Writing and Grammar

Prologues

Many people love to include prologues in their stories. Sometimes, prologues provide a book blurb or a piece of backstory. After years of writing, I've learned prologues tend to alienate readers from the story and don't contribute to the conflict, which turns readers off. I'd recommend starting with the first chapter rather than having two beginnings to your novel.

If you choose to include a prologue, make it short and sweet. Try not to include the "information dump" readers hate. And don't provide a blurb; that's what the story description is for.

I used a prologue in my first novel Enmity (now unpublished from Wattpad). The prologue I wrote switches points of view and doesn't match the rest of the story's narration. I used it to portray a dream, which easily could've been included in the beginning chapters. The overall result is the prologue seeming detached from the rest of the story and doing little to set up the beginning.