I love prologues. Reading them sets the stage for me and gets my anticipation humming. And writing them is like adding backstory—which we all like to add 
before it’s needed—without actually involving the main characters. It’s a win-win!
As I’ve mentioned before, when I first started writing several people told me one of the “rules” was that prologues were not popular and I would be better off not writing them. Most of the time I didn’t. But when I began adding prologues, readers told me their interest went up. So what’s the deal in encouraging writers not to use a technique that seems to work for readers?
For me, the trick is to write a prologue with action. It shouldn’t be more than a few pages, and usually not as long as a chapter. This isn’t the time to build a full character study. I like to tweak the reader (any reader, including…well you can see for yourself) with action t
hat will have them asking, “What’s next?” Of course, both the character in the prologue—often the villain—and the action itself has to lead to the main character, but without actually having him/her appear. Build suspense. Leave character development to the book’s chapters.
That’s my take on prologues, anyway. What is yours? Do you like them, to read or write?
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Dee
Only a Good Man Will Do: Seriously ambitious man seeks woman to encourage his goals, support his (hopeful) position as Headmaster of Westover Academy, and be purer than Caesar’s wife. Good luck with that!
Naval Maneuvers: When a woman requires an earth-shattering crush of pleasure to carry her away, she can’t do better than to call on the US Navy. Sorry, Marines!
I agree, if a prologue sets the stage, provides some intriguing background and hooks the reader into wanting to know more, they will keep reading.
I think prologues are good to set the scene. With my last book, I did an introduction which is similar but it was more the reason behind the book whereas with my first book the prologue gave a background to the story. I think they help the reader determine if they are going to enjoy the book.
I haven’t yet needed a prologue, but as a reader I have nothing against them. I think it’s mainly editors and publishers who object to prologues.
I like to read them because they’re part of the story. I don’t want to miss a section when I’m reading a book. As a writer, I’ve sometimes used them, but I don’t have strong feelings about them either way. As long as the info is important, I want to read it and write it.