might be dealing with a unlike type of disharmonize in your story, only your prologue can work in the same powerful way, giving readers insights that will brand their reading experience more interesting.
Set up a different time frame or location
Y'all can also add nuance to your narrative through the prologue by making use of a different time frame or location (or both). With a dissimilar time frame you tin reveal crucial background information to your characters or your plot. A dissimilar setting can act every bit a fashion to emphasize the main setting of the story.
📚 Case: The Cruel Prince past Holly Black
This beginning installment of Holly Black's The Folk of the Air series opens with a mysterious faerie knight arriving at a cozy family home. He comes to the door and demands, with menace, to get dorsum the child that his homo wife had taken from him. Every bit said child and her siblings watch on, confused, their man father rushes to his wife'southward side to try and fight that faerie away. The faerie strikes the parents down with ease, taking the bewildered children — now orphans — abroad to Faerieland.
The first chapter is set up in this other world, years in the future, where the kidnapped children are now grown and trying to make sense of their by likewise every bit their position in this magical world.
✍ Writing tip: Don't use the prologue just to create an temper
When you use a different timeframe or location, information technology's easy to set your prologue apart from your story. But keep in mind that the prologue is yet a piece of your narrative — in fact, it can be very helpful in building the plot and themes of the book.
The Savage Prince'south prologue, for instance, is a preliminary inciting incident which throws the young grapheme into this unfamiliar world that she must now navigate. On meridian of that, it creates a comparison between the human girl who lost her family unit to the faerie world, and the faerie knight who lost his family to the homo world. These two characters are inextricably linked only too conflicted, and Holly Blackness's prologue builds onto this central dynamic exquisitely.
So every bit yous work on the prologue, recall virtually the large picture aspects of your story, the way you would when you lot program or revise your novel. Make sure the prologue connects to the big picture aspects and has something important to say, in improver to building the atmosphere of the tale.
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Strengthens the worldbuilding
This tip applies very well to novels with more intricate worlds, like those in fantasy, sci-fi, or historical fiction. Every bit the setting is such a large part of books in these genres, a prologue can be an engaging way to ease readers into it. By picking some relatively recognizable details of the world and spotlighting them with a teaser scene, you can create an interesting transition from the existent world to this fictional i for readers.
📚 Example: Pillars of the Earth past Ken Follett
This ballsy historical novel opens with the scene of a public hanging of a character who doesn't appear again in the story, simply whose sad fate is the ground for the vengeance that drives the rest of the plot. The atmosphere on the mean solar day, the open up gallows, the anticipating spectators, and the witch who cries out a curse later on the execution all create a strong prototype of 12th-century England — the era in which this Medieval tale unravels.
Pillar of the Earth's prologue consists of but this scene, which plays out in 5 short pages — it's succinct but dramatic, and is the perfect set-up for the rest of the story.
✍ Writing tip: Avoid info-dumping!
There may be endless things about your world that yous want to share with readers, but call back that this is the first taste that they'll become of your volume. You don't want to overwhelm them with information. Go for a prologue that's brusque and immersive, rather than long-winded or potentially confusing. And every bit always, show, don't tell! To foreclose yourself from over-writing, go on in mind that worldbuilding is a constant effort of which the prologue can exist a part of, not a substitute for.
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For more inspiration, hither are some books with great prologues for you lot to peruse:
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (romance)
- The Way of Kings past Brandon Sanderson (fantasy)
- The City Nosotros Became by N. K. Jemisin (urban fantasy)
- Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (sci-fi)
- My Twelvemonth of Meats past Ruth Ozeki (literary fiction)
- Paper Towns by John Green (young adult mystery)
- The Other Blackness Girl past Zakiya Dalila Harris (thriller)
- A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (historical fiction)
With that, we promise that you've got the tools yous demand to craft an amazing prologue of your ain!
The next post in this guide will focus on the terminal piece of a volume's forepart-matter ensemble: the preface.
Source: https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/parts-of-a-book/prologue/
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