TALK IT OVER
Pro – or anti?
Do what’s right for your book, Jane Wenham Jones advises a reader worrying about the prologue she’s written for her novel
Jane Wenham Jones
Ihave written a prologue for my novel, although now I am having second thoughts, due to the negative comments about prologues I have read online.
My prologue is nearly 2,000 words long. The person in the prologue links the two main characters and sets up intrigue and unanswered questions. It is
also written in the first person, whereas the rest of the novel is in the third person, so I wanted to keep it separate. What is your view on prologues?
CAROLINE WATSON Hemel Hempstead
My view, Caroline, is that you shouldn’t take too much notice of things you read online! While the internet is a wonderful source of help and information, when it comes to writing advice, it is only a conglomeration of other people’s opinions and they are always bound to differ.
Elmore Leonard famously said prologues could be ‘annoying’ and recommended that since ‘a prologue in a novel is back story’, that you can ‘drop it in anywhere you want’.
But I think, done well, a prologue can be a powerful tool. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold uses one, as does Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. So indeed, does Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. And none of those books have done too badly, have they?