I've been waiting to pose this question, too.
One of the suggestions for BLOOD WILL TELL is a prologue. Ordinarily, I've come to the conclusion that they should be avoided, but if it would help make the premise more understandable . . .
I tried to write an ELANTRIS-style prologue, but I just don't like it. I ended up putting it up on my blog, instead.
Other readers indicated that they didn't really connect with Valeriah until half-way through the second chapter, in the crypt scene.
So, I've been pondering adding a new beginning. Not sure whether to call it a prologue, or just make it the new first chapter, or what.
It would take place twenty years before the rest of the story, with the murders of Valeriah's parents and brothers, from her point of view as a five year old. Then a little of Grandfather finding both girls (Crystal's parents are murdered, too, at almost the same time), possibly the placement of the curse on the two girls, and end with Valeriah vowing vengence.
Pros:
Cons:
Any thoughts?
[This message has been edited by Meredith (edited July 06, 2010).]
As a skipper of prologues, that is my suggestion. It is obviously a very biased one but I hope it helps.
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I'll be honest, I usually skip prologues. However, if it were very short, 2-3 pages at most, I think it could work. And instead of saying 'Prologue' maybe just make it a mini-chapter that has a heading of, "Twenty years ago..." and start the next one, Chapter 1.
Hmm. Well, taking a stab at this over the weekend, just the first scene with the murders and what follows immediately from Valeriah's POV is about five pages. So, that may be a problem.
I've got the whole thing roughed out at about ten pages. Figured it couldn't hurt to write it, whether I use it or not.
Of course it's obvious to me a lot of people do have strong feelings about the issue...
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I don't think it would hurt to write the scene, but for me, I would be a little wary. Part of me feels like the first scene is just there to manipulate me. Tossing in a 5 year old orphan just to make the adult version less palatable just seems like something that would annoy me. Other people might like not react badly though and if the scene felt needed for other reasons, it might work for me.
Well, hopefully, I'm not doing it just to manipulate the reader. This really is an important event in Valeriah's life and does affect what happens later in the story. Plus, in some ways, this could be called the inciting incident.
The main reason I considered doing this is because a couple of people have remarked on the scene in the crypt, where Valeriah reflects on the murders, as being perhaps the beginning of the story. Valeriah's memories, of course, are telling what happened. This chapter would show it.
I'm still divided on whether to use it or not.
[This message has been edited by Meredith (edited July 06, 2010).]
If you don't do that then you could do a flashback as she is sleeping on the bus, train, etc...before she gets to,___. (Sorry, I forgot how you spelled that place.)
[This message has been edited by MikeL (edited July 06, 2010).]
Flashbacks at the beginnings of stories can be even more irritating than prologues, though. Flashbacks stop the action and prologues tend to happen way before the action.
However...
(Sorry, I just can't resist.)
If the first chapter were to start by showing Valeriah in the world without magic, when she receives the news that her grandfather is dying, and then thinks about how he's almost all the family she has left (sort of like a frame for the murder scene--with the decision to go back to her home world as the other half of the frame), it might work.
* History lessons. I cannot stand reading a prologue that is merely an info-dump of the history when such and such evil person ruled (especially with a very difficult name to pronounce).
* Overly long prologues. The exceptions here are addressed in my next point.
* A story / scene that does not pique my interest IMMEDIATELY. I don't give much time at all for a prologue to grab my attention.
I normally don't write prologues even though my current project has one. However, I continually debate whether or not to keep it.
If you decide to keep the prologue, my suggestion would be to write it the best you can, realizing some may never see it. If the information is vital to the story, perhaps a flashback would be better. That way you won't have some of your audience missing out because they skipped your prologue.
Hope that helps.
-- William
quote:
If the first chapter were to start by showing Valeriah in the world without magic, when she receives the news that her grandfather is dying, and then thinks about how he's almost all the family she has left (sort of like a frame for the murder scene--with the decision to go back to her home world as the other half of the frame), it might work.
Hmm. I actually toyed with moving the beginning back not quite that far, to where Valeriah was running along the trail towards the portal. The fact that she's running flat out along a cliff trail in the pre-dawn darkness (and faster than a normal human should be able to). I ended up dumping it. But . . . maybe I could work something in there, with her thoughts/memories as she's running. I'll have to chew on that one for a little bit.