Warning: Some Violence and Much Strong Language.SHE WROTE: Just For The Record . . .
He knows that "her and I" is wrong. He knows that the Korean restaurant story makes me twitch. He knows that "Book done yet?" makes me scream in the direction of Hilton Head.
And people wonder if we're a couple. Listen, if I was sharing a bed with him, I'd have killed him in his sleep by now.
SHE AND I, BOB! SHE AND I, DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also the fact that the problem existed before the start of the book is irrelevant. The book starts when the conflict starts when the protagonist and antagonist engage. PROLOGUES ARE BAD. There is no excuse for a prologue, EVER. Yeah, I know I wrote one once but it was just the wrong label; it should have been Chapter One. It's not a prologue. And that's not an epilogue at the end of Bet Me, either. Look at the last line. That's the end of the book, baby. Last chapter, not an epilogue. Jeez.
Yeah, I'm tense today. But that "her and I" didn't help and defending prologues . . .
I should probably go lie down for awhile. Especially since I know Bob is sitting at his computer, reading this and going, "HeHe."
I kind of like the time-travel-alien-conspiracy-vampire-romantic-thriller-comedy idea, though. But no damn prologue, Robert. In the darkness, there are prologues and that's where they're staying.
PS: Annoying Grammar Girl is right.
Also, "fourth wall" is for theater and performance, not writing; what you're telling me, Ink, is that I switched from third limited to omniscient POV at the end of Bet Me. Yep. That's how all fairy tales end, in omniscient. Well, they start in omniscient, too, but they definitely END in omniscient.
22 Comments:
So if that last chapter of Bet Me isn't an epilogue, how come it breaks the fourth wall and starts with "In case you were wondering"? Hey, don't kill me, I'm just the messenger. Jill, who I'm IM-ing back and forth with right now, wants to know. She really, really wants to know.
Oh, I'm going to be annoying grammar girl, but the offending couple is acting as the "subject" of an indirect statement and therefore should rightly be "her and me". Replace the "Jenny and I" with a "we" and you'll see that Bob was wrong from the start.
This is what twelve years of Latin does to you.
I am going to kill Kari and she knows it. :) If I was a writer I'd do it in the Prologue.
I'd buy a time-travel-alien-conspiracy-vampire-romantic-thriller-comedy book, especially if it was written by you two. But not if it had a prologue.
Not all epilogues are bad. Doesn't Middlemarch have one?
Prologue smologue. Doesn't matter if there is one. Hardly anybody ever reads them anyway.
I guess I'm weird. I ready EVERYTHING. Dedication, acknowledgements, prologue, the works. I'd probably read the author's grocery list if they slapped it on the front of the book.
I love that extra moment of anticipation, when I open a book I've been really looking forward to, before I dive into the story. This is especially true when reading on an airplane, although why that would make a difference I don't know.
I would love to read a time travel-alien conspiracy-vampire-romantic-thriller-comedy- even with a prologue by the two of you, but only if the vampire gets whacked by the end. Yeah, right - if the two of you wrote it I would love to read it even if the vampire survives.
I don't mind prologues either, if it shows me some character-forming event that has relevance or helps me understand why a person does what he or she does later in the story. I'm not big on long windy info-dumps, but if it's something technical that will help me understand the story better, I'm okay with it.
Can't prologues be like the cherry on top of the sundae? If you don't like 'em, pick it off and give it to your friend. If you love 'em, enjoy.
I don't mind prologues, in general. I figure they're there for a reason. And I read them. (Not that I run across them that often.)
However, she said, descending to the personal and bitter, the extremely self-congratulatory author's note at the beginning of a later edition of "A Game of Kings" (Dorothy Dunnett) put me right off and I haven't recovered from it yet.
Oh, and I skip the prologue to Lord of the Rings all the time. So forget what I said up in the first paragraph -- I guess It All Depends.
Right there with you on "her and I" though. *twitch*
What if you want to write a book about finding a hidden treasure, and want to start out with a description of it being hidden back in 1536? Wouldn't that be an appropriate use of a prologue?
Oh man, I don't get to die after the big chase scene with the helicopter and the ninjas?
*sniff*
As a humble reader, I must say that I enjoy prologues just as much as I do "diving into the middle of the action." I'm voracious (-:.
But, most of my experiences are with prologues that pass the editorial gauntlet and make it into print. I've recently started hanging out at a critique group, and I've noticed a lot of prologues that just don't work. Then again, there are a lot of stories without prologues that are stumbling around, too (-:.
If the prologue is very "hook-y" (ie: buried treasure, alien races, Atlantis, the origins of sex), it often makes an enjoyable warm-up to the main story. And sometimes, it makes a not-so-likable character into someone the reader can sympathize with.
I think it really depends on the writer's style.
Jenny - duly noted and thank you. I live in the land of LA, where everything creative oozes theater references, whether I like it or not.
And I didn't say it. Jill did.
*grin, duck, run*
See why you have to die in the Prologue ? No helicopters for you ;)
sorry if this comes up x2
I'm with you on prologues, Jenny.
A golden exception is the one in My Sweet Folly by Laura Kinsale(the epilogue's wonderful too).
Prologues suck. They're mostly back story, right?
I like prologues. Usually I dive right into a book (maybe why I love Jenny's so much?), but when I get a book with a prologue, I have a tendency to read the prologue, then wait a day while I digest the information. I wonder why it's pertinent and how it will have relevance throughout the book. But if a prologue is too long, then I put the book down - yuck! I can't handle more than two or three pages of infodump. I won't remember it as I read the story!
Prologues? Meh, can take 'em or leave 'em.
I'm trying to understand what "I switched from third limited to omniscient POV" means. And, forget about the fourth wall. What were the first three?
Makes me glad I read books and don't write 'em. My job as I see it before the book is written is to cheer and suck up to the writers.
As soon as I find some pom-poms I'll let you know about phase one. Until then... Rah! Go Crusie/Mayer! Rah!
Prologue, like Epilogue, or Chapter n is just a label. The way people feel about them, Prologues, is really subjective. You, as a writer, would probably rather gargle ground glass than put one at the beginning of your book, but I bet your readers would read it without a whimper. \;+)
prologues are like thesis statements in essays. they are limiting and unneccessary, and who really reads the introductions or prologues anyway? especially on books where they pull in fancy-smancy people to write a 20 page introduction that makes you want to poke your eyes with needles. eww.
i have an english teacher, who among all her other faults, is relentless on the topic of topic sentences. ::shakes head sadly::
in short: prologues are bad. and boring. unneccessary, if you will.
WOW, I had no ideas prologues could cause such emotions.
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