Fantasy Gold Forum The Tavern (General Chat)

Re: The Tavern (General Chat)

9 Years Ago

I've always felt strongly that the right prologue deserves to stay. By "right" I mean it is not purely there to "establish the world". Doing your job means finding a way to establish the world on the fly with the reader not feeling bored or like the pace has slowed to a halt while you get your ducks in a row. IMO, this is the most-violated example in fantasy, which is why prologues get such a bad rap. Authors use these prologues to show the world in 3rd person and then snap into a character's head later, which can confuse readers.

Here's an excellent link I've found, which I used as a resource/touchstone when I was debating my own prologue for one of my series-in-progress.

I opted for the different-POV prologue after a lot of deliberation, and I feel it actually works... but it's also a "drop the audience in the middle of some action and then cliffhanger the section, then switch to the protagonist" prologue. Not right for every story. ;)

first

last