Prologues: Science Fiction Taboos Part 3

Prologues: Science Fiction Taboos Part 3

Last week we explored the second unwritten law that Science Fiction authors should never use Third-Person Omniscient as the Point Of View in their stories. This week, I’d like to take a look at the second of these taboos – Prologues – and share my thoughts on why I think more writers, especially Science Fiction writers, should use them.

NO Prologues

A prologue, also known as a preface, is basically an introduction at the beginning of a book or story. It is informative text giving the reader the ability to understand what is to follow in the main body of the work. It could introduce the setting, preview the characters, or even establish a theme or moral for the story.

Many agents and editors say they stop reading immediately if they see that a book has a prologue. The reason being that many writers use a prologue as a shortcut instead of doing the work it takes to weave backstory and plot into the book. Truth be told, it can be a lot easier to write an info-dump scene than to slowly unravel the information through the main plot-line over the course of the book.

Here’s why I think Writers Should Use Prologue

Prologues can be very useful, especially if you are trying to set a mood or establish some crucial backstory before the introduction of your main characters. Like everything else in writing, prologues can be done well, or they can be done poorly.

I believe that most prologues are merely the delivery of information that the writer believes the readers must have in order to truly understand the rest of the story. Originally I intended The Genesis Temple to be a prologue to The Genesis Codex but as I was writing it it grew into a 6,000 word prequel. Truth be told there’s more I want to add to it. It may very well become the bridge novel between a prequel series and The Progenitor Series. Who knows? We shall see.

Authors who use prologues are not being lazy. The prologue is the best way they have found to weave the necessary information into the story as it happens.

George R.R. Martin starts every one of the Song of Ice and Fire books with one. He uses them to help set up the conflicts of each book via the experiences of a throw-away character.

What do you think? Should writers use a prologue to introduce their story, or should they slowly and methodically unravel it all in the main body of the work? Would you write a story using a prologue? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments section below.

Next week I’ll cover Taboo #4 – No Faster Than Light (FTL)

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