Pondering the Prologue: Keep it or Kill it?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Here are six reasons you may (or may not) need that prologue.

Before I dive in today, I’m guest posting over at Writers in the Storm, with 5 Fun Ways to Take Advantage of Your Character’s Fears. Come on over and take a peek.

Now, back to today’s post…

Like fashion trends, prologues go in and out of style. For a while, they were everywhere—especially in fantasy novels, where readers would learn an important element of the novel’s history, or see a pivotal moment of a character’s past.

Then they fell out of fashion, and agents (and readers) skipped them more often than not. They became dumping grounds for pages of backstory and setup, or ever false first chapters, where they started with another character relevant to the tale, but not the actual protagonist.
 
These days, they have mixed popularity with mixed results.

When done well, a prologue can add interest to your novel. Done poorly, it can chase away readers before the novel even starts.

The purpose of any opening is to intrigue readers and entice them to read the story, but a prologue starts outside the story. It’s often either from a non-protagonist-character’s point of view, and/or in another time period. It’s an explanation or something that happened that’s relevant to the story readers are about to enter.

Even when it’s done well, it’s not the start of the novel. If it was, it wouldn’t be a prologue, it would be Chapter One.

Of course, not all prologues are evil, and the trick is knowing when it’s necessary for the novel, and when it’s just dragging it down.

If you’re wondering if you should keep or kill your prologue, ask why you're putting it in.

1. Is it an important piece of the protagonist's history that the reader needs to know to get the story?

Keep or Kill? Chances are you can kill the prologue.

The reader won't know the character yet, so the important event will have little meaning. It won't drive the story forward since it happened in the past. In most cases, you can background this information, drop hints, and show the effects of it on the protagonist to build suspense, and reveal it later for much more impact.

Genre will also play a role with this type of prologue. For example, it’s more common in thrillers to show the event that created the trauma the protagonist will be struggling within the novel.

(Here’s more with Revealing a Character's Past Without Falling into Backstory)

2. Is it an important piece of world history that sets up why things are this way and how that's going to affect your protagonist?

Keep or Kill? Kill the prologue.

Readers don't care about the history or the world since they haven't met anyone in that world yet. They want the story, not the setup to the story.

Find ways to background this information and use it to make your world richer and more real. If 500 years ago, the great god Sniffledum cursed everyone with eternal post-nasal drip, show everyone sniffling from page one, and let handkerchiefs be a huge fashion statement. Make it part of the world in such a way readers can figure it out on their own.

(Here’s more with 4 Reasons Over-Explaining Will Kill Your Novel)

3. Is it an event that happens later in the book, but you're teasing with it at the start because you're not sure your first chapter has enough oomph to grab readers?

Keep or Kill? Kill the prologue.

Since readers have no clue who the characters are or what the context is, there's nothing to connect them to the story yet. A “flash forward” scene often comes across confusing at best, and gives away something in the story that steals all the suspense up until that moment at worst.

I've rarely seen this device work in any book, movie, or TV show, but people keep trying. The movie Deadpool does it well, but the character's inherent fourth-wall breaking aspect is largely the reason, so it's a unique case.

Make your first chapter sing and save this scene for when it actually happens in the story.

(Here's more with The Problem with Flash Forwards as an Opening Scene)

4. Is it a scene with characters other than the main ones, showing an event that foreshadows what the protagonist is about to get themselves into?

Keep or Kill? You might be able to keep this prologue.

Jurassic Park is a great example of how this can work. The novel (and the movie) opens with people trying to contain a dangerous animal, and one of the workers is horribly mauled.

Thematically it works, because it says right at the start "these animals cannot be contained," yet the characters spend the entire book trying to do just that (and keep from being eaten).

It also works to show what the heroes are about to become involved in when they think they're just going to a theme park for the weekend. It gives hints, but it doesn't give away the story, nor does it flash forward or back. It makes you wonder, "How are these heroes going to handle this problem when they find it?" and "what the heck were they trying to contain in there?"

(Here’s more with Message for M. Reader: Are You Telegraphing Your Plot?)

5. Is it a scene from a non-point of view character that reveals a key piece of information none of the point of view characters know?

Keep or Kill? This can go either way.

You may be able to keep this prologue if that information adds to the suspense of the story. For example, scientists dig up an artifact and send it home to the lab, and on the way, the box emits a weird glow and causes the plane to crash. Readers know it's dangerous, but not why, and they know the protagonist is working hard to find the crash and retrieve the artifact, but what will happen when she does?

But if this scene reveals information to readers that the protagonist spends half the book desperately trying to find out—kill it. The fun is in the discovery, and there's no fun in watching someone struggling to find out what you already know.

(Here’s more with The Joy of Discovery: Keeping Readers Hooked Through Story Revelations)

6. Is it a scene that you use the words "sets up" to describe, and has no conflict?

Keep or Kill? Kill the prologue.

Setup isn't story, and readers want story. Be wary when you get the urge to start much earlier so readers can see “how it all began” or the like. If a moment is that important in the character’s life, then why isn’t the story starting there?

Readers are smart and can pick up on subtitles that show the details and clues you need them to know about your protagonist and their situation. As long as you keep readers wanting to know why, they'll keep turning the pages.

And really, if you tell them why right at the start, why should they keep reading?

(Here’s more with What “Setup” in a Novel Actually Means)

In most cases you can cut a prologue and not lose anything in the story, because most prologues fall into the setup category.

If you're curious about prologues that worked, look at books published by new authors in the last few years. But remember—established series by known authors can get away with prologues, as can books published ten or more years ago. Attitudes about prologues have changed, and will continue to change.

When in doubt, take the prologue out and see what your beta readers think. If they're drawn in and didn't think something was missing, then you know cutting it was the right choice. If they feel the story would have been better had they known X at the start, put it back in.

EXERCISE FOR YOU: Take five minutes and think about why you want to add that prologue. What does it do for the story?

How do you feel about prologues? Do you read or skip them?

*Originally published December 2010. Last updated October 2022.

Looking to improve your craft? Check out one of my books on writing: 

In-depth studies in my Skill Builders series include Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means), and Understanding Show Don't Tell (And Really Getting It). My Foundations of Fiction series includes Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a self-guided workshop for plotting a novel, and the companion Plotting Your Novel Workbook, and my Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series, with step-by-step guides to revising a novel. 

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book. It was also shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize (2011), and The Truman Award (2011). She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.

She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It), Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, and the Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series.

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