how to write a prologue that GRABS YOUR READER

"Should I add a prologue to the beginning of my book?" "Does my prologue grab my readers and hook them to my story?" "I have so many ideas for a prologue...but I don't know which idea to run with!" If you find yourself pondering any of these questions, this episode is for you. Prologues are important...they can pull your readers into your fictional world...or cause them to put the book back on the shelf. Want to hook your reader on page 1? If you've ever tried writing a prologue, you know that it's not as easy as it sounds. A good prologue should stop readers in their tracks and pull them right into your story - while leaving enough intrigue to keep them guessing. But how exactly do you capture someone's attention on the first page? In today's podcast, authors Kate and Abbie are tackling this question and sharing their best techniques for writing an awesome prologue.
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Like this episode? Give us a nice rating and tell us what you thought.
Connect with Kate on Instagram (@lonehawkwriter) or her blog: www.heretocreateblog.com/
Connect with Abbie on Instagram (@makeyourstorymatter) or her blog: www.abbiee.com/

[@miramari732]

As someone smart said "Most people don't hate prologues. Most people just hate poorly written prologues." But there's a lot of people who won't read prologue just because they've encountered too many of really bad ones. Also sometimes I find book with well written prologue but really boring first chapter and I feel almost betrayed by an author. To avoid that, when I make prologue I also make sure that first chapter hooks reader on it's own. For me prologue is extra cookie to the one in 1st chapter, not one instead :)

[@syberyah]

"Rapunzel is in her tower with her lizard" Me: ... Me: *blinks* Me: It's a chameleon.

[@Amy_Mi6]

Hooray for podcast Mondays!

[@Ruthie888]

FYI, I tell people to watch you guys for writing advice all the time.

[@davee91889]

Abbie's sister's hair just rocks

[@melodid5023]

Omg finally somebody said it! Prologues are not the devil! I love my prologues and I love reading them. All videos where against a prologue when I started watching author tube and they said not to do it because no one will want to read it! Thanks guys :) ♡

[@mishthemaverick8607]

Yes! I feel vindicated.

[@anandaferraresi]

I’ll read it 🙋🏻‍♀️

[@michellechouinard4958]

Do you suggest calling it Prologue or just calling it Chapter One so people don't skip it? For example, Harry Potter starts with what is essentially a prologue, but it's just called Chapter One. Does it matter?

[@Tove88Grace]

YES please!!! Talk about Disney movies! 😍 Thank you both so much for this amazing podcast 🥰

[@juliaherkel8051]

I actually have never thought about prologues the way that you just talked about them. That made so much sense to me, and I loved it. (Now to find a good story idea just so I can write a prologue... 😝)

[@soroneir1260]

Good point on paying off & demystifying the prologue. I tried reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a few months ago and was hooked on the prologue, then chapter 1 was so irrelevant and boring that I didn't get past chapter 2.

[@cottagestoryteller]

This was a great episode! Love the insight, as always. I feel like I've always been told to avoid prologues as they can tend to be false starts or are in danger of becoming an info-dump. I definitely used prologues A LOT as a fledgling writer and have steered farther away from them as time goes on. I do think prologues can be useful, if done correctly, as you both described in the video. Love the content, friends! Keep at it!

[@nikans1569]

That’s amazing! Thank you so much! I love listening to you, you always say smart things😉 Good luck and be well!

[@AndromedaMoon888]

My prologue before definitely fell into the “being too different from the rest of the book” trap... I changed it like 2 weeks ago! And I was trying to be abstract and poetic and edgy with a payoff halfway through the book lol Oh no my epilogue was also used to explain my original prologue

[@Mara.O.Garner]

I think the prologue in "The way of kings" from Brandon Sanderson never really hooked me and I didn't read his book series for a long time because of it. The prologue about the herolds is for sure important for the story, but I had to skip it in order to start reading (after that I was really surprised how good the book series actually is)

[@timeslot09]

This discussion confirms I'm on the right track with my prologue. Thank you.

[@hannahelisha5129]

Thank you so much! I am a starting writer and I learned so much from this! I will surely apply your advices! Thank you so much! More videos to come!

[@applejuice3562]

Great video, now I'm inspired to write a prologue for my story

[@silversunshine2012]

You have already given me inspiration for my story and I cant possibly thank you enough. When you said about one of your prologues being from the point of view of the antagonist, it gave me the best idea for my story, and might make the process of writing it so much more enjoyable for me too. I was really stuck on where to go after what I thought was the prologue, but now I have an even better one thanks to you two and I honestly can't thank you enough

[@huffpuffduck]

3 years later but there’s a YA series that all 3 prologues are from at least the villain being in them.

[@kokorodokidoki6437]

Can you make a podcast on writing a good Epilogue, please?

[@isaiasherrero7889]

yes please!

[@ClefairyFairySnowflake]

I love prolouges! They are very much underrated. Have a great day! Stay awesome!!!

[@taylorduarte6725]

Sooooo good!!!!! 👏👏👏❤❤❤ I love prologues and epilogues haha 🙊

[@sanaamin5651]

Got so many ideas watching this!

[@Kyg1kek2]

Omg Katie’s hair looks so pretty today!

