How To WRITE Awesomely

How to WRITE A PROLOGUE

How to WRITE A PROLOGUE

Prologues are like men. Before you want to have babies with him, you wanna know his personality, am I right? You need to know if he's the right guy to father your child. The child being your story.

For Prologues, you need to know how the book is going to be. Prologues are a lot like descriptions. It gives you a better and richer taste of how you write. If you write the Prologue simple, people will look down on you. A Prologue is most often used to foreshadow events that are going to happen, or are used to tell what happened in the past. I usually advise to foreshadow the future, or give an important event in the past that leads into the story of now.

Here is a Prologue that I wrote for a story and I'll explain why the Prologue for my story is important:

It started when I was a young girl. I was ornated in beautiful jewels and a lovely dress hung from my body. My hair was up in a tight clip, but I didn't mind. I didn't mind because I looked beautiful.

I felt the tears well in my eyes as my sister walked down the aisle, her arm tucked tightly into Father's. Dad also had little salty drops trickling down his cheek. I swallowed the lump in my throat and had clapped as we cheered for the happy new couple, my sister waltzing down the plush rug with her new husband. Her dress was pure dove white, and it seemed to stretch miles behind her, along with the veil that flowed down her back like liquid silk. There was little beads that came across her bodice like an X and then slowly went down, as if descending from the heavens. I was never so mesmerized in my entire life. The happiness on their faces, the sheer beauty adorning everything...it was something from a fairy tale book.

My two friends stood next to me, their heads cocked at my tear stained cheeks, highlighted in a rosy pink. "What's wrong?" one asked, his hair falling in his face as tilted forward to look at me. I wiped my tears, smiling dazzlingly. "I wanna be like this one day," I said. "I want to look this beautiful one day, I want to feel this happy. I want to wear a dress like that. When I get married, I want it to be perfect." The two boys gave me a look. The one on my left, the one who hadn't spoken yet, gave me a miniscule grin. "I'll marry you one day," he whispered to me. "I promise." The other boy slung his arm around my shoulders. "Me too, Hero. And when I marry you - er, when WE marry you," he corrected, looking at the other boys expression, "we'll make you happy." All the tears I had been holding in burst out in a big sob and the two boys let me mop self up on their fresh and crisp tuxes.

Ever since then, I have been waiting for my prince to make me feel like a princes.

So far, not so good.

What was the significance of that?

It was set in the past. The main character, Hero, wanted to be beautiful one day, and as the ending of the Prologue said, she was still waiting for a prince. The point of that is in the story, its about two boys who move into her apartment (thanks mom lol). The two boys end up being her childhood friends who promised to marry her someday. Then, they find out that she has terminal cancer and is dying.

To make her happy as her dark days are approaching, they decide to hold a wedding for her - along with a few friends. Of course, as all stories do, there has to be an ending. As her fate is inevitable, she dies, but with happy thoughts of love and care from her very best friends and love. (BTW don't any of y'all out there try to steal my plot, thank ya very much, copyrighting is illegal *muah*)

So I'm going to give you five tips on how to make your Prologue pertain to the story and hook your readers in. Alright. Ready? Go!

#1: The set up

Ask yourself why this prologue is important and necessary to your readers. Then, structure a question that can be unearthed later in your novel. This will make your readers want to keep flipping the pages without spilling too much information!

FOR EXAMPLE: Hero's friends make her a promise to marry her at the end of the Prologue. Will they keep it, or will she be forever stuck alone?

#2: Look for other authors

Check out books similar to your novel that have prologues, and become a critic by giving them reviews! Which ones pulled you in quickly? What ones made you so bored you wouldn't want to read on? And what made them so intriguing or boring? By looking to the masters of the art, you can learn what works and what doesn't.

FOR EXAMPLE: What about my Prologue made you want to read the whole story, and what made you want to throw your face in a bucket and die? Lol be honest here people.

#3: Tempo

Is your novel fast paced or does it require longer explanations of everything? If you want to capture the reader's attention and have constant action, make the prologue shorter! Remember, scenes tend to be longer when writing about an event.

FOR EXAMPLE: Alex's mom passed away from a rare disease and you describe Alex's childhood with her mom. Due to the nature of the plot, the prologue will most likely be lengthier!

#4: Chapter one vs. Prologue

Don't think of the prologue as fighting off Chapter One, but rather becoming friends with it! Both of them should have a hook, except the prologue is a short story rather than a chapter filled with much more details about your novel. Your prologue should be icing to your chapter or the peanut to your jelly, adding both flavor and pizzazz!

Language, tone, and time. Your language and tone should correspond to your novel! This means that you should keep in mind how you want your readers to feel. Also, remember, it's ok to have a flashback in the prologue, but it will be confusing if you continue to have flashbacks throughout the novel!

FOR EXAMPLE: If you are writing a murder mystery, use suspenseful language and a serious tone rather than a comedic one in the prologue!

• • • | |

Do you understand now? A Prologue is a teaser, something to make the reader think, give a taste of what your book is going to be like.

If you have more questions go to this External link ( http://www.missliterati.com/blog/5-tips-on-writing-a-prolouge ). Or PM message me.

I hope you enjoyed today's How to, I'll see you next time!

• Absolutely_Positive