A fascinating post about prologues, from Jessica Norrie. Particularly as there is one in my novel! Apparently some folks don’t like them. I recommend reading this thoughtful article to discover the do’s and don’ts of prologues.
Browsing my favourite fiction authors, what do Helen Dunmore, Elena Ferrante, Zadie Smith, Margaret Forster and Kazuo Ishiguro (sometimes) do, that Margaret Atwood, Ian McKewan, Rose Tremain and Kazuo Ishiguro (sometimes) don’t?
Clue: It was good enough for Chaucer and (sometimes) Shakespeare, but has a reputation as a turn-off in submissions to agents and publishers. At the Guardian Masterclass I attended, the invited agent said: “Never send me a submission with a prologue!” And here are two more, quoted on the Writer’s Digest:
“I’m not a fan of prologues, preferring to find myself in the midst of a moving plot on page one rather than being kept outside of it, or eased into it.”
“Damn the prologue, full speed ahead!”
In the Facebook group Book Connectors the thread “Do you read the prologue?” has given me a blog theme for the second week running. (Thanks!) It’s turned…
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M J Mallon YA Author and Poet 
This is a great post by Jessica Norrie. I like what she says: that a prologue explain important information that doesn’t necessarily follow the timeline of the rest of your book (hence It is not oart of the story). And that one could even found prologues whose events occur midway or late in the stories they introduce.
Interesting that she introduces the term “epilogue” as well, explaining how it links to the prologue. One at the beginning, the latter at the end. Thank you for sharing, dear Marje… All the best to you! 🙂
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