I'm not sure I've ever read a book where there absolutely MUST be a prologue for the story to work - actually, the more I think about it, the more that sounds like a flawed model. The beginning was contrived anyway, dropping the prologue wouldn't have hugely hurt the story. Probably the best prologue I've ever read was in the Dragonlance chronicles, because that beginning chapter is absolutely needed for the contrived beginning to work (I'm a huge dragonlance fan so no flames for that, but come on guys, admit it, it's a VERY contrived beginning) and the character introduced in the prologuge, his role and his importance isn't fully revealed until the very end of the last book of the trilogy.īut was that prologue needed, really? Well, no. The best example I can think of is a prologue to introduce the world and the "rules" of a fantasy or science fiction story - The characters are already going to know that the dwarves live in the mountains, for example, but the reader will not, so a prologue can let them in on such elements. It seems to me that prologues are best used when they give information that the reader needs but that isn't otherwise appropriate to introduce during the story. If they're not just intertwined, but, for example, two characters in the same world, same story, they know each other, etc., I would think about merging the prologues. If the two plots are intertwined, it can give too much away if you have a prologue. If you already have them written, I'd consider merging them or ditching them. The prologue should not regurgitate details in the first chapter or feel redundant in any way, as this will likely lead to a boring and dry prologue.I agree with Cogito, I'm not sure when you say you "need" two prologues at all.
The prologue should hook your reader in and be just as strong as the details and scenes in your first chapter, if not better. If you are writing a prologue for a completed book, you should also think about how the prologue will interact with your first chapter.Will it reveal character, setting, or point of view? Will it provide backstory or frame the rest of the novel in a particular way? Think about how the prologue is going to enhance your novel and feel integral to the story.If you are writing a prologue cold, with no other chapters written, you should still think about how the prologue is going to affect the rest of the book. Often, prologues are written after the novel has been completed or when a novel is in its finishing stages. To write an effective prologue, you need to first consider which prologue type fits with your novel. X Research sourceĬhoose which type of prologue fits your story. This could be the history behind an event, like a war or a conflict, that is touched on in the novel or the history of a character who is important to the novel. A backstory heavy prologue should reveal the origin of the quest or mission in the novel and provide the reader with information about the past that leads up to the present action in the novel.Instead, the backstory in the prologue should feel essential to the rest of the novel and contain information that could not be placed anywhere else in the novel. However, many writers argue against using a prologue as a way to dump a whole bunch of backstory, or past information, on the reader.
This option is useful if you are struggling to cover the details of a character's past within the action of your novel. This can help you, as the writer, avoid using other tricks like flashbacks or inserted backstory in the novel. One way to use a prologue is to provide backstory on a character or several characters.
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