Prologues

I've seen many people have their own takes on whether or not you should have a prologue, and it seems like there is a lot of hate against them, and I've seen many writers say you should just delete your prologue. However, I don't think it's that simple.

Sometimes prologues are unnecessary, but other times I don't think they are. If you want to start your book out with need-to-know information, or a context-setting event, but it doesn't flow with the general format of your book, I think prologues are fine.

When you should delete your prologue is when it conveys information that is unnecessary, or is just there for exposition. Sometimes, heavy exposition is necessary, but when you overload your reader at the beginning with exposition, you may turn them away. The best way to convey exposition is through narration and dialogue. Breaking it apart can keep your reader engaged, and if you need an exposition dump, make sure you spread your dumps apart. Showing through narration and explaining as you go as your character navigates their world is an authentic way to exposit information, and having it in dialogue when it needs to be explained to your character can break it up with your characters asking questions, reacting, and responding to the information.

Prologues can also be incorrectly used to start books off with what they think is more engaging than their first chapter. While this can be used correctly, if it doesn't add context, or more important information, then it's not gonna help. If you delete your prologue and the story doesn't change, it probably doesn't need to be there.

The Secret Portal has a prologue, but School of the Legends does not. In The Secret Portal, I have the prologue to show the context of some important events of important characters in a scene that takes place 13 years before the present of the story. I have this here so we are aware of what the world is like in The Secret Portal, and where exactly our main gang is going to go. Also, when the exposition comes, we have a scene that contextualizes some of the information that's given, as the readers now have a mental image of those events.

It also helps that The Secret Portal has many interludes throughout the series. Most of the time, I am in a first-person perspective, and those chapters get numbers, but those in a third-person perspective, when that is necessary, do not have numbers at the top. So, the prologue is just another interlude that gives context. I do not, however, have it headed with "prologue," because I know that turns people away, and I was also sick of putting "interlude" at the top.

School of the Legends does not have a prologue because I can just jump into the story with the characters we are going to follow. There's no need for a contextualizing scene, especially since it's based upon fairy tales that most people are very familiar with.

And sometimes, you can just call your prologue "chapter one." It all depends on the format of your book.

I don't think prologues deserve the hate, because not all prologues are skippable. But they are not needed for every story. Prologues should exist to set context that's outside the regular format of your book, and nothing more. Don't use them as a cheap way to deliver a bunch of exposition. They should exist to hook your audience in an authentic way.

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