Mo' Prologue, Mo' Problems

A Literal Literary Loser Tackles Writing's Biggest Controversy

We’ve talked about rejection, we’ve talked about depression, we’ve talked about self-publishing versus traditional.

But now let’s talk about the most divisive issue in 21st century writing: Prologues.

Somewhere, somehow, someone has decided that prologues are the devil.

I had no idea about this until Stacy Juba interviewed me in 2020 about my historical fiction novel, “The Nesting Dolls,” and, in the introduction wrote: It also struck me that she included a prologue in her novel. I usually advise clients to be careful with prologues as many don’t work.

I happen to love prologues. My favorite genre novel of all time, Sidney Sheldon’s “Master of the Game,” starts with a present day prologue, then the the rest of the book is basically a flashback.

My contemporary romance novels, “Annie’s Wild Ride” and “When a Man Loves a Woman” had prologues (you can read them in the excerpts at the links). Half of my Figure Skating Mysteries had prologues. “The Nesting Dolls,” as indicated above had a prologue, and so does the upcoming, “My Mother’s Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region.”

I love prologues. I love starting a story at the most dramatic point in the action, then going back to explain how we got there.

Sure, I’ve had manuscripts with prologues rejected. But I’ve also had manuscripts without prologues rejected. I’ve had SO MANY manuscripts rejected. I don’t think prologues were the deciding factor.

And yet, current popular opinion seems to be swinging anti-prologue.

I’ve seen:

Prologues are often a hot topic in creative writing circles. Most stories don’t need them, yet many writers choose to include them in their stories.

Book publishing industry professionals and readers alike have openly expressed their dislike of prologues.

Readers… tend to regard the prologue with an emotion that falls somewhere between confusion and outright disdain. Prologues, all too often, are nothing more than big fat stumbling blocks between them and potentially juicy stories.

Skip the Prologue! Editors will only read a few pages of a manuscript and the prologues are never a good use of that limited attention space. The prologue is rarely as well written as the first chapter. The prologue is often used to short-cut the story-telling and that gives agents and editors the chance to judge the story as less crafted than it actually is. The agents and editors you are trying to attract will take you much more seriously for telling your story without any caveats.

Now, I will be the first to admit I know nothing about publishing. I have admitted it. Many times. If I knew anything about publishing, would I be 53 years old and, after two NYT best-sellers, trying to restart my writing career again from Square One? (Both those NYT best-sellers, by the way? Prologues!)

So who cares what I think? I want to know what you think? Yay or nay on the dreaded prologue? Tell me in the comments