I need help /Lit/. I am writing a book, and I have a hard time whether or not, I should include a prologue. Do modern writers still write prologues, or are they just archaic?
the prologue was just a sort-of stylistic choice. with the way novels are written now, labeling a chapter 'the prologue' is a bit silly. unless you're going for an archaic feel.
write an overture, like in Anton Wilson's Schrödinger's cat
>>7737077
Does your story need a prologue? If so, then include a prologue. Else, don't include a prologue.
>>7737130
>Does your story need a prologue? If so, then include a prologue. Else, don't include a prologue.
sort-of. the event of the prologue will affect the rest of the plot. would you like to review it, to see if its prologue or not?
>>7737143
Post it
>>7737182
The black hooded adolescent looked around him. He understand what happen. Although he wished he didn't. Whatever his eyes fell on his surroundings, there was nothing but smoking rubble covered by scarlet blood that smelled like a smithy, like raw iron and earth. And corpses. Corpses of men, women and children alike. There was no sound, only silence. No matter how he looked at it, all that black smoke made him forget the cerulean of the cloud covered sky. What was the point of fighting? What was the point of running?
>He closed his eyes and sighed: May that hell he was going through come to an end! And even though the only thing he yearned for in that particular moment was the peaceful void of death itself, the dark plays of the night hours played on his burning mind. He thought of a dream of gaiety suddenly shattered by an horrible scream, the loud bang of a explosive spell, the kind he had heard all too often, and it was followed by screams, and then silence!
>Suddenly, the horrible suffering left as soon as it has come. Actually, all his suffering disappeared in that blurred fog that now clouded his sight. A strange and white fog. The hooded adolescent relaxed. He welcomed the sweet embrace of death. Yet his thoughts were to the perpetrators of this massacre, he had seen the monsters himself. They were there, the master and the apprentice, the one who corrupts and the one who falls, so different yet so similar, as a negative reflection to him and his master Quarta.
>As for him, he hadn't moved anymore. Due to the training he received as a holy knight, he had stayed perfectly hidden under the thick layer of black dust, biting his lips until it drew blood in order to keep himself from yelling with hate and rage, praying that he had enough self-control. All that anger, all that hate, how he wished to return it tenfold. And his master, hiding among the corpses, dressed with a similar cloak as her apprentice after confirming his master survival, he has looked the ground that was covered with blood and bodies.
>"Are you done hiding?" "They're still innocent people here that need protecting, I thought you were holy knights... were is your righteous spirit!? " He was certain that they were just taunting them to fight, why else would they say such obvious mockery. What he did hear was the dull footsteps that had appear afterwards. What happened next too was more frightening than the battle prior: How could he forget the screams of the fight that followed. The volleys of magic attacks, the precision of their archery skills attacks, yet the most frightening thing was he could see none of that, he only heard the sound after they were done attacking.
It must be said that both master Quarta and the black hooded apprentice were both gifted warriors; they accomplished dangerous request and trained in both swordsmanship and magical arts. That was why both of them didn't aid the others when they began to counter-attack, they had already lost… nothing could change that now, even if they catch their second wind… against these two, who were also gifted warriors, but also planning, scheming, waiting for them openly exterminated them. They unfortunately stood no chance, not today nor the next. Soon enough, it was quiet again, silence… under the mocking steps of two very proud traitors.
Done
>>7737077
I'm currently writing a work of Historical Fiction set on a Scottish Isle in 1930 and I've used a prologue just to get the reader up to speed with all the context they'll need to understand the story - and also include a brief reasoning behind why I chose to write about this setting/period.
It seems to work for cases like mine but I wouldn't shoehorn it in otherwise.
>>7737474
The context for the entire book or wirh a specific event?
>>7737077
Do an apology and read platos apology
you'll be dope dude
No one tells you the thing you love most is going to kill you. Racing a nuclear fusion-powered hovercraft isn’t the safest line of work. Not for someone wanting to die of old age, anyway. Adding a pack of thirty more racers to the high speed mix doesn't help your chances either. What could be more ludicrous than that? Having that same hovercraft you’re piloting catch fire.
