Sunday

[ksmith]

Yesterday was dreary/rainy. Today is the sort of day that makes up for it--hi 60s/lo 70s, cloudless blue sky, breezy. I mowed the back. Just had lunch. In a few minutes, I will commence to mow the front. Then I'll write.

Had a nice writing moment yesterday, when I pondered the little I knew about a certain subject, Googled, and hit paydirt. This will be added to GIDEON Chapter 1, which is still a work-in-progress, and almost a book in itself. It takes place almost 180 years before the rest of the action in the book, but I didn't want to call it a Prologue for various reasons. I have heard that readers tend to skip Prologues--is that true? You really couldn't afford to skip this. The action contained therein lays the entire groundwork for the rest of the story.

I want more of these sorts of days. Work outside, then write. I was never much of a gardener in my youth, and I'm still not a member of the 'phosphate/nitrate percentages take the pH of the soil' crowd. But I enjoy planting, and deciding what goes where, and watching things grow. Somewhere, my two grandmothers, gardeners both, are sipping lemonade--or in the case of my paternal grandmother, a cold beer--and laughing that they did pass something on after all.

Comments

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I almost always read the Prologue. That's why it's there, innit?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but some folks don't read 'em, and as alfreda89 said, some editors don't believe in them. I have heard that you should try to either incorporate the backstory into the present story, or cut it entirely.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I read them, if they're interesting. Some people hate them. I believe it was Lester Del Rey who would make you turn a prologue into Chapter One, or cut it out.

Is it the kind of thing that could be dribbled into the story -- as in protagonist discovering certain things about the past that are impacting the Now? Or could be a one-liner at the top if the first chapter?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

It couldn't be dribbled. It's a Pivotal Event that drives the rest of the book. So it's Chapter One. I think I can make it work.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I'm getting really curious to *read* this now. :)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Good! *g*

I think I know the sort of Prologue you're describing below--a longish "In a Galaxy Far, Far Away" sort of narrative dump. Mine's actual action with character development and revelation. Yes, I think it justifies being a chapter.

Hope arcaedia thinks so, as well.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

If you can make it chapter one, do that. People will skip prologues, but nobody ever skips chapter one. Even if it takes place 180 years before the next part of the story. :)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Ok, this makes me feel a little better.

I wonder if fantasy readers are more tolerant of prologues than skiffy readers, or other genre readers, for that matter?

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I suspect fantasy readers are to some degree trained to read prologues, but I do remember very clearly being, let's see. 13, because I found the 4th book on a school trip that year, and trying several times to read David Eddings' PAWN OF PROPHECY and being absolutely unable to get through the freaking prologue. I tried three or four times, and I never have problems getting into books. Eventually it occurred to me that I could skip it, and sometime quite a lot later when I knew more about the world I went back and read it and the details it filled in were interesting, but they weren't at all *necessary* to understand the book. That kind of prologue, meh. I don't know. Epilogue it, or something.

A better use of prologue is in CS Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy. The prologues in those take place about a thousand years before the events of the books. They turn out to actually be important to understanding the world and the characters and what's going on, particularly in the first book. I mean, it's definetely backstory, but it's *backstory*, not History Of The World, which is what the Eddings prologues are. (If that makes sense.) And to my mind, if it's genuinely backstory, it deserves to be chapter one. If the story works without it, skip it. :)

I've got a book coming out next summer where the first chapter takes place ten years before the rest of the book, but it's completely critical to the story development. Chapter one. :)

Possible Solution

[(Anonymous)]

What about "Chapter 0"? It's before Chapter 1, without the dreaded Prologue tag, but with an indication of disconnect. Oh, darn. You said it pupped. Chapter 0.1 and 0.2? Or Chapter 0a and 0b? When it becomes a book, I certainly won't skip any part of what you write.

Re: Possible Solution

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I've settled on Part 1--Chapters 1 and 2.