How do I write a prologue (and should I)?
- A prologue is a scene before chapter one, often a different time or POV.
- Many readers and some agents skip prologues.
- It should earn its place — do what chapter one cannot.
- Keep it short, gripping, and clearly relevant.
- If it works as chapter one, make it chapter one.
Write a prologue only when it accomplishes something chapter one cannot — establishing a crucial event in a different time, place, or POV that the main narrative cannot show. Keep it short and gripping, and make its relevance clear so readers do not feel detoured. Be aware that many readers and agents skip prologues, so it must hook on its own. The honest test: if your "prologue" could simply be chapter one, make it chapter one and drop the label.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Prologues are overused and often misused — as info-dumps, throat-clearing, or backstory that delays the real story. Because readers frequently skip them, a prologue carrying essential information can leave skippers lost, while a pointless one wastes the opening. Knowing when a prologue genuinely earns its place (and when it is just chapter one in disguise) keeps you from the common mistake of opening your book with something readers bounce off or ignore.
Chapter ii·What to include
- A purpose chapter one cannot serve.
- A different time, place, or POV that justifies it.
- A short, gripping, self-contained scene.
- Clear relevance to the main story.
- No essential info that skippers would miss.
- The "is this just chapter one?" test.
Chapter iii·Example
A thriller writer considers a prologue showing the killer's first crime decades before the main story — something chapter one's present-day POV cannot show. It is short, gripping, and clearly relevant. Her earlier draft's "prologue," though, was just the protagonist's morning before the plot started; she relabels that as chapter one.
Chapter iv·Related questions
WriteLoom's Plan studio helps you test whether a prologue earns its place, so your opening starts where the story really does.
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