So out there in the Twitterland, the unending debate — To Prologue or Not To Prologue? — has arisen like a glampire in all its insouciant glory. Turns out I have an opinion on this matter. Like everything else is fiction, there is no final right answer, but you can be sure that there are people out there who not only believe there is a right answer — theirs — but that if you disagree with them, you are an [expletive], [expletive] double-dumbass. In my experience, the debate is always one with much light and smoke, but in the manner of all intertube flame wars, little genuine heat.
My own feeling is a book begins on page one and ends at the end, and if the first word on page one is "Prologue," then that's what it is. Yet many readers proclaim they will not read a prologue. They will either jump right to chapter one, or skip the book altogether. A common argument is the prologue too often serves as a lazy writer's means of setting up the story when what they should be doing is getting into the action and artfully building the set up info into the thread of narrative.
In one sense, I don't disagree with that. You don't want anything in your finished work to be seen as superfluous or added-on. But that doesn't mean a prologue is inherently bad. It just means the prologue should be as critical to the story as every other chapter.
Structurally, prologues at their best seem to do exactly what some complain of: set up the foundation of the story. It's often presented around a scene, a POV, or a voice that isn't continued in the main body of the story (though not always). In crime fiction, it might show an inciting incident the POV of the victim, the perpetrator, or some omniscient viewpoint. It's likely to provide an essential piece of backstory. And, as with anything else, it can be done well or done poorly.
In my own writing life, I had a semi-interesting prologue experience. Lost Dog has a prologue, but as it happens, it's not really a prologue. It's Chapter One with the word Prologue at the top of the page, all because of the way I wrote the book. Originally, what is now Chapter One was the beginning of the story, the first thing I wrote. Then I wrote the last chapter. From there, I went worked my way forward from chapter one to chapter done.
At some point, I added a denouement called the "Epilogue." And after I did that, I decided to write a scene in a completely different POV which took place well before the action of the novel. I reasoned it would explain an event later in the story. Since it was in a different voice and POV, I called it the "Prologue" and stuck it before Chapter One.
As I worked through revisions, I decided I wanted to to introduce my antagonist before I introduced my protagonist. I also concluded my prologue wasn't necessary — the later event didn't need the help and POV difference didn't fit. So my new antagonist scene became the prologue, even though because of the way the novel is structured with alternating POVs, it probably should have just been chapter one. But (and here you get a little insight into my process!) if I made it chapter one, I would have to go through and increment all the other chapter numbers. If I just made it the prologue, I wouldn't have to mess with chapter numbering. Weird decision when you consider writing a novel takes months or even years, and changing the chapter numbering would have taken, oh, say, ten minutes. But there you are.
When the book was in editorial, I discovered this vehement opposition to the concept of prologues. Considering the mighty power of the internet hissy fit, I decided, hell, who needs the grief? I emailed my editor and said, "Can we just call them all chapters, and get rid of the words prologue and epilogue?" And he made an editorial decision, carefully reasoned as to the effect of this change on how the book would be read: "Eh, let's leave it. I don't want to have to ask the layout person to go through and change all the chapter headings at this point."
Well.
Ultimately, you should make every chapter matter. Whether the first one is called "Prologue" or "Chapter One" is less important than that it be a crucial element to the story.
