I can hardly pretend the sentiment doesn't exist on THIS forum, for sure! There are whole genres of books out there that I don't like. I don't like formula Romance. I don't like Thrillers. I don't like Horror. I am not crazy about Mysteries, cosy or otherwise. I may dip in to a few pages and decide they're not for me, or simply pass that section by. But I would never dream of telling the authors who write these books that they should probably write something else instead, simply because I don't enjoy them. If you write a Historical novel instead of a Thriller, I'd be more likely to buy it. But folk here? You don't need a prologue, you can just call it a Chapter One. You don't need a prologue, you can salt the information throughout the story instead. It never quits.
Yes, but that wouldn't work for mine, would it? There is a near 7-year gap between the end of my Prologue and the start of the 'present' story, which takes place over a 6 month period. The children in my prologue have turned into adults, and they are using different names when we meet them again. The prologue takes place in Kansas, while the rest of the story takes place in Montana Territory. Because it's a Prologue, the reader is prepared for the time jump. In short ...it's a Prologue. But the story it tells provides the foundation to the rest of the story, and I don't think my readers feel disappointed because Chapter One doesn't carry on directly from where the Prologue ends. At least nobody has expressed this to me. So, with all due respect, my Prologue works. Yes, it breaks a few unspoken rules, including length, but it's the way I structured it and I'm keeping it as it is. Anything else doesn't feel right. BTW, I just checked. The length is 11,500 words. Which is the same length of several of my other chapters, although many are shorter as well. I think two of them are longer.
See, that's kind of the problem here. The first paragraph of a prologue IS the first paragraph of the story. To see it any other way is to miss the point of a prologue. A prologue isn't an introduction or a preface that is optional.
You mean naming it Chapter 1 wouldn't work? I don't see why not. I've never seen a rule that limits the length of a time jump between chapters. It's your book, so you're quite right to call it whatever you please. I would call it either Part 1 or Chapter 1; you call it Prologue. Either are fine. I have no objection to an author taking what I'd call Part 1 or Chapter 1, and naming it Prologue. I do object to including non-story or backstory or some irrelevant but flashy past event and naming it Prologue. In fact, it occurs to me that when I say, "Ergh. Prologue." and skip past it, it's usually because the writing is clearly and obviously backstory, or in some other way is deeply unsatisfying. If a chunk of normal writing is preceded with "prologue", odds are that I won't even notice how it's labelled. So that may mean that I have read several satisfactory prologues, and just regarded them as Chapter 1.
I'd rather see that as Part I of the book. I haven't read the prologue, but I'm sure you're right in that it is effective. But I think a 40K word prologue is a lot more likely to turn off editors and readers than a 1K word prologue. Just my view, but I think you'd have a much easier time selling a book with a 40K portion that is Part I.
As a reader, I will make my readerish decisions. And the fact that I have encountered a number of books that were otherwise perfectly satisfactory and passed the first paragraph tests, but had dreadful prologues that didn't, mean that this readerish decision is working OK for me. Surely you wouldn't expect the writer to say, "You liked my story, but you liked it for the wrong reasons! Put it down! Put it down NOW!" And, YOUR prologue is the beginning of the story. Many are not.
Oxford dictionary defines prologue as: "A separate introductory section of a literary, dramatic, or musical work." (emphasis mine) The word itself means something that comes before the story (or speech, I guess, if you're taking it literally). I don't think you can object to people thinking of a prologue as separate from the story when that's what the word actually means. To me, when an author has a prologue it's basically an acknowledgment that the author understands that the story doesn't start yet, but still wants to give us a bunch of other info. Not saying that's your intent with a prologue, just how I think when I see one.
It's not 40k words—that was just @Tenderiser having a bit of fun. I just checked. It's 11,513 words. Several of my chapters are around that length, some are shorter, a few are considerably shorter, and at least two are longer. It's definitely not Book One. It's a Prologue.
It's assuming that they're not that worries me. I say it again: we need to learn to write good prologues that are actually part of the story.
So if you're listening to a piece of music, it's okay to skip the first part? In fact, it's okay to always skip the first part? Because somebody was daft enough to call it a Prologue?
That bunch of other info you refer to can be crucial to understanding the story. And you need to understand it right at the beginning.
Well, since you ask, I have some favorite artists where I'll routinely forward through the first minute to two minutes of the song Granted, these songs are like 10 minutes long in many cases, but there are a few where the introductory bits bore me. I don't know that the analogy between writing and music is spot on though.
If that's the case, it really shouldn't be in a prologue, in my view. There's no upside for the author and a lot of potential downside.
My hair briefly uncurled and stood on end when I read that as well. For a moment there I thought >>>>NOOO. But then I rechecked my word count.
This is where we differ, and I don't think we're going to coincide. "If that's the case, it really shouldn't be in a prologue, in my view." If that's the case, then you should READ the bloody prologue! Not insist that the author calls it something else in order to trick you into reading it. Ahem. Rant over. Coffee time.
I don't pretend to understand exactly what a Prologue is in music. All I know is that the composer wrote it, and as such, it shouldn't be dismissed in a blanket fashion. He or she wrote it for a reason. Be nice to actually give it a chance, eh?
Let me ask this, though - what is the upside for the writer? If a reader skips the prologue and it's crucial, they're going to think the author screwed up and not buy anymore of her work. Sure, the author can sit around smugly thinking "the idiots should have read the prologue" and then wonder why her royalty checks are so small. That doesn't seem like a good trade-off to me. If it's crucial, and if you know that some readers won't read it (and I'm not convinced it is a small number), why not take steps to remedy that? Purely practical question, setting aside the artistic considerations.
Yes, with music I'll listen to it through at least the first time. Then skip after. There's one song by one of my favorite bands where nothing much is happening for 1:48 (which I have memorized from skipping it so often).
Me? I get really irritated with drawn out endings. Like Hey Jude or The Boxer. Why why why? But these are popular, so who am I to argue?
Yes, those bug me too. But it's not as often I skip through songs. The example I alluded to above is from a song called The Moor, where there is not much except a bit of slowly building background noise for the first 1:48, at which point an acoustic guitar comes in and the song starts.
But you seem to be focusing on the defense of the word "prologue", rather than the defense of the kind of prologue that you approve of. Is the word that important? If you just changed the page that said "prologue" so that it instead said "Before" or "Primi" or "Previously" or had no label at all, would your book be the worse for it? "Prologue" has been used as a label for many pieces of bad backstory and bad irrelevant flashy scenes and general badness. While my logic circuits can wrap themselves around fighting the corruption of a word, I guess I can't emotionally get into defending this particular word. If a book has a worthwhile piece of a story that happens to be a big time jump from the next part of the story, and the readers would see the word "Prologue" and go "Eurgh" and skip that bit, I say, name it something else. It may come down to the fact that you value the word, and I don't. Maybe.
Well, some of us are writing the book we always wanted to write—the kind we would want to read. Becoming a quickie hit author and pleasing the masses isn't our goal. That doesn't mean we don't care about attracting readers. However, we're not trying to please our masters either. We put it out there. If people decide for whatever reason that it's not for them, then fair enough. I would rather not write at all, than write to order. I've had a lot of people read my book, and many of them like it a lot. So I'm happy. We'll see where it gets me. I'm not interested in putting my name to a book I'm not proud of. If I wrote to please everybody, it wouldn't please me.
