On Prologues

What is a prologue? Simply enough, a prologue is a chapter which comes before the divisions in a book even begin to be called “chapters.” It is not in any way similar to a foreword, which contains nothing pertaining to the storyline.

But what about the content of prologues? This varies from writer to writer, book to book. Some prologues provide a story set far before the beginning of the book, while others do just the opposite, jumping ahead in the story so that the rest of the book is about getting to that particular point. They can simply provide some backup information needed to tell the story, or they can include a character not directly related to the story either to provide a back-story or to give the reader a taste of what's to come.

All of these are valid reasons, and there are many more. To list them all would be to extend this article to an unnecessary length.

I've heard that prologues don't need to contain characterization. Is this true? Ideally, all parts of a story should have some sort of characterization. If you are introducing a character in your prologue, it would only be appropriate that they should be given some sort of character. Whether this means you're showing us one facet of their personality or really giving us a believable character from the beginning is all up to you. But to have characters without characterization can be a disappointment to the reader. If you use a prologue, that becomes the beginning of your story, and it should be good enough to give the reader a reason to go on.

But do I need a prologue? No. That is, it's up to you. If you feel that you need a prologue for information or otherwise, then have at it. If you feel it's unnecessary, then don't.

Many great books have prologues. Similarly, many great books don't have prologues. Don't fall into the belief that solely because your favorite books all have prologues, all your stories should as well. The truth is, it may not work for your story.

Okay, now I know about prologues, but what about epilogues? An epilogue is a chapter after the chapters have stopped being numbered. In many cases, they are used for “Where are they now?” back-stories, telling what happened to the characters after the story ended. In other cases it may bring about resolve to something which happened at or near the end of the book. Sometimes it's set far into the future, while other times it happens right after the story has ended.

Just like prologues, epilogues are not necessary, as the story can end without them just as a story can begin without a prologue.

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