What is a Prologue?

[JDC_OnPaper]

Was writing before losing motivation, I then started to read other people's novel in hopes of motivation and ideas. Stumbled upon a sight I have just noticed in the several websites I visit (Jk, I only visit 2 because I don't know any other lol), was that most novels didn't possess any Prologue. Which is quite problematic for me, because I was writing a prologue.

While I did write some novels without a prologue, I am most certainly currently writing one with a prologue. Which gives me quite an uneasy feeling. The current novel I'm writing is quite ambitious to say the least, think of it like Star wars and galactic Sci-fi (The story I mean). The Prologue is mostly about the History before the current story.

I'm expecting something around 6k to 8k words, quite large, but I have a draft so I know what to follow. To be honest, It's mostly an infodump, about history, events, characters that most likely won't even be mentioned again in the latter chapters of the novel.

So, I'm asking whether I continue writing the prologue and show the massive history of my novel in one fell swoop, or just piece by piece reveal the history through character interactions and Events.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

A prologue or prologe (from Greek πρόλογος prólogos, from πρό pró, "before" and λόγος lógos, "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information.

As for your question, don't do this.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

So, I'm asking whether I continue writing the prologue and show the massive history of my novel in one fell swoop, or just piece by piece reveal the history through character interactions and Events.

It's always better to show your world through the character interactions and events. Don't spoonfeed your readers, let them put your world together piece by piece.

 

[JayDirex]

Was writing before losing motivation, I then started to read other people's novel in hopes of motivation and ideas. Stumbled upon a sight I have just noticed in the several websites I visit (Jk, I only visit 2 because I don't know any other lol), was that most novels didn't possess any Prologue. Which is quite problematic for me, because I was writing a prologue.

While I did write some novels without a prologue, I am most certainly currently writing one with a prologue. Which gives me quite an uneasy feeling. The current novel I'm writing is quite ambitious to say the least, think of it like Star wars and galactic Sci-fi (The story I mean). The Prologue is mostly about the History before the current story.

I'm expecting something around 6k to 8k words, quite large, but I have a draft so I know what to follow. To be honest, It's mostly an infodump, about history, events, characters that most likely won't even be mentioned again in the latter chapters of the novel.

So, I'm asking whether I continue writing the prologue and show the massive history of my novel in one fell swoop, or just piece by piece reveal the history through character interactions and Events.

You don't need a prologue. You think you do But you don't. People who think they need prologues are typically newbs and have the mistaken belief that readers want to read a 6-8k info dump for a story they have no vested interest in. No, they don't.

I advise you to listen to a quote from Author Chuck Wendig:

THE STORY BEGINS ON PAGE ONE

Repeat: the story begins on page one.

It doesn’t begin on page ten. It doesn’t start in chapter five.

It starts on page one.

Get to the point. Get to the story. Intro characters and their problem and the stakes to those problems as immediately as you are able. You think you’re doing some clever shit by denying this? You think you need to invest us in your luscious prose and the rich loamy soil of the worldbuilding and the deep nature of these characters — ha ha ha, no. We’re here for a reason. We’re here for a story. If by the end of the first page there isn’t the sign of a story starting up? Then we’re pulling the ripcord and ejecting. We’ll parachute out of your airless atmosphere and land on the ground where things are actually happening.

You should read the rest of the essay.

 

[greyblob]

a prologue is a waste of time which i always skip. show your history one piece at a time

 

[Olga_Haus]

If you look at prologues in mainstream, published novels they're very rarely about worldbuilding or infodumping.

They tend to be crafted as units of fiction that stand as short stories in their own right and work to establish tone, or state the themes of the novel in miniature.

They get around The Wendig Problem in two ways...investing the reader immediately in what is happening in the situation presented in the prologue itself, and then throwing that forward, investing the reader in wondering when or how this material is going to be revisited later in the book.

In my novel I've got two prologues, one of which is a "good" prologue that stands as its own short story and establishes '"frustration" as the main theme of the book. The other's a terrible prologue that does all the worldbuilding or infodumping that you absolutely shouldn't do and that I wish I'd broken up into flashbacks and put in later on.

 

[Deleted member 87036]

So, I'm asking whether I continue writing the prologue and show the massive history of my novel in one fell swoop, or just piece by piece reveal the history through character interactions and Events.

A prologue is supposed to be a teaser to swiftly pique the reader's interest in the content. A good prologue will hook the reader and make them feel connected to the story right away. If they don't like them, it's likely that they won't like the story as a whole. Think of it like a hook to entice your reader to continue reading! Instead of showing the massive history of your novel in one fell swoop, try to provide essential background information and exciting opening action sequence instead!

