Prologues
I have been considering prologues. This is because I have read a couple of books recently that had something in the front labelled a prologue, that was not. A prologue should be a story that gives background information to the story, or tell something about the world. In these books what they label to prologue was actually an introduction. An introduction gives a brief background about the world. Anne McCaffrey had a introduction for her Pern in books in the earlier books. Later she wrote a prologue to the series called Dragondawn which gave the same information in the form of a story. It’s one of my favorite books. I have written a couple of prologues in my books. Oren and the Bandits could’ve been used as a prologue for Trapped in a Curse. Although I didn’t put it as a prologue it can be read on my website. It was posted a couple of years ago on the blog. That’s the blog on my website, not this one. There’s also a prologue to Stretching Their Wings, which introduces the character of Lark. That prologue takes place approximately 4 years before the rest of the book. It also gives some additional background information to the story.
I have never used an introduction in any of my books. If I were to introduce the world of Requada it would go something like this. Around the twenty-second century an alien race called the called the Shadrun Wissria colonized the planet they called Requada. It had an atmosphere and water but no life and as such needed to be terraformed. Because it was some distance from their home world and terraforming is extremely expensive they opened the planet as a trade planet. Hoping to obtain access to the alien markets around them. Particularly those that were more advanced than they were. They were quite a young race. Other races did come. The humans were it is similar level of advancement as they were, as were the Orlie’s. Other more advanced races also came. Since most of these races like to brief they aided in the terraforming of the planet. A diverse and strong ecosystem would ensure that the atmosphere remained breathable. Another race Hagara (goblins) also came. Most of the races warned Shadrun Wissria not to welcome them, but the Shadrun Wissria were interested in what they had to offer and so welcome them. This was a mistake a goblin ship entered the system moving fast and giving weird energy signatures. No attempt to contact it or for that matter stop it was successful. It plowed into a planetoid with a tremendous explosion. The entire system was torn out of the universe by the explosion, which appeared to leave massive hole in space. All attempts to rescue the people of Requada failed and finally the system was declared unsafe and no one went there. That was the start of the dark day according to requadan history. Initially the entire world was in darkness and even artificial light sources didn’t really give any light. But as time went by waves of purple, green and black light swept across the sky. Histories of the time record the people felt exhausted and confused. Many reported that they felt like they were falling even though they were standing on solid ground. It ended rather abruptly with the sun rising. Most requadan histories suggest that it was between 1 to 5 years long. After the dark day requadan’s had powerful psychic abilities. The ability to alter their world with mere thought. This ability became known as magic and led to the mage wars which followed the dark day. The mages tie the planet the part, and when they finally disappeared they left the planet in age of barbarism. It is been slowly working its way out of barbarism to a more advanced society ever since.
That would be an introduction to my world of Requada. Of course there’s a lot more to the history of Requada, but I didn’t want to go on for another couple thousand words. I recommend that if you want to see more of the world that you visit the blog on my website, where you can read some of Stretching Their Wings (there’s also page labeled Meadow and Lark, which has the first few chapters of the book. More can be found in the blog) or read Trapped in a Curse which has a complete story in the world of Requada.
I have never used an introduction in any of my books. If I were to introduce the world of Requada it would go something like this. Around the twenty-second century an alien race called the called the Shadrun Wissria colonized the planet they called Requada. It had an atmosphere and water but no life and as such needed to be terraformed. Because it was some distance from their home world and terraforming is extremely expensive they opened the planet as a trade planet. Hoping to obtain access to the alien markets around them. Particularly those that were more advanced than they were. They were quite a young race. Other races did come. The humans were it is similar level of advancement as they were, as were the Orlie’s. Other more advanced races also came. Since most of these races like to brief they aided in the terraforming of the planet. A diverse and strong ecosystem would ensure that the atmosphere remained breathable. Another race Hagara (goblins) also came. Most of the races warned Shadrun Wissria not to welcome them, but the Shadrun Wissria were interested in what they had to offer and so welcome them. This was a mistake a goblin ship entered the system moving fast and giving weird energy signatures. No attempt to contact it or for that matter stop it was successful. It plowed into a planetoid with a tremendous explosion. The entire system was torn out of the universe by the explosion, which appeared to leave massive hole in space. All attempts to rescue the people of Requada failed and finally the system was declared unsafe and no one went there. That was the start of the dark day according to requadan history. Initially the entire world was in darkness and even artificial light sources didn’t really give any light. But as time went by waves of purple, green and black light swept across the sky. Histories of the time record the people felt exhausted and confused. Many reported that they felt like they were falling even though they were standing on solid ground. It ended rather abruptly with the sun rising. Most requadan histories suggest that it was between 1 to 5 years long. After the dark day requadan’s had powerful psychic abilities. The ability to alter their world with mere thought. This ability became known as magic and led to the mage wars which followed the dark day. The mages tie the planet the part, and when they finally disappeared they left the planet in age of barbarism. It is been slowly working its way out of barbarism to a more advanced society ever since.
That would be an introduction to my world of Requada. Of course there’s a lot more to the history of Requada, but I didn’t want to go on for another couple thousand words. I recommend that if you want to see more of the world that you visit the blog on my website, where you can read some of Stretching Their Wings (there’s also page labeled Meadow and Lark, which has the first few chapters of the book. More can be found in the blog) or read Trapped in a Curse which has a complete story in the world of Requada.
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