Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [prologues]

This tag should be used for questions about a prologue in a written piece of work. A prologue, like an epilogue, is a section of a book that stands outside the narrative, as a kind of commentary or supplementary addition. For questions about the beginning of a book, use [openings]. Also see [epilogue].

This tag should be used for questions about a prologue in a written piece of work. You should explain whether you are in the field of or for example and what you are writing if it's creative.

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Is it considered lazy writing to have a dry prelude at the start of a book?

I'm thinking of the crawl sequences at the beginning of Star Wars, that just give you the background information straight up, and then start the excitement. I've just been wondering if putting a prelude like that at the beginning of a novel would be…
Clarkey
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I'm writing a prologue from the POV of a non-English-speaking character. How should I write the dialogue?

Picturing this in movie form would be easy. I would have the character speak their native language in the scene and place subtitles. But I do not have this luxury in writing. It would be weird to mention that they're speaking their own tongue as the…
Drask
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When is a prologue useful?

Prologues tend to get a bad rap on the internet, and sometimes for good reason. They're often used by as an excuse to start a novel with an info-dump. However, it seems to me that people often criticize prologues, but rarely explain when they are…
sjohnston
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Can the prologue be the backstory of your main character?

A friend and I are writing a story based on our characters. We brainstormed some ideas and now we know what the basic idea of our story is going to be. But I'm having a little trouble with the prologue, I was going to make it the backstory of the…
Dorito Hub
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Should important events that happen a long time before the rest of the story be in a prologue or in chapter 1?

Context: I’m currently writing a novel that has a built in prologue. I’m unsure if I should use the prologue as the first chapter. It involves the main character being sent away by his parents for his own protection. The rest of the book doesn’t…
user629
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How long can a prologue be, and what should you not do?

A while back I wrote a prologue about the beginning of time and space and all that. One thing I noticed later is that between the prologue and the story itself, the prologue ate out the chapters not leaving much for me to write out for the actual…
Gabby
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Can the prologue's POV be different from the POV of the main story?

I want to write the prologue of the story with the narrator in first person with the point of view of the protagonist. But the story is already written in a third person narrator... and I have 2 protagonists so it's not omniscient. I think it's a…
V LeFox
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How to shorten a prologue?

I understand that a prologue is meant to open up a story and introduce characters, themes, and the world to my audience. It is not supposed to be a long length of text. At the same time, I find my Prologue is more appropriate in length to that of a…
Sora Tamashii
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Should I use an important scene from the middle of my novel as a prologue?

I am a first time novelist with writing experience. I have an idea for my novel that begins with an important scene which actually plays out in the middle of the novel. Should I write this as a prologue? If so, would it be appropriate to start…
Del Barras
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Prologues with no protagonist - How can they work?

It is my understanding that novels should generally start right off with the protagonist. The story is about the protagonist, after all, not something else (This obviously changes a bit if the PoV is not the protagonist, but that is beside the…
Thomas Reinstate Monica Myron
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Defining a Prologue

I came across prologues of several novels, and I noticed that they all were different from each other. Some had a short excerpt picked somewhere from the novel, a few included some private notes from the author, while others had an introductory part…
Saharsh
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Will my one sentence prologue work?

I know most readers don't like prologues, so I've tried to make it as simple as possible. I write the following knowing fully well how weird it’ll make me look. — A.B.G. A.B.G. Is the fictional (undisclosed) author of the novel, which is set…
Jade
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Translating worldbuilding into an interesting opening

I've once heard there are 2 types of writers, and I am definitively an architect. I can write down a few hundred pages of worldbuilding and characters, but I scrap most of my stories after the first chapter, because my writing doesn't live up to my…
Azzarrel
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Do most readers skip the prologue?

The prologue of my story is extremely important as it adds context to what is happening in the first chapter. While talking to my friend, they revealed to me that most readers skip the prologue. Now I’m not sure what to do, as I wouldn’t like for…
Nabi
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Prologue or chapter 1?

Ok so, I’m kind of new to writing. I wrote a couple of books in my teens but they were just for fun. I’m now starting to write a book I hope to get published. So, my book starts about a year in the future then will go back to the start (if that…
MummaWrites
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