Prologues and Epilogues: to read or not to read?

Until I wrote my own book, I didn’t even know that there was a debate on this subject. And then, one day while I was revising book 1, we were talking about the prologue and my husband dropped the bomb on me that he…

doesn’t read prologues. My jaw dropped. I’m pretty sure I made the exact face of the little guy in this video. I spluttered. I may have hurled some accusations that included strong words like “inconceivable” and “blasphemy.” All in the most loving way possible, of course.

I love prologues. They lay the foundation that all of the events to come in the story are built upon. My line of thought was thus: If you skip the prologue, aren’t you going in missing key elements on the plot?

Hubby defended his nasty little habit as commonplace. Phone calls were made. Friends were surveyed. And I was stunned to learn that a lot of people really do skip prologues–and even more shockingly–epilogues.

So, in deference to the prologue skippers, I made the one in my book optional. Those who choose to skip miss out on some additional background information (and hints at events to come, muhahaha) but all the critical plot elements come in the main chapters.

In the end, I’m still really curious to know how extensive the practice truly is. So, fellow bookworms: to read or not to read prologues? That is the question.