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Prologue?

4 years ago

Hello and good day, I've decided to make my own story adventure and I began by making a prologue, just to help ease in the setting for "immersion" purposes. May I ask as to what are the general standards for a prologue? Im mostly inquiring about the length cause the prologue im writing feels alot like a chapter already. Thank you in advance for all the help im might get.  :D

Prologue?

4 years ago
My initial reaction is to inquire about the overall length of your story. I don't think a prologue is necessary unless the storygame will be lengthy enough to require one. It seems silly to intentionally create an introductory section if the entire thing will be 20k words or less. I probably wouldn't create one on anything less than a 6/8 length, which is a high number of words now. I recommend just making your prologue the first official chapter. If you're talking about simply publishing your prologue before the entire story, then don't do that. It will get taken down within a couple days. Obviously since I haven't read what you've written, it's hard to comment without generalizing things. If I were you, I'd ask myself if a dedicated prologue adds or detracts from the story. Even if it lies in the middle, I'd just make it the first chapter because why would you include something that has no effect on the story?

Prologue?

4 years ago
I'm in the same boat as Ninja here, I'm gonna need more details to give any kind of meaningful opinion.

Prologue?

4 years ago

I'm currently working on my first full story (over on IS for the Ruins contest) so I am not sure what is typical. For mine, I don't have a separate prologue. I have my first choice on the first page. While I include bits of setting on the first page, for the most part I include setting details and backstory as I go along. Choices that might not be technically the 'ideal' path will often have bits of lore or backstory not written elsewhere in the piece, so there still will be a type of reward for the reader playing through multiple times.

I've only read a handful of stories here, but so far I prefer the ones that go strait into the adventure/choices. It just makes more sense for a storygame. Also, there is such a thing as too much exposition up-front - you want to give a reader a reason to care about the character and setting before info-dumping.

One neat trick I've seen some longer pieces do is put links to extra backstory or description as further options on the first page. The reader has the option to click them or ignore them, and clicking one will loop back to the first page.

Prologue?

4 years ago
This is my preference too. Some people do use infodumps on separate pages (Endmaster included) and I don't know anyone has ever complained, but there's an art to carefully folding in setting info in a natural way as it becomes necessary and when it's done right it's something I appreciate as a reader.

I'm not sure right now what the OP means by a prologue though, whether it's just a page or two setting things up or if it's got choices as a kind of mini adventure of its own.

Prologue?

4 years ago

Suppose if depends, Frost.

My EPIC contest entry had a prologue of about 8k words, out of a total of like 70k

I would say there is no set rule, as long as is propelling the story and setting it up so it in a way so it is interesting...and won't get boring.

 

Prologue?

4 years ago
Commended by JJJ-thebanisher on 9/24/2019 3:52:57 AM
Pro Tip: No matter what you do, someone will complain that you did it that way. That said, do what you think makes the most sense. If the prologue contains information that is very important to the flow and part of the story that you can't think of any other way to get it in there, go ahead and write it. If you think you can weave the important parts into the story, but also want to add more just for flavor, maybe you put it in as an option. Or if you can find a way to include all the important parts into the main body of the story, maybe you just leave it out entirely and weave more into the story itself. All three ways can work, all three can be effective and good, and all three will be liked by some and hated by others. My personal opinion matches that of the advice above: if it's just extra window dressing, why it is included at all? For example, is it to explain how magic works in your world? If magic works and everyone in the story understands it, I, as a reader, probably don't need that specific information. Is it background information that's about the planet you're on that doesn't add anything to the story? Well then why do I want to read that information at all? For me, what I try and do as a writer, is to have a short statement, hopefully just one sentence, but sometimes two, that describes the entire story. Then, when I'm writing, I can refer to the statement. If what I'm writing doesn't have anything to do with the statement, I need to stop writing that! For example, here's one: "An archaeology student races against time to decipher the secret of the pyramid before his rival uses the secret to control the world." That's the whole story. So if I'm starting to write about the formations of the pyramids, and that has nothing to do with deciphering the secrets, I need to stop writing that and write something else! I'm not sure that's much more than a bunch of rambling, but I do hope that helps you in some way.