Prologues and Epilogues

[G.G.]

Do you write prologues and epilogues?
Do you find them necessary?

When you read a book, do you like them? or do you skip them?

[Brian]

I like them when they serve a purpose. They definitely aren't necessary. The novel I am working on has both. I am using them to help set up parts of the story later. Also the entire book is first person, so the prologue and epilogue gives me a chance to show things from another character's perspective. If I was using 3rd person throughout the novel then I would just include them as normal chapters.

[Harmony]

Brisingamen has both. The Glade has only an Epilogue.
Elemental Earth is in progress, but I haven't used a prologue ... we'll see about the ending.

I don't think they are inherently good or bad - simply a sometimes useful device. If they do their intended job well then I don't suppose a reader will even notice them as opposed to just an opening or closing short chapter.

[G.G.]

Good points. I was asking because I've read somewhere that people tend to skip prologues. I don't know about epilogues though. Personally, I don't skip either. I'd be lost if I did, and any one reading my books would be too.

I swear the more I read blogs the more I wonder what people actually read! Some say they skip prologues, some others descriptions or dialogues. Scary :p
I understand descriptions as sometimes they are just a lump of info thrown at the readers but when there is a prologue it's usually to help the reader understand something.

I did use both in my first novel. The prologue helped cut down the info I would have had to give later on and it's also what starts the story. As for the epilogue, like Brian I used first POV (man) and I think it gives it a special touch to end it with the woman's POV. They are both so different.

The sequel has no prologue. There was no need for it, but the epilogue follow the same principle with the woman's ending it.

For both of my books, I just couldn't see it done any other way.

[Harmony]

If people are skipping bits, then all I can say is ... they're not reading the right books ;P

[Brian]

The problem is that a lot of writers use the Prologue as an info dump, and some readers skip it because they would rather be dropped into the middle of the action. If there is too much raw information and little to no action then I feel that would be better served as bonus material posted on the website or blog or at the end of the book. If that information is essential to the plot then as a writer you have to figure out how to include that throughout the rest of the story bit by bit. Sometimes people would rather not know what is going on with the promise of finding out later rather than read a long info dump. I wrote my prologue and epilogue to be cool little additions to the story, and there are references to the prologue throughout the novel. At the same time if someone skips it, they aren't going to miss out on anything too important.

[G.G.]

@Brian True. I've read some like these before.
I wanted to avoid the info dump, so I replaced it with a prologue filled with action. Instead of the protagonist explaining how his spaceship crashed on Earth I added a prologue with the actual action.
The reason I chose to call it prologue and not chapter one is because it's the only chapter that actually takes place in space.

As for my epilogue, well, the readers can't skip it or they may believe the book as a totally different ending. :p

[G.G.]

@Harmony I agree. When I start skipping bits and pieces usually it's because I don't care for the book, but there are people who do that all the time and yet love them still. My mother used to skim on all descriptions. I've never seen someone read more books than she did, and she loved reading too.

@Hassan I've read prologues that didn't have anything to do with the story, or at least I didn't see anything that related to it. Yet, I'd be scared to miss something if I skipped it entirely.

[Carl]

Brian raises a good point about the info dump that happens in proloques. I generally like being shoved into a world whether it's real or fantastical. But a good prologue will pique our interest and a good epilogue will either wrap up or hint at a continuing story or raise a disturbing question (Margaret Atwood does the latter in "Handmaid's Tale.)

Do it if it works, dump it if it doesn't.

[Harmony]

Info dumps just don't work - full stop. It's irrelevant whether they're in a prologue or a chapter, an info dump is still an info dump.
@GG that's the way around info dumps: your action is showing rather than telling - sounds great!

[Ann]

For me a prologue should really be lore or something. I don't skip prologues. But they have irritated me in the past. I think a good epilogue should be a teaser or a treat for the reader :]

[Molly]

I like epilogues, because I feel like I'm getting something extra at the end, but I'm not a fan of prologues. They're usually boring or hard to understand, delaying me from getting to the story.

[Carl]

Teaser, yes.

[J. David]

Everything you write should fit your characters and story, so a pro/epilogue will suit one work perfectly and the next not at all. I know that in the series I'm currently writing, I use the prologue as a huge tease to what the reader is about to experience. The prologue jumps right into the middle of things with no explanation at all and is a teaser of the action inside. I use it to grab the reader's attention, give them just a hint of what's going on and then say, okay, now let's get to the real story in chapter one.

[Heidi]

I use them, then again I've been writing series. Like J. David, I use the prologue to pull the reader in, get them interested. With the epilogue I give them a little hint that no all is quite right and there will be more to come. Or if it is the end of the series a wrap up that maybe happens a year or two down the road. But I agree they aren't for every story.

[Kevin]

@Heidi, I do the same thing with my prologues and epilogues. These are the two places where I might change character perspective, slowly easing the reader in and out of the main character's (thus main) story line. Prologues are certainly a great tool to use if your main story starts off slow.

[Eric]

No dedications, No prologue. The quicker I can get a reader to forget they are reading a book and get lost in the story the better.

Once in a while I enjoy reading a foreword. Perhaps, if there is an interesting story regarding the book. For example at the beginning of Confederacy of the Dunces, there is a great bit about how the book came to be published.

If I see a book has a prologue, I usually think: Why isn't this stuff in the normal part of this book? Is it less important? Is it less interesting? Is it just a bunch of info that will allow me to understand the story?

I think epilogues sometimes feel like a bonus chapter. So if you are really enjoying a story and not wanting it to end, then that can be a good thing.