writing tip #3450:

lots of people tell you not to write prologues, so call your prologue something else. no one’s going to tell you not to write a literary overture

writing a very dark prologue (and keeping it interesting)

#1. HOOKHOOKHOOKHOOK–

Okay but seriously - you NEED a good hook. Introduce a concept or idea that reels your reader in. It should be unique, dark, and most importantly; it should introduce an idea that doesn’t seem cliched and overdone, but rather shocks and makes your reader take in a breath.

#2. Don’t hesitate to make it dark

Start with the most gruesome beginning you want. Some potential starting ideas:

• Someone getting murdered
• Hearing a detailed report of a murder
• Investigating a murder scene
• Any kind of dark setting - a basement, graveyard, preferably at night to make it scarier

#3. Don’t over-explain

Leave some things mysterious on purpose! It’s a prologue - don’t info-dump, and leave it confusing. It adds to the mystery and hooks the reader. But don’t use TOO many foreign terms, implicitly explain some, and leave the rest for later. It has to be a balance between info-dumping and confusing.

#4. Keep it short

You don’t HAVE too - but a trend I’ve noticed is that shorter prologues hit harder. Therefore, keep it short - not more than 1000 words - once again, this is a loose suggestion, because the purpose of prologues is to hook, not to intro your story.

#5. Remember to plot it + remember that is sets the tone for your entire story

Prologues tend to set the tone for your story. If you have a dark prologue, it’s gonna be assumed you have a dark story. Ensure that the tone of your prologue fits the tone of your story! Just because its a prologue doesn’t mean you don’t plot it out - you HAVE to know what happens in your prologue because its quite literally the make or break point of your WIP, whether people are gonna continue reading or not.