Many new writers, especially young writers, feel the need to begin their novels with a prologue. But what is the purpose of a prologue? What can it add to the page-turning quality of the story? Very little, in truth.
Very often it is new writers who have not grasped the importance of the initial or opening 'hook' to capture his reader, who use the prologue to 'explain' the main character to the reader. Explanation or exposition at this stage is a recipe for failure.
In the prologue the inexperienced writer 'tells' the reader, often at length, what the main character looks like, his life story, what his traits are, what other characters think of the main character and may also expose plot prematurely.
No matter how much a writer 'tells' a reader about a character, the reader will be unmoved and uncaring simply because he has not 'met' the character, that is, has not seen him in action in the story and therefore does not 'know' him. It is difficult to feel empathy for someone you do not know.
Conversations with readers have revealed that they despise the prologue as being unnecessary and boring. They tend to skip the prologue to get to chapter one, where they believe the action is. It is the action they are hungry for. The reader wants to get into the story action straight away. They want to start 'living' it, not be 'told' about it.
New writers are anxious to get across to the reader what their main character is all about. But the reader does not want to be thrown in the deep end. The reader prefers to find out everything about the main characters gradually as the plot progresses; discovering the many sides of the character for himself. It is this 'discovery' which creates empathy and makes for a memorable, living character.
Readers are not very forgiving. Being highly experienced as readers, they will immediately detect whether a writer knows his craft or not. If they think he does not know his stuff, they will abandon him for another writer who does. Sad but true.
But, I hear some writer ask, what if an event happened in the past which has immense bearing on the action of the present in the story, doesn't a prologue solve this problem by making the reader aware of the event beforehand?
One must still ask, why a prologue? If a plot dictates that an event in the past, however distant, determines the action in the present of the story then the way to handle it is to dramatise it in a scene. In other words, why not open the novel in a logical way at scene one, chapter one? This is where the reader wishes to start.
The writer's job is to 'show' not 'tell'. A writer can only bring characters and action to life if these are dramatised, i.e. acted out, in a scene. A prologue does not breathe life into a character; it kills him. The wise writer will think twice about starting his novel with this largely outmoded device.
Jaci Gwyn is another name for the professional author Gwen Madoc, the author of twelve published novels of historical romance and family sagas. Gwen has an keen understanding of how to put a novel together and is very willing to pass her expert knowledge and experience on to aspiring writers.
http://www.AuthorsDen.com/gwenmadoc
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