To Use or Not Use a Prologue

Today is downtime for me. Downtime from the hustle and bustle of solidifying my recent house purchase, dealing with service contractors to get it move-in-ready, and yesterday in my big yard sale from my apartment closet clean-out. Downtime, to enjoy getting caught up on a few recent videos by an editor who I follow on You Tube. Without knowing it, Ellen Brock has been an inspiration and mentor to me since before I started my current third draft, last January. A recent Q and A video with writers caught my attention, because she explained her take on whether or not to use a prologue.

When watching podcasts or the like, or when reading about writing techniques, it helps me pause every so often, and write down in my own words what I learned. That way when I refer to my notes, I know what I mean, rather than trying to remember what the facilitator meant.

Regarding Prologue

No Prologue:

• Don’t Use a Prologue if the story (my story) will unfold easily for the reader if the words in my prologue can be postponed until a deeper point in the book.

• Don’t Use a Prologue if it reads like a bait and switch tactic. If my opening words grab a reader’s attention, only to drop them into a boring Chapter One, then the reader could easily be left disillusioned (not good.)  

• Don’t Use a Prologue if key backdrop themes are not revealed. For example, one key concept to my full story is my relationship to my great grandmother, my nana. My prologue, as shared on my Current Project page, reveals my relationship to her, as it was at that time, and does so at roughly the three-quarters mark, so a prologue may work for me.

Include Prologue:

• If a prologue will work to avoid shock, then it is needed. For example, we don’t want a reader confused at a turn of events when well into the story, if only a prologue had preempted with a warning to expect change.

• A prologue is fine if one or more of my backdrop themes are shared in those opening words. Again, for me, Nana.

• And this idea, I came up with on my own—to bring pleasant variety to my life story, I’d think I don’t want to open up with “I was born here and then this happened.” Often times, Erin works with fiction writers, however her stuff is too good to ignore for my creative nonfiction. As with any creative writer, fiction or nonfiction, to give the reader a reason to care about the main character and want to know more, the opening words need to be alluring.

For the above reasons, I will open my book with my prologue as described. Yet, I may easily drop the “Prologue” title and instead, use it as most of Chapter One, however short it may be as a chapter. I understand from her, there’s no rule to use, or not use—nor any strong preference by readers or writers. And as I’ve listened to other writers, as well as readers, I must concur. So, paying attention to own personal opinion, I know that as a reader, I often try to skip any prologue to get to the real story. Therefore, I’m leaning toward no prologue, yet not foregoing my opening words as the start to my story.  

See more of Ellen Brock on her You Tube channel.

Regarding my yard sale, it was a success in more ways than one. My intentions were to get rid of the old décor to bring in fresh new décor to my new house. Therefore, I didn’t watch any shoppers as if I were a hawk, afraid of something being stolen. Instead, I found time to write. A thick stack of hard copies to my second draft got red inked, and my writing journal got well used as I filled in many blank pages with revised paragraphs. At the end of the day, I noticed only one item that may have gone missing without payment of my 25-cent asking price, and that surely didn’t hurt me.

The yard cleanup was easy, with a big thank you to a friend/coworker, Glenise, who showed up at five to take the last of the art pictures and vases and cookie jars. I didn’t need her to pay for anything, because for one, it was an ease in my wrap-up, and secondly because, well—let’s leave the second reason to be revealed in my life story I’m currently writing.   

Without further ado, I’m going to turn to my electronic third draft to finalize the revisions I came up with yesterday. 

-Elle-