How long should a prologue last?

The average length of a prologue is between 1500 to 2500 words long. As you can see, it is a little shorter than an actual chapter. And that is the golden rule of a healthy prologue length.

How long is too long for a prologue?

The length of a prologue depends on the nature of the story, but it's best to keep it trim. One to five pages should suffice.

Can a prologue be 1000 words?

How Long Should a Prologue Be? Most novel chapters are around 1,000–5,000 words long. A good prologue can be the length of a standard novel chapter, but it's usually better to write a short prologue than a long one.

Can a prologue be 3 pages?

Prologues come at the beginning of a book; after any copyright, dedication, and epigraph pages. There's no set length, but a prologue is usually shorter than a standard chapter. A prologue is different from a preface, which is written from the perspective of the author and isn't fictional.

Can a prologue be 2000 words?

Length of Prologue

Some would suggest below 1000, while some would suggest otherwise. It can be of any length as there is no rule for a minimum or a maximum number of words to place in a prologue. But a maximum of 2000 words is appropriate for any kind of book.

How to Write a Prologue | Novel Writing Advice

Is 500 words enough for a prologue?

The average length of a prologue is between 1500 to 2500 words long. As you can see, it is a little shorter than an actual chapter. And that is the golden rule of a healthy prologue length.

What is the longest prologue ever?

Crossroads of Twilight is the longest prologue ever written.

Do readers skip prologue?

Ask most readers across the globe, and they'll unequivocally tell you they tend to skip the prologue.

Can prologue be skipped?

It gives the reader information about the story, in the same form of the story. So the prose of a prologue will have the same writing style and vibe of the rest of the book, even if it's in a different timeline or perspective. If a reader skips reading the prologue, it will affect their understanding of the book.

Does a prologue count as chapter 1?

Prologues come before chapter one and could be expository/introductory prose, a poem, diary letter, news clipping, or anything in between. As a reader, when I start reading a prologue, I'm usually impatient to get to chapter one.

Is 8000 words enough for a book?

If you're writing your first novel, the general rule of thumb for novel writing is a word count in the 80,000 to 100,000 range. While anything over 40,000 words can fall into the novel category, 50,000 is considered the minimum novel length. Anything over 110,000 words is considered too long for a fiction novel.

Can 10,000 words make a book?

For most publishers, a book is “novel-length” when it's between 50,000 and 110,000 words. At a writers conference I recently attended, publishing veteran Jane Friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isn't novel length territory, and above 120,000 is likely too much.

Can a prologue be a flashback?

Prologues can be anywhere from a few sentences to even a few chapters long, and they're always placed at the start of a novel. The four most common types of prologues are: Flashback: A prologue that explores an event that happened in the past, prior to the main story.

What makes a bad prologue?

Gives too many out of context details—say, a fantasy prologue that sets up what's happening, explaining circumstances—that mean nothing to the reader, creating the sensation of too much information at once without developing a sense of the story itself.

What does a good prologue look like?

A good prologue should:

Introduce a major character, even if only by name or in passing. Provide some vital information on a character's backstory. Set the tone/feel for the rest of the story. Provide information on the world, conflict, time period, or inciting incident.

Are prologues necessary?

Usually it takes place before the main action of your story begins. Prologues are great tools when necessary, but if you don't truly need a prologue, consider that it may backfire by making your book seem slow to start.

Why do editors hate prologues?

Because, at the risk of being repetitive, most literary agents hate prologues.

Do people read prologues?

If the reader really believes that reading the Prologue will advance his or her knowledge and appreciation of the story. Then they will read them, to gain better background awareness. Also, if your Prologue is like a Foreword and happens to have a famous author writing it, then readers will tend to read it, too.

What are the rules of a prologue?

Do agents hate prologues?

Andrea Brown of Andrea Brown Literary Agency puts it like this: Most agents hate prologues. Just make the first chapter relevant and well written.

Should you write a prologue first?

A prologue is a piece of writing found at the beginning of a literary work, before the first chapter and separate from the main story.

Is The prologue optional?

However, the main reason to consider not writing a prologue is that in most cases, they simply aren't necessary. Introducing the essential components of a story, including history/backstory, different points in time, attention-grabbing action, and characterization can be accomplished within the body of a novel.

How long is the shortest book ever?

1. “Baby Shoes” by Hemingway. This is 20th-century American author Ernest Hemingway's famous six-word story.

Can a prologue have dialogue?

A prologue stands out.

You could also use a flashback later in the narrative or convey the past through dialogue or character thought. A prologue can be told in a different voice than the rest of the story or be presented by a different viewpoint character.

What is the longest read ever?

At the time of this post, Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time, or Remembrance of Things Past) is recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest novel ever written. It has a whopping 9,609,000 characters!