: Re: Prologues with no protagonist - How can they work? It is my understanding that novels should generally start right off with the protagonist. The story is about the protagonist, after all, not

If you read any Dan Brown books (Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons etc.), he generally writes a prologue where the main character (of the prologue) is actually the victim of the murder that the protagonist investigates throughout the rest of the book.

There are many more authors than just J.K. Rowling who are accomplished and have managed this feat.

That being said, some of the prologues to his books are incredibly confusing, but are mercifully short.

Prologues are generally reserved for being detached from the main narrative, so even having them from a different character's point of view who is never met again is acceptable.

They can also be used for exposition that could not be worked into chapter 1, or that are needed before the beginning of chapter 1.

If you take Harry Potter as an example, the prologue establishes that it is set in a world with wizards, flying motorcycles, and a boy who is fated to do great things.

If it didn't have the prologue, it would be around chapter 4 (Not 100% on that) that the reader is even aware that wizards exist, never mind that the protagonist is one, and would be incredibly bored before then (this of course is based on the assumption the reader has lived under a rock for the last 15 years and has never heard of Harry Potter).

So as for the writing 'rules' that you mentioned, you can probably throw most of them out of the window for the prologue in relation to the rest of the story. You can have different characters, settings, time period, POV, and other things that are entirely different from the main narrative.

As long as it does its job, which is to set up the story, it can be a good prologue.

Load Full (0)

: Federal Research Book with 2 Publishers? I am being asked to list the publisher location / state as part of an annotated bibliography for a research class. However, this book I feel has two

@Mendez196

Load Full 1 Comments

: Metaphor or Personification Recently, on a school test, I was given a poem comprehension. One of the questions was : What is the figure of speech in "...the trees start whispering among

@Mendez196

Load Full 5 Comments

: The short answer is no, having a slightly fantastic setting won't make your story harder to fall into, unless you do things that break your readers' willing suspension of disbelief. Rather

@Mendez196

Load Full 0 Comments

: Questions about the different ways the elements of a piece of writing can be put together and how they affect the reader, including transitions from one section to another, time-line presentation

: Re: Prologues with no protagonist - How can they work? It is my understanding that novels should generally start right off with the protagonist. The story is about the protagonist, after all, not

More posts by @Mendez196

: Federal Research Book with 2 Publishers? I am being asked to list the publisher location / state as part of an annotated bibliography for a research class. However, this book I feel has two

: Metaphor or Personification Recently, on a school test, I was given a poem comprehension. One of the questions was : What is the figure of speech in "...the trees start whispering among

: The short answer is no, having a slightly fantastic setting won't make your story harder to fall into, unless you do things that break your readers' willing suspension of disbelief. Rather

: Questions about the different ways the elements of a piece of writing can be put together and how they affect the reader, including transitions from one section to another, time-line presentation

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top