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Young Writers Society


How do you feel about prologues?



How do you feel about prologues?

Love them!
67
25%
I write them but don't like to read them
15
6%
Sometimes necessary
153
58%
Never necessary
7
3%
DESTROY ALL PROLOGUES
22
8%
 
Total votes : 264


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Fri Feb 28, 2014 8:34 am
Demeter says...



Courtesy of @BlueAfrica for Squills! Blue also sends this message to each and all of you:

Do you have another opinion on prologues or want to explain yours? Discuss the fate of prologues in the comments below!

Because really I want this to spark a lively debate about prologues. (Is it sad that I'm using "lively debate" and "prologues" in the same sentence? Wow, the topics writers find interesting.)



Personally, I don't really care for them that much. I don't often see what more it brings to the story. I chose "Sometimes necessary", because undoubtedly a prologue can be really well done and reel the reader in even better! I don't think I would write one, though.

So, get votin' and then get discussin'! What do YOU think about prologues? Do you like them? Do you just skip them to get to the actual story? Where do you stand?
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Fri Feb 28, 2014 8:44 am
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Dreamy says...



I don't love them nor do I hate. I mean prologues are necessary, they give us a idea/glimpse of how the story will be. If a author gives us a prologue we should read them. Ignoring them would be weird. Completely.
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Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:26 am
Blackwood says...



In general I think if it can be avoided its better to do so.
When I was a child I always used to skip them when I started a new book.
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Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:48 am
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TriSARAHtops says...



I've read some really great prologues, which really added to the story, and were necessary, because what they contained couldn't have been told as well if there weren't a prologue. That said, sometimes prologues are completely useless. I went with Sometimes Necessary, but I do think that if a prologue is anything less than crucial or well-delivered it will probably be pretty shoddy.
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Fri Feb 28, 2014 11:06 am
Apricity says...



Prologues in my opinion, should only express a part of the story. Mostly per-story that contributes greatly to the story and makes readers realize something important. It cannot be written anywhere else in the hence, but it should be relatable.

I haven't read that many great prologues but I believe, they sometimes are necessary and can be a great asset.
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Fri Feb 28, 2014 3:00 pm
Arcticus says...



I have mixed feelings about prologues.

Sometimes they can be a nice way to take the reader to a later part of the story (a part of the story that occurs later in terms of time) hence creating a sort of suspense and making the reading process interesting.

Sometimes they can be used to introduce important characters/places. In that case they are helpful.

Sometimes they are just plain unnecessary, especially if the first chapter and the consequent chapters are in continuity. I mean, when the title Prologue can simply be replaced by Chapter 1 or so.

So, basically, I think it depends upon the point you're trying to make by placing a prologue at the beginning of your novel. Ergo I'll go with Sometimes Necessary.
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Fri Feb 28, 2014 4:10 pm
Cailey says...



I was that kid who always skipped prologues and intros and author's note and everything. Just give me the story! But then I'd read the first line of the first chapter and talk myself into going back to read the prologue after all.

So generally I'd say I don't like them, but it's also nice because the prologue can include more of that "telling instead of showing" stuff that can't go into the novel. So I actually have a prologue in my book just because it includes some background info that wouldn't work in the actually novel, but tried to make sure that anyone who skipped the prologue would still be able to understand everything.
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Fri Feb 28, 2014 5:07 pm
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ExOmelas says...



I like how 'Never necessary' and 'DESTROY ALL PROLOGUES' mean practically the same thing ie that prologues are pointless and yet everyone who feels that way has chosen to go for the passionate, all-caps approach. :)

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Fri Feb 28, 2014 5:44 pm
deleted5 says...



I find them fun to write but you don't need them all the time.
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Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:25 pm
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StellaThomas says...



I will begrudgingly admit that sometimes they are necessary. Nevertheless, I hate them with a passion.
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Fri Feb 28, 2014 8:29 pm
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Gardevite says...



The only prologue I ever thought to be necessary was the Game of Thrones prologue. It grabbed my attention so much that I kept reading, witch is saying a lot because I read Game of Thrones when I was 13 and I found the beginning extremely boring. XP
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Sat Mar 01, 2014 12:34 am
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ladcat13 says...



I voted "Love 'em", but not because I always love reading prologues. I actually used to hate them and never read them. But now I realize that often they add significantly to the story. Sometimes, at the choice of the author, they're even important, and you're starving yourself by ignoring them. I think they're useful because you can write things in them that are for the reader's ears only. They help add dramatic irony to a story, and humans do luuurve their dramatic irony.

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Sat Mar 01, 2014 12:50 am
Zolen says...



I feel octagons.
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Sat Mar 01, 2014 8:55 am
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carbonCore says...



BURN THEM, SALT THE EARTH BENEATH THEM, BULLDOZE THAT EARTH, PURGE IT WITH NUCLEAR FIRE, THEN PAVE IT AND BUILD A PARKING LOT OVER IT

Note: prologues can be used well, but overwhelmingly, especially on this site, they are abused as cheap infodumps
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Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:36 pm
Vanz says...



Prologues should be like Short Story's. Shedding light on an issue in the world that is aside of the MC's (for the moment) or as a pretext in which a History etc is explained.

It does get used to info dump a LOT, yet should be nothing more than an enticing side track that should fizzle and broil and grow under the story line until it's relevance can be thrown at the reader. Yet in the fantasy genre it's often needed as a critical part of world building. (For example the introduction to Westeros and the danger Beyond The Wall in G. R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.)

It's generally unused in regular story's which have a clear notice of how the world is build (Like ours).
  








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