[@juparula]

I listen to these while I cook dinner and it's great! Thank you both for all the work you put into your channels and this podcast. They brighten my days! Also, Kate, I am intrigued (and surprised!) by your statement that you don't really read fiction books. Do you mean in general, or while you are writing your own? Is that by principle or the time you spend reading you end up reading nonfiction? Thanks again guys!!

[@KAEmmons]

Thanks for listening! 💛 A bit of both...I've always been more into film than reading, which is surprising to most. But when I do read it's non-fic almost 100% of the time.

[@BKPrice]

I write fantasy almost exclusively and find that I often have prologues, but primarily when a major non-protagonist character will feature heavily in the story but won't have a good place later on for a backstory flashback. For instance, in one story I start off with the villain's initial scene that shows her start on the path of her side of the story before I even mention any of the main characters because for the rest of the story it will be all them and she will only appear to harry them and I never return to her viewpoint. In a different story I begin with the main character and have a flashback to show the villain's origin because the villain needs to remain somewhat mysterious up until a certain point and only then can his motivations and origin be shown since he will have close interaction with the hero at that point.

[@archanagavhale7736]

I have one question, If we have already introduced the hook, that is the back story of the protagonist on the first page itself; is it necessary to have a prologue for the book? Kate and Abbie, please answer this.🙏

[@AndromedaMoon888]

You don’t need a prologue at all if it won’t contribute anything to your story

[@elijahbutterfield4869]

Question for anyone out there, would you suggest that repeating a summary of the prologue later on in the book is a good idea? Like in a dialoge context, repeating the first line, creating a summary of the prologue, and then repeating the last line of the prologue, just to tie it in and call back to it? ....or is that a dumb idea...?

[@xxtille]

"are we gonna keep going?, yeah if we keep going , then maybe the first five minutes will go by d if were not interested , we will lose the attention "

[@sidjohnson9413]

idk if this is a good idea but the prologue of my book is depicting the climax later on, but it's meant to mislead the reader because fate vs choice is a theme in my book and by the time it gets to that chapter and the reader is sort of ready for one thing to happen, another entirely happens

[@mishthemaverick8607]

I've seen that done well in movies, it's a satisfying finish.

[@JMLjml-dm7dk]

When do you write an Author Note? Is it for more like notes for example my book takes place in Japan in the 1860's and a little tips here and there. For instance some people write last name first and first name last in Japan. Explain please.

[@littletravelblog7589]

I've got a question: is it okay to establish characters, which won't be relevant in the story later? Like, there is a wife and a husband at the Christmas celebration, the main characters talk to them, these two appear in about two chapters. But after that they don't go on the journey. I tried to make them fun tho. And there is a second couple, they appear in about four chapters, but them the main characters take a different route. Btw, great video, it helped a lot)

[@AC-pk2ry]

this video is full of cookies lol

[@welfarepakriyadh7313]

I like Abbie's outfit

[@davee91889]

I made the mistake of the unrelated ultrapoetic prologue lol

[@captainpinky8307]

Can the prologue be the MC complaining? Should the Prologue be the very last thing in the book written?

[@ace_of_cups4096]

Can my prologue be a subtle bit of foreshadowing for the end? Or is that a big fat NO (im good at subtlety and foreshadowing)

[@AndromedaMoon888]

I would just make sure it’s still relevant for the first chapters as well (I def made the mistake of trying it to contribute to a big reveal at the end, but like they mentioned in the podcast, the reveal isn’t satisfying by then)

[@ace_of_cups4096]

@@AndromedaMoon888 my reveal is less satisfying and more... Devastating? Ig... Im also having a running theme around the #22 so even if the prologue doesn't work out i still have that gng for me lol! Thx for the advice

[@AndromedaMoon888]

@@ace_of_cups4096 I know it sucks so much to have a prologue that you think will really make sense once you near the end of the book, but unfortunately if you're going trad pub, agents are turned off pretty immediately by that. However, you might consider keeping a prologue if you self-pub, or you can get around it by making the prologue seem relevant to the first few chapters but secretly make it have a bigger role than it first appears to (this is really hard to do though and wouldn't have worked for my novel so I had to rewrite the prologue completely)

[@r.i.p.4485]

Both of you are so beautiful when y'all talk about writing.

[@lottoguy6457]

Don’t write proluges they say. I love proluges.

[@xatiter]

Damn. The thumbnail tho...

[@sakurauchiha2085]

I have a question do ye do this l one week ye can write all day and the next week u can’t write shit can u explain why this is

[@renatakr754]

I am the same, but I take it like creative weeks when I do mostly writing and then productive weeks when I do more my work duties, things around the home and trying to be more practical because once I hit that writing mood again, I won't even cook :D

[@jesus_islord_john1465]

Thanks you so much. Your video have been a very big help. God Bless you. 👍 P.S. God loves the world that he gave his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Anyone, who believes in him, will not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) Therefore repent and seek Jesus Christ because he is coming back to judge America-the world. So, seek call upon the Lord while he can be found. (Isaiah 55:6) God Bless everyone ❤️🙏

[@captainpinky8307]

Are you both writers? Are your Parents also writers?

[@hford8496]

Confused. How do you write fiction but not read fiction? Lost me there.