Breaking the Rules

So in my current WIP I’m breaking a couple rules I’ve always followed. Yes, I follow rules, of a sort—they are my own weird and sometimes wacky rules, but rules they are.

Rule no 1: Don’t write prologues.

Rumor has it a lot of people tend to skip these, or see a long prologue and don’t read the book at all. But my current WIP has a prologue as long as a chapter (events in the prologue take place 10 years prior to the opening of the book, it must be labelled a prologue). This is the way the story began for me and it didn’t want to go any other way. So for now, I’m sticking with the prologue because I think it gives a clear indication of where the characters were at, how they felt, at a time in their life that they later recognise as pivotal.

Rule break no 2: Don’t include flashbacks.

I read somewhere that flashbacks are a risky proposition because they can do one of two things: irritate the reader by interrupting the flow of the story, or grab the reader too well and consequently have them become more interested in events that occurred in the past than they are in the events happening in the now. But what I’ve done is end the prologue at a point were events are unfinished, and used the flashbacks interspersed through the remainder of the book to tell the rest of the story of how that event ended, while moving the story forward in the now as well.

I’m no stranger to breaking the rules. Despite loving the ‘theme’ of romance told from the contemporary  perspective, I don’t want to write the same book over and over again. Each book should, if possible, deliver what people expect from a romance novel but provide a surprise or two. I think the structure of this being a little different is a good thing, but I wonder if others agree.

So what do you think? As a reader do you enjoy prologues and/or flashbacks? And as a writer, do you use them or are you leery of doing so?

Cheers,

Sami