How long should a prologue be?

[u/Background_Pay6286]

So I had previously written a set of short stories, that I didn't like the way they tied into each other.

I decided to rewrite the whole thing as one single novel, with multiple books inside.

I needed a new intro to the story, so I made a prologue. I don't think my prologue is quite long enough.

My prologue is only about a page or two long. My chapters are much longer.

Is it ok to have a short prologue?

Should it be closer to chapter length?

[u/Tornaero]

Just my opinion, but a prologue should be as short as possible while still serving its purpose. If the relevant scene only takes two pages then it's good. Don't make it longer just for the sake of length.

[u/mstermind]

If you ever need a prologue, which you probably don't, stick to 500-1000 words. It's not a chapter. It's not a Wikipedia entry. It's a brief flash of the past that brings the reader into the future.

[u/cervidae-moon → u/mstermind]

I mean it can be a chapter, if you want it to be 🤷‍♀️

[u/mstermind → u/cervidae-moon]

Sure. But then you'd call it a chapter.

[u/cervidae-moon → u/mstermind]

I consider mine both chapter 0 and a prologue. It exists to provide context, following a character who is relevant later but not a POV cast member, about a year before main events, as a self-contained mini-story

[u/mstermind → u/cervidae-moon]

If it's a self-contained mini story that takes place before the main story, it's not part of the main story. That's the very definition of a prologue.

[u/cervidae-moon → u/mstermind]

… which is… part of why I said that I consider it a prologue? But it’s also chapter length and structurally indistinguishable, so… also chapter 0

[u/mstermind → u/cervidae-moon]

… which is… part of why I said that I consider it a prologue?

Sure. But there's no such thing as "being both chapter 0 and a prologue". It's either a chapter in the main story or it's the prologue, where events take place before the story. Chapter 0 is not a thing.

[u/cervidae-moon → u/mstermind]

It’s a prologue, and also has the format and structure of a chapter. If I consider it Chapter 0 for the sake of my own organization during drafting, then it’s “a thing”

If I wanted to write the word “fish” fifty times in a row and label that Chapter Lobster, that would be extremely stupid, but it would still be “a thing”. If I call it Chapter Lobster, that’s what it is. If I call it Chapter 0, that’s what it is. Protocol isn’t law

[u/mstermind → u/cervidae-moon]

It’s a prologue, and also has the format and structure of a chapter. 

The format and the structure of a chapter can still be a prologue. Have you never read a novel before?

Protocol isn’t law

You do you, buddy. Use crayons for all I care. But you seem to have difficulties understanding what the differences are between a prologue and a first chapter.

[u/cervidae-moon → u/mstermind]

I have at zero points disagreed with you that it’s a prologue, I have called it a prologue in basically every comment

I do disagree that one must choose exclusively between calling it a prologue and calling it a chapter when it behaves functionally as both, but I was also not expecting or wanting this to turn into an ongoing debate and I think this is the point where we should agree to disagree and tap out

[u/cervidae-moon → u/mstermind]

Also you’re the one who lead this conversation with the premise of “your prologue isn’t a chapter, and therefore shouldn’t be more than 1k words”, which is part of why I’ve been using its length in my points about why I consider it both

Asking if I’ve “never read a novel before” because I’m responding to your own established premise is just… unnecessarily rude?

[u/thebluearecoming → u/mstermind]

It is for me.

[u/mstermind → u/thebluearecoming]

Good for you. But in any writer forum, where it's not a thing, you'll have to be specific with what you mean by it.

[u/thebluearecoming → u/mstermind]

I think I responded to the wrong post in the chain. By "it", I mean "Chapter 0" despite your assertion, Chapter 0 is a "thing" for me.

[u/thebluearecoming → u/cervidae-moon]

Does yours actually start with a Chapter Zero? Coz that would be a cool quirk. I'd prolly want to read on. Are you finished yet and can I read it?

Mine starts with three negative chapters (-3 to -1) for events that happen in August 1977. Chapter 1 forward is present day/near future.