 

[JayDirex]

A prologue is supposed to be a teaser to swiftly pique the reader's interest in the content. A good prologue will hook the reader and make them feel connected to the story right away. If they don't like them, it's likely that they won't like the story as a whole. Think of it like a hook to entice your reader to continue reading! Instead of showing the massive history of your novel in one fell swoop, try to provide essential background information and exciting opening action sequence instead!

Definition of a prologue is not a hook:

The Content of the Prologue

The author uses the prologue to give background information about the story’s world, its characters, and the events occurring in the book; introduce the framework for the main story; entice the reader to keep on reading by describing a dramatic opening scene.

A prologue is not ABOUT the story in the book, it is PART of the story. KM Weiland, an author and well-known writer of writing guides states that prologues are meant to convey information—not hook the reader. SOURCE


They are, by definition, INFO DUMPS. And for ONLINE NOVELS, they are an absolute waste of time. What an online writer should be doing is

1. Write a great synopsis, if you don't know how I've posted instructions on how to write a great one, or you can DM me.
2. Write a great chapter one that quickly gets our MC into his problem, or, shows the problem in the story.

If you look at prologues in mainstream, published novels they're very rarely about worldbuilding or infodumping.

They tend to be crafted as units of fiction that stand as short stories in their own right and work to establish tone, or state the themes of the novel in miniature.

They get around The Wendig Problem in two ways...investing the reader immediately in what is happening in the situation presented in the prologue itself, and then throwing that forward, investing the reader in wondering when or how this material is going to be revisited later in the book.

In my novel I've got two prologues, one of which is a "good" prologue that stands as its own short story and establishes '"frustration" as the main theme of the book. The other's a terrible prologue that does all the worldbuilding or infodumping that you absolutely shouldn't do and that I wish I'd broken up into flashbacks and put in later on.

"investing the reader immediately in what is happening in the situation presented in the prologue itself,"

I do this in every single chapter one. Making a prologue redundant.

"In my novel I've got two prologues"

Neither of which is the main story, and everything done in the prologue can easily be done in the story. So why write a second story. And as you mentioned, your second prologue is just more info.

HELLO? Are readers here for history lessons on stories? Or pre-setup for themes? NOOOOO! They are here for stories. So instead of writing all this side stuff about the story, just write the story.

 

[Ruyi]

the only "prologues" i've liked are those that show/preview a seemingly random (but exciting!) scene that becomes relevant in the actual story later. they're usually not too long and have a lot of action/plot going on.

when i saw you mention "6-8k words" for this prologue, my interested suddenly took a nosedive. you can totally scatter those thousands of words into bite-sized pieces throughout your prose, right? no need to forcefeed everything down your readers' throats when we're not even sure why we should be invested in the story in the first place. readers have the luxury of choice (and time is a limited resource), so it's up to the authors to fine-tune and cater to them. we are less patient over strangers' babies than our own, haha.

you might have the most amazing story in the world, but if i have to take a mini-history class just to "get it," i might decide to go for a less sophisticated, more fun story instead. if i wanted to learn about the background of a world i'd be reading nonfiction/informational works, not browsing webnovels. i'm here to escape and have fun!

 

[Erysion]

A prologue is supposed to be a teaser to swiftly pique the reader's interest in the content. A good prologue will hook the reader and make them feel connected to the story right away. If they don't like them, it's likely that they won't like the story as a whole. Think of it like a hook to entice your reader to continue reading! Instead of showing the massive history of your novel in one fell swoop, try to provide essential background information and exciting opening action sequence instead!

Prologues aren't meant to hook the reader, but a good prologue will hook the reader. It's the same with cover and synopsis. If all of them are below my standards, I will skip your story. If you still want to include infodumps, try compressing the 6k to 8k words into a single paragraph.

just write an entertaining story.

Writing an entertaining story is easier said than done. Sometimes the readers don't share the same opinion with the author who finds their story entertaining.
This isn't a problem if you're writing for fun. As long as you enjoyed your story, it doesn't matter if your story doesn't get famous. If you consider writing as a profession, then try to know your reader's base first. For Scribble Hub, the readers are here for stories with GL, Isekai & Smut genres.

you might have the most amazing story in the world, but if i have to take a mini-history class just to "get it," i might decide to go for a less sophisticated, more fun story instead. if i wanted to learn about the background of a world i'd be reading nonfiction/informational works, not browsing webnovels. i'm here to escape and have fun!