No one tells you the thing you love more than anything is going to be what kills you. No one actually says those words to you, ever. People will tell you about things like “potential danger” or give obscure statistics. But when you’re chasing a dream, a message like that has to come on its own. And it usually comes when you least expect it. For Fennius Taylor, it didn’t come when the sickly-sweet smell from the broken coolant line snaked through the cockpit air vents and found his nose. It didn’t register as wisps of grey smoke began creeping in around his feet. And it didn’t happen when the concrete barrier of a hairpin turn threatened to turn his craft into smoldering wreckage. None of these things on their own could reach Fennius. It was only after the warning light marked “FIRE” in the dashboard of his racer began flashing that the truth finally hit home. It finally took the thought of burning alive for all three to find the last strands of rational thought, buried somewhere deep in his desire to win. Ask any other racer in the league what they’d do if their “sled” caught fire, and they’d tell you the same thing: Pull to the outside of the track and activate the fire counter-measures”.
So why would teenage racing phenom Fennius Taylor be any different? Because he knows the second he activates the counter-fire measures, the radioactive fusion core that’s been keeping him ahead of the other racers all season will shut down.
When you need thousands of pounds of thrust to continue chasing the perfect season, a little fire can keep you motivated to achieve your goals. If someone had asked Fennius three years ago what he’d do in an situation like this, he would’ve agreed with the other racers. But now? With a perfect season on the line? He’s going to pilot this time bomb until either he gets his checkered flag or the whole thing goes up in flames. Why would anyone act this way? This is the madness of the sport. This is what it’s like to chase a dream. This is where the adventure begins. This is (book title)
>>7740083
Neat. A book you're writing or a book you're reading
>>7740943
Book 1 of my space opera.
Houellebecq's prologue in Elementary Particles is great.
>>7738417
The context for entire book - which revolves around a specific historical event that occurred on the island in 1930; the forced evacuation of the islanders to the mainland.
>>7737474
you psoted and excerpt before and it was awful
i guarantee your prologue is shit
>>7737077
I'm having a similar issue at the moment. I ended up deciding to write a prologue rather than have the events of the prologue as the first chapter, as the difference in tone is rather vast. While I would rather have simply embedded the events of the prologue into the events of the first chapter--which would quite easily have been achieved--there were a number of subtle details present in the prologue which are later picked up, and greatly influence the course of events overall.
Essentially, if you deem it truly necessary to have a prologue, then you should do so. If, however, you feel that the events would seem clunky in that format, then you should find a way of embedding them into the first couple of chapters.
Your book, your rules.
>>7740083
Awfully written but I'm guessing you're trying to appeal to people who like bad popcorn books like The Martian, in that case it's spot on.
>>7737189
Hmmm
>>7737077
Depends on the story you're writing, for example in a novel I'm writing I had to describe two situations happening at the same time in the beginning, I left the prespective of the protagonist for the first chapter and I started the novel with a prologue, which describes the happenings of the other situation instead, till the moment it can be merged with the protagonist's prespective.
I was facing the same problem before I started writing the story, the prologue then turned out naturally since it was the best way, at least imo, to start writing it.
>>7742032
Sounds good. But if one prespective is the protagonist. Who's the other. I'm having the same problem. Although u haven't found a way to really merged the two
>>7740083
This is from F.H. Isn't it? You have me an earlier draft that didn't have this in it.
>>7743032
Bump
>>7743961
Please stop encouraging the village idiot to write.
>>7742960
well in my story there's the protagonist and his childhood friend, they're separated and living in different situations, then some stuff happens that slowly brings them back together, I'm gradually merging what I started in the prologue and in ch. 1 now that I'm near the end of ch. 1 and will start a ch. 2 soon.
