Here is the technical function of a prologue if you choose to use one. They are meant to give the reader something absolutely essential, but that cannot be given during the normal course of the story. For example, something that happened in the long past, or something that is happening from a POV that is not the main character. Or some event that is not part of the main sequence of events in the story....that exists outside the story and would interrupt the flow if it was inserted as a chapter. If you can't say this is the case for your prologue you should just call it Chapter 1.
That said, the spirit of a prologue....or any beginning to a story is to create questions that the reader aches with desire to know the answer. They continue to read because you have opened a knowledge gap that must close. And, if everything goes right you will systematically close these knowledge gaps and open new ones over and over, the length of your novel.
The most dreaded kind of prologue only gives answers--the info dump. Because it never actually creates the desire to know those answers, the reader kind of shrugs and says: "ok...thanks....??"
The absolute number one rule in story telling is: You have to create curiosity and desire to know, before you give answers.
Many people resist changing their beginning because the beginning is usually the thing you have had the longest, and sometimes it's hard to see how to fix it. In my experience the only way to fix an info dump at the beginning of a book is to write an entirely new, and active, scene (which will be so much better because now you know your character way better than you did when you first started the book).
If you don't believe me try this exercise: Rewrite the scene (not just an edit....rewrite it from memory with a blank piece of paper) with an eye toward the actions rather than the information or maybe write a scene that happens before it. It is just an exercise, not an actual replacement...yet...so feel free not to worry about what the reader does or doesn't know. You might just be surprised by the results.
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Things Writers Do
Non-FictionI get asked to give a lot of feedback on stories. I am straight and to the point when I do. I don't hand out fluff and "nice try" ribbons. I don't always have time enough to get to everybody, but I also know I tend to say the same things over and ov...
