Question:
HI Martha!
I’ve been reading all the information available on Flashback and why it may not be the recommended route to begin a novel. Then I suddenly realized, by golly, this isn’t a flashback, it’s a prologue! My story starts back in history to provide a backdrop for the current story. My question … how to you plot a prologue when it’s the first “scene” in your book? Is it a chapter unto itself called Prologue? Can it be scene 1 in Chapter 1?
Thanks so very much!
Writing in North Carolina,
Nancy
Answer:
Dear Nancy,
The Prologue is a chapter unto itself, comes first, and is generally very short — 2 to 3 pages. Chapter One follows the Prologue.
Or, you could make it scene 1 in Chapter 1.
The pros of one are the cons of the other, and visa versa.
For instance, readers sometimes ignore the Prologue. Changes in time right off the bat can confuse readers.
Best way to plot this first “scene”, be it the Prologue or Chapter One is to make sure the scene introduces one or more of the three major plot lines — dramatic action, character emotional development, or most likely, provide thematic significance and foreshadow what is to come.
I’ll put out a request to some of my writer friends for more input and their take on the issue.
Hope this helps.
Great good luck with your project. Let me know how it goes.
Sincerely,
Martha
I personally think flashback isn’t a great way to start off a novel – I’d rather weave it into the story to shed greater light onto the characters and their deeper motivations. Flashback in a way is like a subplot – a mini story within the story.
The bigger question is – what makes a great opening for your novel? Great openings, I think, set the tone, even set up the entire story. I started (after 36 drafts!) my novel, THE BOOSTER, with: “Jillian Siegel likes to shoplift at least once a day.” The sentence set up the dramatic conflict of the entire story. I did it with a prologue because i couldn’t figure out any other way to do it.
There are so many rules about what to do and what not to do in writing – the best credo is to be excited about what you’re writing. Get in the car, close your eyes, put your arms all the way up, start screaming, and ride the roller coaster all the way to the end!
xx
jennifer
http://www.jennifersolow.com
I’d be careful with starting with a flashback, too. Probably not the best way to start your hook.
Even a prologue can be tricky. You generally want to avoid information dumps at the beginning of the book and trickle that info in as the story unfolds.
Start with the action. Jump right in and the reader will jump right in with you!
Kathrynn Dennis
I think a short prologue is intriguing — Robin Cook does it all the time. But editors often don’t like it — don’t know why.
Likewise a short flashback is interesting too — as long as it doesn’t go on too long. Then it’s like reading two books…
No preference, as long as both are well done, smoothly written, and relevant to the story.
(Although I do hate dream sequences and usually skim them.)
Hi all,
Thanks for your quick and thoughtful responses.
Writers helping other writers. Nothing better!!!
Keep imagining,
Martha Alderson
PS ~~
For those of you interested in more information, the three authors who have responded thus far have also been interviewed by me about their writing process as it has to do with plot.
For Jennifer Solow’s plot interview based on her writing process for the best-seller, The Booster , please go to http://www.blockbusterplots.com/tips.html
Watch for Penny Warner’s plot interview in this month’s free Plot Tips eZine out early next week (if you’re not signed up to receive the ‘Zine, write to “contact at blockbusterplots.com”). Penny is the author of numerous books. Her two new books out this year are: DEAD MAN’S HAND, the 7th in the Connor WEstphal series, and THE OFFICIAL NANCY DREW HANDBOOK, which is half non-fiction, half fiction
Kathrynn Dennis is the author of the successful romance novel: Dark Rider. Her new romance, Shadow Rider, is due out 10/08.
Hi Martha,
Great and useful blog! I consider myself a fiction writer over a poet, and I just write poetry to get myself writing a little bit every day (and to teach me to write succinctly!). I agree completely with Jennifer – I personally never write flashbacks, as I believe that the relationship between characters, the nuances of the plot, etc, should be able to reveal past conflicts/tensions/actions. It does make the journey of writing a little harder, though!
Take care,
Unskilled Poet
Thanks for the comments one and all, I appreciate them! Jennifer, that first line is a knock-out … Jillian Siegel likes to shoplift a least once a day …. that goes into the “Wish I had thought of that” category!
I always read prologues, but the point is well made that some readers don’t, therefore I like the Chapter 1 Scene 1 approach.
I, too, believe there are more powerful ways to get the information across without resorting to the use of flashback.
Memories are okay, because they’re short and to the point. Flashbacks take the reader out of the forward flow and tend to pull the reader from the dream.
