The Controversy of the
Novel Prologue: Pros and Cons
for Writers
By Mary Kole
Mary Kole is a former literary agent, freelance editor, writing teacher, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit, and IP developer for major publishers, with over a decade in the publishing industry.
A novel prologue is a brief introduction that sets the stage for the story to follow. It often introduces characters, settings, and other details that are essential to understanding the overall plot of the novel. But should you include a prologue in your novel? Do agents and publishers like them? Is this a great storytelling technique or an overused gimmick? Read on to learn more about the pros and cons of using a prologue in your writing.
The Pros of Using a Prologue
A prologue can be beneficial if it helps readers understand complex concepts or historical contexts within your novel. For example, if you’re writing a science fiction story that takes place in a distant future, you may want to use a prologue to contextualize the world’s advanced technology or government structure. Notice that I don’t say “explain” your worldbuilding, as that would mean lots of dry info-dumping, which is exactly the sort of thing you want to avoid when starting a novel.
But you can absolutely take us to meet historical characters or ancestors of your current protagonist who we wouldn’t otherwise meet, for example. This will help readers better understand and engage with the bigger scope of your story, or be introduced to important elements that will play a role down the line of the current plot. (It could raise questions and story tension, leaving readers curious to see how everything connects later.)
A prologue can also provide an interesting twist or surprise at the beginning of your story. If you have relatively low conflict in your first chapter (which you should try to spice up if at all possible as a best practice), you can use a prologue to tease a more exciting scene from later on. Sample from your climax or a few scenes before it, and make that part of your prologue, then jump “back in time” to the true opening of your narrative. Readers will then be curious to see how the flashforward scene connects with the overall plot.
The Cons of Using a Prologue
As the introduction to this article suggested, some literary agents and publishers may not like prologues because they are seen as a cheap trick to cover up a boring beginning. At some point, a writer might decide that their first chapter doesn’t have enough stakes or tension or juice, so they slip in a gnarly and high stakes prologue scene to start the novel with a jolt.
But then what happens? We zoom right over to the “real” beginning and tension drops. That energetic prologue opening isn’t going to give readers enough incentive to keep going unless action and conflict are present in the first chapter as well. require extra effort on their part. Agents and publishers have to read through each page carefully in order to understand how all parts fit together into one coherent story, which means they may skim over or miss important elements if there is too much information spread out over multiple sections (such as prologues).
Readers may find prologues confusing or overwhelming if there is too much information packed into them, too. An overly detailed prologue can be difficult to digest and make it hard for readers to stay focused on what’s happening in your story since they might have already forgotten certain elements by the time they reach later chapters. If you’re using your prologue to get a bunch of backstory in, reconsider and seed those data points in more gradually as the story goes along.
When deciding whether or not to use a prologue in your novel, it's important to weigh both sides carefully before making a decision. And remember that certain categories and genres—like fantasy, thriller, romance, and science fiction—are more accepting of prologues than others.
Prologues can be useful for setting up complex plots and giving readers insight into certain aspects of your book early on—but they come with their own set of drawbacks. Ultimately, if you feel like a prologue would benefit your work without taking away from any other important elements in the narrative, try a version of your opening with a prologue, and one without. No matter the storytelling choice you’re considering, be intentional and make sure it adds to the story.
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