Do readers like prologues or skip them? This question was asked in a writer’s forum I belong to, so the answers were from writers rather than readers.
Some think that readers skip over prologues, mistaking them for a book’s forward, rather than understanding that the prologue is a necessary part of the story.
Of course, it’s not always necessary. Sometimes, a prologue, if badly written, is nothing more than an info dump. I was surprised to see that many writers feel that prologues are unnecessary or misused. There was a lot of mention of fantasy novels, in particular, which seem to be overweighted in character and environment history.
I like prologues, and I always read them. I feel that if a novel has a prologue, then it is really for a reason. I wrote a prologue for my second novel and have one in my work in progress.
In my last novel, Marry Me, Duke, the prologue could have been chapter one. It gave the reason why an event happened later. I did not want this reason to have to be explained. I wanted readers to see it and register it so that they would not later be surprised or have questions about the actions of a certain character.
I dislike when the reason for an action has to be explained in a book. I would rather put all the pieces of the puzzle together myself and come to a conclusion, particularly for pivotal moments. The worst thing for me as a reader is having to scratch my head and wonder at a character’s motivations when we should have already seen some foreshadowing.
For this reason, I always read prologues and write them when they’re part of the story that will inform future action or an action in the past that the reader must know about.
In my work in progress, the prologue covers an event fifteen years prior to the main story. It defines the main character. If I didn’t have the prologue, a pivotal event in chapter one would not have the same impact. The reader response would be curiosity rather than ‘uh-oh there’s trouble coming.’ Without the prologue, the explanation would have to be told much later instead of seen, and I think it would not have been as impactful.
In general, I use prologues to show why something happened rather than awkwardly explaining it.
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DEE HARPER LEWIS 