To Prologue or not to Prologue

By Louise Titchener

Writing first chapters makes me think of wallpapering a room. If you don’t get that initial strip of gingham checks on right, every new addition will be askew. The finished project will be totally off kilter. I have a novel I’ve been revising for years. The first chapter never quite worked but instead of fixing it I kept on writing. What was wrong about the first chapter bled into the second and things just got worse and worse. Big mistake.

The opening chapter of a novel, like the first paragraph of an essay, has specific tasks. It must hook the reader’s interest, set the tone of the work, introduce the conflict or plot springs, and introduce the main character or characters. To stay in a reader’s hands for more than a sentence or two, it must do all these thing darned well.

In today’s competitive entertainment environment, hooking the reader’s interest is by far the most important of these tasks. How is this to be done quickly? One answer—a prologue.

A prologue can provide backstory with a dramatic scene that locks in the reader without distorting the linear narrative. For example, a scene dramatizing a traumatic or violent event in the protagonist’s past which explains his or her present character. Or it could be a scene in some historic conflict like a war or crime that initiates the future plot events of your story. In my case, writing mystery, a prologue might be a murder or the introduction of a villain who won’t necessarily make another appearance until late in my narrative. After reading my prologue, my reader will know he’s there, dislike him intensely, and anticipate his re-emergence and ultimate defeat.

Readers understand how this narrative device works because it’s been around forever. Indeed, it’s used so frequently it can seem creaky, even a cliché. How many times have you been introduced to a character in a movie or TV show that you know is soon to die in some unpleasant way? We all want to produce writing that’s fresh and free of predictable clichés.

Still, depending on the type of novel you’re writing, a prologue can be a good solution to keep the reader engaged. Example: Sense8 is a popular Netflix show that bounces around between eight storylines that don’t seem connected. Without the prologue I suspect many viewers would think the first several episodes didn’t make sense. However, viewers know the connection will be explained eventually because the show started with a prologue that promised an explanation. I’m staying with Sense8 until the writers come through with an answer.

I use this example because Sense8 is trying for a cutting edge sensibility that avoids clichés. Yet, its use of the traditional prologue device is what gives it some coherence. So, consider the prologue when you’re looking for a hook. When your storytelling situation is right, it can be a dependable tool.