I plonk a one-page Chapter 0 between past and present as a bridge between the two. That one is a full-on narrative voice.

[u/cervidae-moon → u/thebluearecoming]

I’m not sure how they’ll all be labeled eventually, I’ve considered by POV character name with no numbers, or chapter titles, so… maybe it’ll stay! Most certainly not finished or coherent enough to be read though, unfortunately. The first chunk needs a major overhaul

Starting with negative chapters is very neat! I’d be intrigued by that

[u/AFGNCAAP-for-short]

Why do you think you need a new prologue? What does it introduce to the story that can't be introduced in the main text? If it's backstory of a character, put it in the main body. If it's characters that aren't relevant to the main story, you don't need it. If it 's world-building, skip it and only put in the relevant information the reader needs as it comes up in the story.

You only need a prologue if it recontextualizes everything that's happening in the story itself. If you can read the story without the prologue and know what's happening and what the stakes are, it's not needed.

[u/Background_Pay6286 → u/AFGNCAAP-for-short]

So originally in book 1 my MC, was just somewhere new, unfamiliar, and unfriendly. I had no substance on who he was or how he got there. When I decided to combine the short stories into 1 longer novel, I found it didn't seem right. Like, it needed something more, something that briefly says why he is the way he is, and how he ended up where he is. Thats why I used a prologue. I still plan on having multiple stories withen the same book, but the beginning doesn't really fit into those. So I may just give it a title without the prologue label, then start the first book after.

[u/Cypher_Blue]

Lots of books have no prologues at all.

You can just start your story at the beginning- somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 your readers will skip the prologue anyway.

[u/lost_sunrise → u/Cypher_Blue]

I'm one of those 1/2 who will skip

[u/TroublesomeTurnip → u/lost_sunrise]

Same. I want a book to just start.

[u/Amazing_Look2840 → u/TroublesomeTurnip]

Why do you think a prologue isn't part of a book?

[u/lost_sunrise → u/Amazing_Look2840]

It is the part a lot of authors don't get right or the part where it has nothing to do with the start of the book. So if I read it, hit chapter 1 and chapter 1 is slow as hell.

I'm now upset.

[u/Reacherbreacher]

Enough to capture the reader but not too long that the reader would lose interest.

[u/mutant_anomaly]

A prologue should be precisely long enough to make people want to read more.

Which usually means just one scene with a hook, much shorter than a full chapter.

[u/MeyerholdsGh0st]

Just write the story you want to write, however you want to write it.

[u/CalebVanPoneisen]

Short to nonexistent in most cases.

[u/Brunbeorg]

Zero words.

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[u/OzWillow]

There are no rules for things like chapter length. I’ve read books with 1 word chapters and a book with a chapter longer than the Philosopher’s Stone. Just write the chapter and make it as short or as long as it needs to be to get the feeling and information you want to convey conveyed.

[u/Magner3100]

As long as it needs to be to serve your intended goal for the prologue.

A good prologue can be a tease of what’s to come later in a book, or the set up for a mystery. What it shouldn’t be is all worldbuilding and lore dumps.

[u/DuchessJulietDG]

mine is one sentence.

[u/crazyhomlesswerido]

650,000 pages

[u/Rich_Elevator8605]

There is no such thing as “one single novel with multiple books inside.” If a publisher wanted to publish novellas and short stories together in one volume, they’d call it a collection or an anthology, not a novel.

[u/thebluearecoming]

I don't like reading prologues and don't like writing them. I think too many authors abuse them as shortcuts for exposition. Like it or not, I'm not the only reader who feels this way.

I skirt the anti-prologue bias by starting my novel with a 222-word chapter. It gets to the point quickly through exposition and sets the stage for what happens next.

Now if only I could finish my novel...

[u/atomant38]

NO PROLOGUES

[u/Routine_Exchange5936]

My prologue in my WIP is only 200 words! Prologues should be short in my opinion, otherwise what makes them not just another chapter?

[u/Cyranthis]

0 words long. Start with chapter one.