For more, I’ve written about the use of flashbacks in Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple pages 39 -43. Hope it helps.
Fun hearing from all you writers. I hope some readers weigh in. Or writers responding as readers, too, for a broader perspective.
Great blog. I always learn something. Thanks 🙂
I don’t care for flashbacks at the beginning of a novel, and I have heard authors advise against prologues if possible also. But that said, many of the books I read have prologues. I do tend to skip them at first but go back and read the section later.
Wild wave!!!
Hugs, JJ
Your blog makes my head spin. So much to think about. Makes me self-conscious. All I want to do is write. But I keep coming back. I really do want to learn. I follow your every post.
Martha, I haven’t read your flashback material for a while, so I may be repeating something you have already said. But, hey, copying is the sincerest form, right?
Anyway, I really believe a flashback cannot just give past information. It has to come out of a character you’ve already developed to a certain extent (which may be why it doesn’t work well as an opener). A flashback has to be caused by something in the story–some shock, or something very specific that generates the memory. And, I think, a flashback has to change the character–it has to AT LEAST change the path the character was on before she went back to the past. If the flashback doesn’t do this, it has no role in plot and is only informational. In that case, I think it’s very important to find another way to weave in that info.
About prologues. I think these can be used very effectively to give a tiny bit of the past that the reader absolutely has to know at the beginning of the story. Or, I guess, to tease them a bit about what’s to come. But, yes, some people I know ALWAYS skip prologues–I think they may be people who read a lot of nonfiction, when the prologues is often not part of the main body of the book. I think the only trick to making sure a reader doesn’t skip your prologue is to captivate from sentence one. Yes, I know, we’re supposed to do that in every first chapter, but with a prologue you really want them hooked and reading BEFORE they realize this isn’t chapter 1. 🙂
Fun question!
My answer to Nancy (and Martha):
Over the years I have gotten to hate it when a book, movie, television show, etc. starts with point in time and then jumps to another.
I have seen that convention of “time jumping” so many times that it sets my teeth on edge.
I would much rather have a story start at point A and then as the drama unfolds, I find out bit by bit what happened before which made the main character stark raving crazy.
Linda
My feeling as a writer is always to entice your readers in whatever way will engage them and make them want to turn the page. I was a fan of flashbacks a while back, but that was when I only wrote short stories. Now that I am half-way through my first novel, I have a very different take on them, and it is this, they are very hard to do, so if you must, keep it short, make it read wonderfully and get back to the linear pacing of your story as quickly as possible. You don’t want to frustrate your readers and have them put your wonderful book down because they’re confused!
As far as prologues go, I happen to have opened my novel ‘Night Surfing’ with a prologue. It is only one page, it describes a scene in the narrator’s life when she is a young child, gets pummeled by a rogue wave, almost drowns and is rescued by her vigilant father.
I then go on to describe the narrator, probably in her thirties, recently divorced trying to figure the love thing out. I think the role of the prologue in my novel is to show the readers how much the narrator loved her father and how hard it has been to recreate a love relationship for herself that even comes close to what she had with him. So I’m thinking my prologue works. The intriguing thing to me about writing will always be how there are never right or wrong answers to our writing questions, only somehow, those vague wonderful solutions that actually work and make us eager to continue the story. Sprinkle the story with passion. It’s a spice noone can resist…Mary Kennedy Eastham, Author, ‘The Shadow of a Dog I Can’t Forget’
How fun to hear from you all!
Thanks for your thoughts on this. So helpful to so many……….
I am most appreciative you all took the time to give such thoughtful responses.
fondly,
martha
I think the best way to open a novel is to use a bold and opinionated statement.
I prefer the prologue over flashbacks.
Flashbacks should be used sparingly, as it’s a sign of an unskilled writer. Editors see it as a shortcut to the more difficult task of working exposition into the story. You should avoid info-dumps and only use flashbacks when the flashback itself is important to the scene. It is frowned upon in the same way as voice-over narration is in screenwriting.
Exposition distracts the reader from the scene. Exposition longer than three sentences should be broken up by using interior monologue, dialogue and descriptive action.
I like to read good prologues. That said, if the writing is mediocre and the writer used a flat cliche storyline, they have hung themselves with their prologue. It’s comparable to spending thirty dollars on gorgeous gift wrap and ribbons for a three dollar present. If the prologue doesn’t meet the editor’s standards, they will automatically be more critical of the manuscript.
There’s certain level of expectation with a prologue, usually the story has to be high-concept. The information must be relevant and lead into the first chapter.