Aaaaand it’s Monday again with a fresh start. As ever, it’s time for a Fantasy with Friends post; all the prompts are hosted at Pages Unbound, if you’d like to join in. This week’s prompt is on the discourse about prologues:
There has been ongoing discussion on social media about whether readers actually read or enjoy prologues. Do you think prologues add value to a story, or do you wish the story just started with chapter one? Are there good and bad ways for an author to utilize a prologue in a fantasy novel?
There are good and bad ways to do just about anything when it comes to writing a book. Good ways might include setting the scene, providing some ancient history that proves important to the story, introducing characters who become important later, etc. It can be a good way to tantalise the reader, but it can also feel like a bait-and-switch if you swap straight to other characters right after the prologue and it isn’t clear at all how things will connect (or whether they ever will).
I definitely do read prologues, because they should be there for a good reason and be part of the story. If they aren’t, that’s definitely a problem! But usually they are, and skipping them seems like shooting yourself in the foot by omitting part of the information the author intended for readers to have — I don’t really understand the decision to skip them, honestly, and I especially feel like rolling my eyes when people who skip the prologue then complain things don’t make sense.
There are definitely times when it feels like it could’ve just been a part of chapter one, or that it’s unnecessary… but that’s an individual book being not that great, not a sign that prologues in general are pointless.
I do read a prologue — and I do enjoy them if they actually add something to the story. I find many of them do not.
Definitely there are prologues which aren’t really necessary, but I’m having a hard time thinking of any right now. The funny thing is definitely when I see people skipping prologues saying that they don’t add anything and they skipped it in a particular book, and then complaining about things not making sense which… were covered in the prologue.
This is so funny because I was just pondering whether the people who skip ever regret it! Sounds like they do but don’t realize they do!
Briana @ Pages Unbound recently posted…Prologues and Epilogues in Fantasy: What Do They Add? (Fantasy with Friends)
I think when done well, prologues are great. I always read them, but there have definitely been times where I would not have needed to. But you always run the risk of missing important info if you skip them.
Sometimes I think they’re also just a good way of establishing the vibes of a world, too! It doesn’t have to be directly “here is an important piece of information you should remember”.
I don’t understand the skipping prologues thing either – I mean you wouldn’t randomly skip another chapter in the book, so why are you skipping the prologue? Even if it turns out not to add much, you picked up the book to read – so read it!
Gem @ Gem’s Book Talk recently posted…Book review – How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler
100%! I can get thinking some of them are badly done, but… that doesn’t mean all prologues are bad!