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One of the hottest debates in the book writing community is: should you write a prologue or not? Many writers seem to be under the impression that if you submit a book with a prologue to a literary agent, it will be dead on arrival because “all agents universally hate prologues.”

In this article, I want to address this prologue debate and give you my personal dos and don'ts for writing a prologue for a novel. Hopefully these insights help you determine if a prologue is effective for your particular story and, if it is, I will give you some practical tips and strategies for writing a prologue for a novel.

Do Literary Agents Hate Prologues?

First, I want to address the elephant in the room which is: do literary agents hate prologues? I've seen this question asked across many websites, within many writing communities, and it’s become a passionate topic among querying writers.

This is because when reaching out to literary agents, in addition to your query letter, agents typically ask for the first 10 pages of your manuscript to sample your story. If you have a prologue, that prologue is going to be part of those 10 pages. If you are querying right now with a prologue, you may be wondering if it’s going to be received well.

To be frank, when I worked in the publishing industry, I never saw a universal ban on prologues. If the prologue was an effective entry point into the story, the agent and editor had no problem with it. There are many successfully published books with prologues in them.

On the other hand, if the prologue isn't effective or doesn't serve the end goal of the story, then it would probably be best to omit it. However, there is no industry rule that all prologues are bad by default, so if your story does need a prologue, keep it.

If you have been reaching out to literary agents with a prologue and you're getting rejections, it may be that your prologue is an issue. But I would also encourage you to think about some other issues that might be present, either in your query letter or synopsis, that could be turning off literary agents.

Now that we have determined that prologues are not universally bad, let's talk through some strategic dos and don'ts for writing a prologue for a novel.

Do: Consider Genre

You do want to consider if prologues are commonplace within your genre. Some genres naturally lend themselves more to a prologue than others. In my opinion, the top two are thrillers/mystery/suspense novels and historical fiction novels.

In the case of thrillers, mysteries, or suspense, a prologue is often used to tease the main conflict or the crime that occurs later in the story to hook the reader's interest. It’s used as a tactic to establish suspense from the very beginning.

A common framework for historical fiction novels is flashing between two time periods, either two historical ones or a present day and past day narrative. In this case, a prologue can be used to provide background context for what’s going on. It can also be a flash forward to a later portion of the narrative, again creating a point of suspense and intrigue for the reader.

For instance, you might have a prologue with a character discovering a historical artifact or a newspaper clipping that then brings them back into the historical period and kickstarts the historical narrative.

Just because prologues are more commonplace in these two genres doesn't mean that you cannot have a prologue in other genres. There are plenty of examples of effective prologues in other genres such as romance or fantasy. However, when talking about the contemporary publishing market, I would say that those two genres are the most common for prologues.

Don’t: Get Lengthy

When writing a prologue for a novel, don't let it get too long. This is key for writing an effective prologue. My recommendation is to keep the prologue to two to five double-spaced pages in your manuscript. I also recommend containing the prologue to one singular scene.

This is all because if the prologue goes on for too long, you run the risk of disengaging the reader and/or the literary agent. They might be wondering why this prologue isn’t a chapter itself and start skimming, or simply skip ahead to the first real chapter.

Remember, when a reader sees the label “prologue,” they know that it is an adjacent section to the main narrative. Their attention might not be as laser-focused as it will be in the first chapter, so keep things short to maintain their interest.

Also, if you have a shorter prologue, it also guarantees that it won’t take up too much space within the 10 sample pages you send to literary agents. It might be a bit difficult for a literary agent to evaluate your work if the entire 10 pages is all prologue. Ideally, they should get a glimpse into the main narrative also.

Do: Be Impressionistic

You do want to make your prologue impressionistic. This is how you are going to get your reader to engage with and remember your prologue. With a prologue, you have the benefit of not having to provide a ton of introductory material or context like you will in the main narrative.

For instance, when you introduce a character in the prologue, you don't have to necessarily explain who they are and how they know the other characters. That's because the reader will understand that we're going to get the context for the prologue later on in the story.

Your purpose with the prologue then becomes simple: pique the reader's interest. Introduce a point of tension that will inspire them to continue on into the main narrative. You can do this by keeping the prologue action-oriented and focusing on a singular consequential and memorable moment.

This way, even when the reader is deep into the main narrative, they will still remember what happened in the prologue, because it made such a strong impression. When the time comes to contextualize the prologue and dissect its significance, they will immediately be able to remember it without having to go back and reread it.

Don’t: Info Dump

When writing a prologue for a novel, be careful not to info-dump. I understand the temptation to use a prologue to provide background information about your characters and the world they inhabit, but believe me when I say the prologue is just not the place to do it.

This is especially common in sci-fi or fantasy stories, where the author has conjured a complex world with its own histories and contexts that you want to get into. Perhaps the reader does need this information to understand the story, or perhaps it just seems like interesting context to write about.

However, you should not use the prologue as a space to info-dump. If your prologue reads like a textbook, that is a guaranteed way to lose the reader. They will skim through the prologue or put the book down altogether.

Instead, those world-building elements should be integrated organically within the main narrative. I encourage you to kickstart the action of the plot and, as action occurs, weave in those background details as they become relevant in the story. Info-dumping is just a bad writing technique overall, no matter where it occurs, and it is especially risky to info-dump right in the opening pages of your novel.

Do: Differentiate From the Main Storyline

My last tip for writing a prologue for a novel is to differentiate your prologue from the main narrative in some way. Since the prologue stands separate from the main narrative, the reader sets different expectations for it. They will easily accept a prologue that is written in a different style or point of view from the rest of the narrative.

That means you can use the prologue to showcase a character’s perspective that either never shows up in the main novel, or perhaps only shows up at the end. The prologue can also be in a different point of view from the rest of the novel, such as close third person when the main narrative is in first person.

Feel free to be experimental and creative with your prologue, especially if it serves your story well and adds another layer of complexity to the narrative.

I hope these tips help you understand what goes into a good prologue and answer the admittedly tough question: should you write a prologue for your novel?

Thanks so much for reading and happy writing!