What is your take on prologues?

[Christian Writer]

What is your take on prologues? I’ve read that some people say you need them and other people say never use them. How can we know what the right answer is?

[Jason Latnar]

I like them in novels I own and hate them in stories when I beta-read. I think that most writers don’t do them good enough to be worth my time.

[Christian Writer]

I wouldn’t even know where to begin.

[Matthew Brown]

I apologise for not answering sooner.

My experience is that prologues have their place but they are very easy to abuse (which spoils a story). If you know what you are doing – setting up a second question and promise not addressed in chapter one – then use them. Otherwise, leave it alone until you know what you are doing.

That said, never ever use prologues for info-dumps and world building.

[jeffjohns]

I skip the prologue and dump the world building into the first chapter.

[Matthew Brown]

I skip the prologue and dump the world building into the first chapter.

Neither the prologue nor the first chapter are ideal places to dump much worldbuilding. You are much better off seeding the world facts throughout the story. Otherwise, you risk slowing the story down to get the facts out. That’s going to give readers too much reason to stop reading.

[Jason Latnar]

I gotta agree. That sounds like a recipe for a hard to read book.

[Matthew Brown]

I wrote this one for Thanet Creative but I think it applies to this discussion.

How to write a prologue that isn’t horrible

[jeffjohns]

Really helpful, thank you.

[Jack Dent]

I hate them.

The quickest way to put me off a book is a prologue.

[Author]

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