The Great Prologue Debate

There is a major discussion over on LinkedIn on whether to use a prologue or not. It seems there is an entire range of opinions on it, but mostly it boils down to, use one if you want to, if you think your story needs one. You're not going to please everybody; some people will read them, some people will skip over them. Some people think they should be labeled chapter one if you're going to include it at all.

According to my dictionary, a prologue is a separate introductory section of a literary work. An event or action that leads to another event or situation (civil unrest in a few isolated villages became the prologue to widespread rebellion). A short preliminary time trial held before a race to establish a leader (in professional cycling). The actor who delivers the prologue of a play.

Two of those definitions can be used in your book. Now a lot of those comments indicated that information in a prologue should simply be included in the story in some way, but sometime that just isn't possible. Sometimes the information is vital to setting the stage in some manner, but it just doesn't fit anywhere within the story, not unless you want to commit the ultimate sin and include a lot of back-story somewhere.

In my first book, and in my latest book, Half-Breed, setting the stage was important to me. I needed to push the setting of both books into the far future of this earth we walk today. I didn't want these two stories to be just any old where. The lack of a moon is a culture changer, but if no one knew that the world had once had a moon, they would miss picking up on that small item; it wouldn't be a culture change, it would only be different. There were other small things in both books that I wanted to be seen as the same but different, not just other. Lack of prologues would have allowed them to be alternate Earth stories, but I wanted them to be tied much closer to home.

So really, I suppose it just boils down to 'follow your gut'. Use prologues with extreme care; consider all the alternatives first, and then consider exactly how important that information really is. Consider VERY carefully before plugging a prologue in front of your story, because, like I said before, some people will skip over it anyway. Ask yourself, "what does this story mean without the prologue?"

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And then lets not forget the prologue's littlest cousin, the epilogue.

According to my dictionary, an epilogue is a section at the end of a book that serves as a comment or conclusion to what has happened.

I used one of those too in my first book. I had so many threads going through that book that when I reached the desired end, many of those threads were left hanging. I felt the need to wrap things up. I did a much better job of wrapping things up in Half-Breed but I still included an epilogue. I mean, the guy simply had to see his kids even though the story had reached it's conclusion.

In The Fortunes of Magic, the last chapter could have been an epilogue after a fashion, because it was a shift of POV, but really that chapter didn't fit the definition above. It was my way of bringing things full circle in that story. Same with The Speed of Dreams. The last chapter was a bring-around to a full circle. Neither book had a prologue either.

How about you? Do you favor a prologue? Have you ever used one? How about the epilogue?

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A New Turn of Events

My writing career has taken an unusual turn these days. First, a couple months ago, a friend asked me to help update his book. Terminology and technology in the book was very outdated; it was like watching a movie filmed back in the 50s or so, a very nice story but just old. At first the project was supposed to be an editing project, but it turned out that updating wasn't the only problem with this story. Saving the universe might have been a cool goal back in the 50s but readers are way too savvy for that these days.

As we wrestled with this, I discovered that he had health issues that made concentration difficult. We all know how we need to concentrate in order to keep track of all the different threads we weave through our stories. Anyway, we agreed that I would take on rewriting his book. Any details he didn't like, I'd be happy to change, but he said he liked every bit of it, even though, in taking out the big 'save the universe' idea and replacing it with chasing down a rogue planet, I pretty much changed the whole story.

Anyway, that project prompted me to look up the going rate for ghostwriting and since I still consider myself a student of this writing craft, I can't charge people full price. However, I do think it is only fair that I do charge, after all, I will be working for someone, and if you work for someone, they should pay you for your effort.

I drafted up a proposal on my website, just like I drafted up one for my editing services. Really cheap, but I'm no expert, I'm just told by those I respect that I'm pretty darn good. Maybe someday, when I'm more comfortable with the tasks, my prices will increase.

Now with this one book finished and turned over to it's owner, I figured I wouldn't see another such project for a long time, if ever, but low and behold, this lady asked me to help her with her story. I have no idea where she found me. We connected on Facebook. I'll have to ask her someday. Anyway, now I'm working on another ghostwriting project.

One good thing about this kind of work. I get to explore some really great ideas. In the mean time, my own book is simmering along just fine. At the moment, I've divided it into a bunch of short books, and I'm constructing covers for them. So that means I get to do a lot of coloring every evening. My only picture program is Paint for Mac. It's pretty simple, but it does allow me to add text to a picture. So, I buy a cover image or hire a cover artist and I can put together a simple cover. Don't come to me for your cover though. What I can turn out is really super simple. There are MUCH better cover artists out there.

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My Cover Conundrum

Ever since my first less than glowing review, I'd planned a rewrite and a new cover for this book. The rewrite has been tentatively made - I'll probably do it again, but the cover is my biggest problem.

The society of my book is something rather medieval in structure in that there are kings who rule kingdoms and princes who inherit the throne, even princesses who play their part too.

The story is about a prince who knew nothing about being a prince. He was raised by a father who couldn't bring himself to face the outside world and a mother who would scarcely leave her room. Early on, it is hinted that perhaps the king was more helpless in his seclusion, perhaps more a prisoner than what might be first assumed, because he was able to get his son sent away, replacing him with a hostage, or perhaps merely a physical replacement in case someone counted heads. Later, he is able to warn this secondary character to make his own escape as well.

Being a prince in name only, the main character spends a good deal of time learning how to manage a kingdom, but he also needs to know who was behind what happened to his home. Why would someone go to all the trouble of isolating the towns from each other? His investigation led to much deeper mysteries, and so the story progresses until finally he is able to round up a very unusual army and go home to put it all together. And yes he even gets the girl in the end.

So this might sound like your average knight in shining armor kind of story, but there's one HUGE issue that makes this cover about as wrong a cover as it can possibly be.

Some years ago, when this was the only book I had out there, my boss offered to have it available for sale at the lodge where I worked. It was a benefit for her as well as for me. For her, she could brag a little about having a real author on staff. For me, I sold a few books every summer from that point on, and even signed a few - It was really quite fun.

I knew the cover wasn't right though. More than one person told me that they wouldn't have picked up the book because of the cover, but after having read it, they loved it. But this was brought home best of all by a comment made by one lady at the lodge. She took one look at the cover, then at me, and said, "But you're American." in the most delightful English accent.

At first, those words hurt a little. It was as if she didn't think any American could possibly understand medieval society, it being so very English in origin and setting. My feelings weren't hurt for very long though, because they made a far more important point. My story was American too. The society might have many similarities, but my story takes place thousands of years in the future. All traces of ancient England are on the other side of an ocean, and on the other end of an ice age. No one here, in this story, remembers any trace if it.

This is something my cover somehow needs to show, or at the very least, it CANNOT lead the reader to expect ancient England in any way, shape, or form. Even the sight of a shield or sword might make that connection. So what to do? I have no idea.

My goal is to republish this book as soon as I run out of copies of the first edition. So if any of you would like to read the book so you can help me with ideas for the cover, I'll be happy to mail you a copy or email you a pdf - your choice.

I look forward to your ideas - thanks in advance.

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