...And BL too, I guess. Long live the Queen Consort!

 

[Ninini]

Before the main story happens

 

[Ai-chan]

Was writing before losing motivation, I then started to read other people's novel in hopes of motivation and ideas. Stumbled upon a sight I have just noticed in the several websites I visit (Jk, I only visit 2 because I don't know any other lol), was that most novels didn't possess any Prologue. Which is quite problematic for me, because I was writing a prologue.

While I did write some novels without a prologue, I am most certainly currently writing one with a prologue. Which gives me quite an uneasy feeling. The current novel I'm writing is quite ambitious to say the least, think of it like Star wars and galactic Sci-fi (The story I mean). The Prologue is mostly about the History before the current story.

I'm expecting something around 6k to 8k words, quite large, but I have a draft so I know what to follow. To be honest, It's mostly an infodump, about history, events, characters that most likely won't even be mentioned again in the latter chapters of the novel.

So, I'm asking whether I continue writing the prologue and show the massive history of my novel in one fell swoop, or just piece by piece reveal the history through character interactions and Events.

The prologue is unnecessary, but it could help garner interest in your book. Why is that so? Because the first page of your book will determine if people continue reading your book. So if your prologue is boring, people will not read the rest. This idea that a story needs 10 chapters before it gets good is completely bonkers and stupid. How many of potential readers would actually have the time and patience to slog through such nonsense?

The prologue is not where you put infodumps. It is the last place where you would infodump. A prologue is generally short and face-paced, promising the readers of the tone of your story. It may not even have anything to do with the protagonist of your story. It could be a completely unrelated story, set 100 years in the past or the future, merely hinting at the protagonist's life but sets the pace for your story.

6k to 8k words is definitely not a prologue. A prologue is most often, a mere fraction of your standard chapter, like 10-25% of the size of your standard chapters. Ai-chan has never found a traditionally published book where the prologue exceeded 2000 words. This is not an infodump chapter, this is what you write to appeal to potential readers. In the prologue, you can inform the reader whether it is an action, a horror, a tragedy or even a comedy, for example.

Below is an example of a prologue for a Japanese light novel titled Another that Ai-chan translated from Japanese on a whim. Take note that none of the main characters are present in the prologue.

Book 1
What? ... Why?

Synopsis: Sakakibara Kouichi who have just transferred to Class 3-3 of Yomiyama Kita Middle School feels put-off by the strange atmosphere in his class. He feels an interest in the mysterious aura of the beautiful student Misaki Mei and tries to get close to her. But the more he gets close, more mysteries appeared.

Suddenly their class president Sakuragi dies in a horrific manner! What is actually happening in this world?!

A horror novel by the popular author Yukito Ayatsuji that will haunt you...



Prologue

"Do you know Misaki? ... Misaki from Class 3-3. And stories about her."

"Misaki... someone's name?"

"Yes. I don't know what character it's written in. It may even be the family name, so it's not necessarily a girl. I don't know if Misaki is the family name or the given name. 26 years ago, there was a student by the name of Misaki.

"26 years... that's old. That's in Showa."

"1972, 47th year of Showa. The year Okinawa was returned to Japanese hands."

"Okinawa was returned? From who?

"You're slow... Before the war ended Okinawa was held by the Americans."

"Oh, that's why until now there's still an American airforce base there."

"Other than that, the Sapporo Winter Olympics also happened in that year. The ransom incident at Asama-Sanso also happened in the same year-"

"Asama-Sanso?"

"You... whatever. What's most important , is that 26 years ago, there was a student by the name of Misaki in Class 3-3 at our school. And you... really haven't heard this story?"

"Hm, let me think. But wasn't the name Masaki, not Misaki? If so, I may have heard the story a bit."

"Masaki? Hmm, that's possible. Who did you hear it from?"

"Senpai at the club."

"What did he say?"

"I don't know if it's 26 years or whenever, but there was a student by the name of Masaki in Class 3-3... oh, from what I heard, the student was a boy. That year, Masaki acted weird in class. But the story was kept secret and not allowed to be spread. So, this was the only thing he told me."

"That's it?"

"Yup, If you tell the story just for fun, bad things will happen, he said. I don't know if this story is that thing. One of thowe 'seven school mysteries'."

"You believe in that?"

"Isn't there... the piccolo in the music room suddenly makes a sound in the middle of the night, bloody hand appearing at the school garden's lotus pond... there are, right? Maybe that's one of the seven school mysteries."

"There's also the story about the real heart in the human replica inside the science room, right?"

"Right, right."

