My thoughts on #Prologues

Yep, I’m talking about prologues tonight for a couple of reasons. First I want to try and help you avoid common prologue mistakes that I’ve learned to avoid and maybe give you a new way to approach it.

If your book starts of with a slow burn then a prologue may be necessary for you to grab the reader and convince them that the slow burn will be worth it.

A prologue shouldn’t be where you dump background information or be a straight info dump where you lay all the boring but necessary stuff. It shouldn’t be boring. Period! Matter of fact, ideally your book shouldn’t be boring. Period! Filler is a demon and you must be a holy exorcist sent by God himself to purge it out of your book. I know that’s a little over the top but you all get my point. Don’t do yourself a disservice, or the reader for that matter, by giving the reader a reason to put down your book.

In my eyes the prologue should be a promise to the reader. That promise being that hey I’m about to give you a glimpse of some cool sh*t in the prologue that you can expect to see later in the book.

Best example of this could be introduction of white walkers in Game of Thrones something that makes you curious for which you build to later on in the book.

Also by giving them the good stuff early it is easier for the reader to accept your world and go with you on this journey you’ve constructed for them.

You maybe asking, “Clark, how do I know if it’s an info dump?” Easy. Is there a long monologue someone is giving or dense text explaining the history of the world. There is? Well let the power of Christ compel you to get that out of your book. Let the history unfold on it’s own. Let it come about naturally. Take real life for example. The only way we talk about the revolutionary war is through President holidays or the fourth of July or watching Nation Treasure(Currently on Netflix. Not getting paid by Netflix to say that, just a really good movie I like that you can enjoy, back to the blog.) Like I was saying, be creative with how you give background information.

Also it should be a last resort. If your story can get by without knowing why this particular city was formed don’t include it. Don’t force feed your world down someone’s throat. You don’t need to prove to the reader you know the world, they’ll get it. But let me stop myself because I have just changed topics to world building. Let me know what you think about prologues; things you hate or like?

Word of the Day

Prologue: 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.