Young Writers Society

I am writing a story and I love to jump right into the action.

As a reader do you find this annoying? Do you like be thrown right into the story and figure things out as the tale goes along? Or do you like to get to know the character and have a little of their history before you can really get into a story?

I think you're a bit confused— you don't need a true "prologue" to put in history to a character. You can do that right with chapter one.

As for how it's best to write— jumping into the action can be confusing, but it can also be really well done. Giving history and backstory can drag a story down too much and make it slow, but it, too, can also be really well done.

Think about what's best for your story and write it the way you want to. Everything in writing can be perfected eventually, and chances are you'll try every style of beginning you can think of as you revise. xD I speak as somebody who has revised their story 8 times from start to finish and their opening (up to the first 20k) about 17. You go through a lot of options.

Personally, I like starting the story as late as humanly possible without leaving the reader permanently lost. Ie- You have enough action to keep readers interested, but not so many questions about what is going on they put down the book. Where this point is changes depending on the story, and can only be found through experimentation.

With the story I'm currently putting onto YWS, I've started by getting right into the action, however, some of my reviewers have complained that they would have preferred to know more about the characters and setting first. I personally really like leaving lots of questions with the readers, you just have to be aware that it doesn't always go down well.

Also, do keep in mind that while readers want to know a lot more about the setting, it they managed to read to the end and have questions, these questions may or may not be meant to be answered right away. Some of them are just "could you please think about it and add it in latter" deals.