"There are a lot of things, I know about nine or ten equally weird stuff in our school. But the story about Misaki or Masaki doesn't seem to be part of the list. The story feels different from seven mysteries usually talked about."

"Oh! So you know about it?"

"Yeah, a little."

"Tell!"

"You're not afraid bad things will happen?"

"That's all just superstition, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"So, tell me the story."

"Well, it's kinda scary..."

"Come on! Just this once."

"Last time you said 'just this once' too."

"Hehe."

"Tch, you.. if I tell you, don't tell others later."

"I swear I won't tell."

"Alright, if that's the case..."

"Yay!"

"Don't know if it was Misaki or Masaki... let's just call her Misaki. She was popular since back in first year. Smart, active in sports, good artist and a great musician. She was also pretty, well, if it was a boy, then you can say he's handsome. Everyone likes her. She was like the school idol."

"Hm... so there was someone like that."

"But come third year, Misaki transferred into Class 3-3 and suddenly passed away."

"Hah?"

"It was during the start of the first semester. Misaki wasn't even 15 yet."

"Why did she die? ... Accident? Illness?"

"Story I heard, it was a plane accident. She went to Hokkaido with her family and her plane crashed. Other than that, there were a lot of stories about her death."

"..."

"Her friends who heard the news were very shocked."

"That's a given."

"They were all, "I can't believe it, can't believe it". There were people who said that was all a lie. Many cried. Even the homeroom teacher had no idea what to say, as the class atmosphere became darker and heavier. Suddenly someone got up and said, "Misaki's not dead. See, she's still here."

"..."

"The student pointed at Misaki's desk and said, "See, Misaki's sitting there. She's still alive and she's there". Then a lot of people believed the student's words. "You're right, Misaki is not dead. She's still alive. She's there"."

"And then...?"

"They didn't want to accept the death of the most popular girl. But the story didn't end there. It still continued in that class."

"Meaning?"

"All the students in that class acted as if "Misaki is still alive". Even the teacher cooperated. The teacher said, "Yes, just like everyone said, Misaki is still alive. At least she's still a part of the class. Even after this, we will all work hard to graduate together." That was more or less how the story went."

"The story is fun, but also scary."

"The students of Class 3-3 continued their lives that way. Misaki's desk was left at its place, and there were people who came and touched, talked and played with Misaki, went home together... but it was all make-believe. During graduation day, they all asked the principal to prepare a chair for Misaki..."

"Hm... this is getting interesting."

"Yup. At first this sounds like one of those inspirational stories. But then something terrifying happened."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"They all took their graduation picture after the graduation ceremony. Then they looked at the picture and noticed something. At the corner of the class picture, there was Misaki, who shouldn't have been in the picture. Her face was pale as a corpse and there was an unnatural smile on her face, like she was someone else..."


[End Prologue]

tldr: NEVER infodump on the very first chapter. Don't infodump on the second chapter either. Heck, train yourself to never infodump.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

imo a prologue should always be optional reading. Never required.

 

[Cipiteca396]

If you want to write out the history of the world where readers can see it, do it. If you're worried about people skipping it, so what? They aren't your target audience. Tell your readers to skip to chapter one if they aren't interested. Frankly, I love reading history and worldbuilding, and I sometimes get annoyed when people screw the good stuff up by stuffing a dumb story into it.

My advice is: read the appendix of The Lord of the Rings stories. If your 'prologue' is similar, then you can either create your own appendix or stuff it in the glossary. Copy the example of other authors. Just make sure to tell people like me where they can find it with an author's note.

Otherwise, it's probably fine. People will probably skip it either way. If there's info that's critical for a reader's understanding of the story, you can super-condense it into a 'prologue' and leave the rest as a Side Story or put it in the Glossary.

 

[AliceShiki]

If you are doing infodumps anywhere, then you're making a mistake.

A prologue is not an infodump. See the one that Ai Chan quoted for an example of a good prologue.

The prologue is an introduction. It's what happens before the story starts. It can be from the PoV of a character that won't be narrating the rest of the story or maybe just showing something that would lead up to the point where you story is supposed to start. It can even be a short scene that happened many years before the story started, it can involve different characters and different circumstances or whatever. If it is somehow charming and can leave a mark on your readers, they'll probably end up remembering it when this small backstory tidbit comes up much later.

In essence, the prologue is a small tidbit of narrative that can lead up to the actual story.

I like prologues. They have a charm to them. I don't like starting at chapter 1... But don't ever infodump. Like, never, seriously.

