To Prologue or Not to Prologue?

Way too many stories I see on Wattpad have a “Prologue” and I put it in quotes of sarcasm because not only is a prologue not necessary to most stories but most stories that have a beginning titled as a “prologue” are misusing the term.

What is a Prologue?

A prologue is a (short) chapter, preceding the first chapter in a book, that outlines historical events or background to the story that is about the unfold.

Shouldn’t I Have One Then?

You typically only need a prologue if your story has an event that took place long before the story starts that has direct impact on the story and needs to be told quickly to get it out of the way. If you Most stories do not need a prologue.

If there is a short bit of background to your story you can usually fit it in using narration in the first chapter and avoid the prologue.

An exception might be if you are staring your story by telling the readers a significant thing that happens at the end of the book - that will then take the whole book to explain. It’s a wonderful strategy if done right. For example, you can start off with the main character dying - oops, can’t have a story without a main character, but the point is that  you want the audience to know from the start that the story does not end well and they will be wondering the whole time how they died etc., and have a sense of dread throughout. Powerful, yes? Since it happens out of sync with the time line of the story though - stick it in a prologue! Besides a strategy like this, or needing to provide historical background - you do not need a prologue.

Can’t I Just Call My First Chapter a Prologue, I Think it Sounds Professional?

Actually, just the opposite is true. If you are misusing the prologue nothing says armature louder. If you are using the prologue correctly, nine times out of ten it’s a kind of boring chapter. If you have a fantasy story that has a whole new world with a rich back story of war and glory, you might need one, but it’s not going to be the most exciting of all your chapters so keep it short.

Using the "kill off a main character" strategy or explaining some other key story element in a prologue can be an exciting start to your story - but most of the time that’s not happening in the prologues I’m seeing here. So be careful, the first chapter of your story is not necessarily a prologue!

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Story Promotion:

Here is a fantastic story that needs no prologue and therefor doesn’t have one - it is also brilliantly funny! I love the characters in this fantasy tale! They are rich with life and the dialog is fantastic.

Nessie Out of Water by stackikus

http://www.wattpad.com/1304445-nessie-out-of-water

“The weird mystical roommate, the toaster salesman, the strange Betty Crocker lady--these are the adventures that not-so-average Nessie faces on a regular basis. However, when an odd turn of events transports her into a different world, she finds that there are far bigger adventures in store for her. The problem: Will a girl who can barely figure out her place in her own world be able to save a universe that she fell into five minutes ago?”