The Problem With Prologues

The problem with prologues is that some people don’t read them.

I know; it shocked me too when I first learned that. After all, isn’t the point of reading a book to, well, read?

So you can’t put in any plot points. No development can actually happen, or a chunk of readers will miss it entirely.

But a good prologue can set tone and mood, present a mystery that will be solved later, and allow your readers to view a piece of backstory with an immediacy that later explanation will lack, among other uses.

I love a good prologue. Unfortunately, I have found that I should generally avoid writing them, as I make them tend toward melodrama. It’s a problem.

One of the few parts I actually enjoyed of the Twilight books, craft-wise (words I thought I’d never say), was the prologue in each book. Or, rather, the first three as I still have not been able to make myself read Eclipse.

The Twilight prologues all present middle-of-the-action, high adrenaline, high stakes situations that each book returns to later at the climax, coming full circle. That can be an excellent use of a prologue, especially if the beginning tends toward the slow side.

So as a general rule of thumb, don’t rely on a prologue to impart crucial information, but by all means use it to strengthen the book’s initial ‘hook’ or otherwise enrich the story.

Do you have any favorite (or hated) prologues? Or are you the type of reader who skips them entirely? (I hope some of you are the latter, because I’m curious!)

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