And especially and absolutely never infodump at a prologue... Because you know what will happen if you infodump at a prologue? Your readers will forget everything written in it 5min after they read it, because they won't know what information is relevant nor why. So they'll forget because nothing there matters to them. An infodump prologue is absolutely the worst possible prologue you could ever make. Never ever make an infodump prologue... And in general, don't infodump, period. But if you have to infodump, don't do it at the prologue.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

If you are doing infodumps anywhere, then you're making a mistake.

Uh... I infodump all the time.

Ever read the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy? How every once in a while the story will just detour into a tangent about

SPACE. It is really, really BIG.

And the story would just go on and on about how big space was, but in a funny way. Eventually it would come back around to the point and then it would slam you back into the story and suddenly you understand why Arthur and Ford wound up on the Heart of Gold.

That's an infodump.

It's a well made info dump where periodically the story just breaks from the action to tell you, the reader, what the fuck in going on, but also in a funny, or interesting fashion. That's what I try to do. Not always funny, mind you, but I make enough dry humor jokes to make the asides usually amusing.

The trick to info dumps is, you need to have it be part of the story, so you need to properly flesh out your narrator. An info dump is the narrator talking to the reader. If your narrator has a personality, even if it is the faceless, never introduced narrator of Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, then you can info dump because what you have isn't a book, but a story.

In my head, my narrator has a different 'voice' and he is actually SAYING the story to you, the reader. I do this for an important reason. It makes it easier to turn them into audio books.

Yeah, when you ghost write, and you have 1/2 your clients ask that the book translate well into audio book form, you start writing ALL your books for audio form. I don't PLAN on making an audio version of my story, but I just wound up writing all of them in that fashion. When your book is more of, "Ed sitting there telling you a story" than, "I'm reading Wuthering Heights", info dumps are much easier for the reader to swallow, because Ed is just pausing the story to explain to you that when the Rock band hit the first note, the entire city lifted up into the air and turned over like a giant, mile thick pancake.

The lead singer was quoted as saying, "It was a good gig."

As opposed to:

The rock band has the ability to unleash destructive sound that could destroy entire cities.

Both info dumps, and saying the say thing, but one is funny and you don't mind.

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

Think of a prologue as a short story before the start of the actual novel, in which the prologue sets things up for the rest of the novel. In that sense, a prologue and a first chapter basically do the same thing, that is, set up a story. The only difference is that a prologue establishes the background of the rest of the novel (with its own background storyline, background events, background characters, and background setting or timeline), and is thus indirectly connected to the actual main storyline of the novel, while the first chapter establishes the main storyline of the novel (with its own storyline, events, characters, and setting or timeline). Hope this makes sense.

As for what you're asking for, maybe you could incorporate the background storyline as its own separate storyline throughout the novel through interlude chapters (or background chapters). This way, you get more flexibility in the way you incorporate the background storyline that parallels the main storyline of the novel.

 

[SilvoidVorstellung]

Was writing before losing motivation, I then started to read other people's novel in hopes of motivation and ideas. Stumbled upon a sight I have just noticed in the several websites I visit (Jk, I only visit 2 because I don't know any other lol), was that most novels didn't possess any Prologue. Which is quite problematic for me, because I was writing a prologue.

While I did write some novels without a prologue, I am most certainly currently writing one with a prologue. Which gives me quite an uneasy feeling. The current novel I'm writing is quite ambitious to say the least, think of it like Star wars and galactic Sci-fi (The story I mean). The Prologue is mostly about the History before the current story.

I'm expecting something around 6k to 8k words, quite large, but I have a draft so I know what to follow. To be honest, It's mostly an infodump, about history, events, characters that most likely won't even be mentioned again in the latter chapters of the novel.

So, I'm asking whether I continue writing the prologue and show the massive history of my novel in one fell swoop, or just piece by piece reveal the history through character interactions and Events.

Prologue is to introduced your character, conflict, and exposition.

 

[Agentt]

It is an emo clickbait.

That's all.

Sometimes you can show something that happens in future in the prologue to buildup suspence.

Sometimes, you show a scene which is unrelated to the book, but clarifies the lore a bit. Like the whole Lord of The Rings opening scene where they described the seven rigs made but all were deceived, for another ring was made, one to rule all. This dialogue wasn't spoken by anyone, but it clears up the plot for the reader.

Sometimes you go the edgy emo route,
Write vague things like "This is who I am. This is my destiny. I shall not let the scars of my past affect me anymore."

Prologues are especially important ifyour story isn't fast paced and you want to motivate the reader to not drop your book after 15 chapters of fluff.