Prologues in fiction...

[sleigh]

[Poll #1342783]

Comments

[barondave.livejournal.com]

It would be unthinkable not to read the prologue.

Of course, I usually read the Title Page first, and sometimes the indica. And avoid the blurbs on the back, but that's a different story.

[the-corbie.livejournal.com]

Usually I do... but I don't think that means much. I'd suggest that your sample here is not going to be representative. Too many dedicated readers. ;)

[papersky.livejournal.com]

An introduction written by somebody else, I probably won't read until afterwards. A prologue is part of the text.

[casaubon.livejournal.com]

If I've bought the book or been interested enough in it to pick it up in the library, why on Earth wouldn't I read the prologue? It's part of the story. I trust the writer not to stick in a useless prologue with no connection to the story.

Now, I personally wouldn't write one if I were writing a novel, but that's another issue. I'd just call it Chapter 1. Or possibly, if I were feeling edgy and modern, Chapter 0. :)

[lindajdunn.livejournal.com]

Usually I do but there are times that I start reading and the prologue reads so badly that I skip ahead to chapter 1 to see if it's any better. Sometimes, I never go back to the prologue.

In reading prologues written by aspiring writers, I often find that the prologue is actually the backstory that the author needed to know but which adds absolutely nothing to the novel and -- in some cases -- distrcts from it.

And quite a few of these have been very, very boring and far too long.

[david-de-beer.livejournal.com]

well, if the prologue is there then I read it. if it's not, then I don't.
the prologue is part of the book, and the presence thereof is immaterial to whether I will like the book more or less.

prologues aren't always needed. that's a different question.

this question pops up time to time in writer's circles and I still think it's a stupid question for people to be breaking their heads about.

[shhbabe.livejournal.com]

Most people that I discuss reading habits with are writers themselves, and in that sample group, we all read prologues. Even though we sometimes argue that the prologue was unnecessary, perhaps even detrimental to the experience of the book.

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. Usually I read the prologue, but if the prologue is going very badly, I'll skip ahead to chapter one to see if the badness is a prologue thing or whether it continues throughout. Sometimes prologues are written in an entirely different tone and style than the whole rest of the book. Sometimes this works, sometimes it's too much the afterthought tacked onto the beginning for decoration or something.

[greenmtnboy18.livejournal.com]

In fiction??? I can't imagine NOT reading a prologue in a novel.

In other sorts of books, no, not so much. I still usually read them, but I don't always.

But in *fiction*???

That's just... strange to me.

[kerinda.livejournal.com]

I consider a prologue an important part of the tale; to not read it would leave me lacking in important information.

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should clarify a tad: If the prologue looks to be part of the story, then of course I read it. If it looks to be an editor's add-on, or a clarificatory note of some sort, then I read it after I read the book.

If it's a "what has come before" prologue, I may or may not read it, depending on how long ago I read the previous book.

[eimarra]

I was actually very surprised when I joined the Forward Motion for Writers site and found all this received wisdom that people *don't* read prologues. It never occurred to me to just skip part of the story.

[nicola314159.livejournal.com]

I'd heard that rule too, the reasoning behind it apparantly being that it is superfluous background information. I suppose there are some books where it's superfluous, or (like Eddings's The Belgariad) completely gives away the story.

But sometimes it's important. My (thankfully unpublished) first novel had a prologue, which it was an important bit that happened much before the rest of the story. I felt it needed that gap, because just having a chapter break wouldn't have separated it far enough from the rest of the tale. YMMV of course.

Very interesting to see the responses in light of the so-called 'rules'!

[andpuff.livejournal.com]

While I have argued that at least half the time the prologue is an exposition dump that could be more gracefully feathered into the opening chapters, I always read it.

[mrcleanhead.livejournal.com]

Damnable Hasty Youth! I must admit that when I was younger, I was less inclined to read a prologue. But alas, now that I'm into my 40s, I read something cover to cover, that is both logues-- pro and epi! Logues are usually there for a reason, so to avoid them would make the reader liable to miss some important clue about the story.

Did you hunt those other four so called "instructors" down and beat them mercilessly, Stephen? A verbal tongue-lashing at least? Yer buddy, GRRM, might be chagrined to know that the logues aren't read, since I think he's had a prologue in every ASOIF book.