Our writing profession is full of Shoulds. You should:
post on social media.
blog.
invest in paid advertising.
go traditional.
go indie.
sell on your own website.
And then there’s the tech advice! You should:
use Microsoft word.
use Grammarly.
use Pro Writing Aid.
write on a Mac.
write on a PC.
The shoulds are endless and contradictory!
Writing teachers can’t even agree on basic writing advice!
Write every day.
Write in the morning.
Write every free moment.
Write to market.
Write from the heart.
Write what you know.
Some advice is good, and most of it is good for someone. But the question is: Is it good for you?
A small-business owner will start a business with a business plan. They'll research customers, goals, etc. But so often as writers, we forget that we are business owners.
Let me be clear: you cannot do everything you'll be told you should do.
You cannot use every great piece of software.
You cannot do all the amazing marketing things and still get your writing done.
What do teachers mean when they recommend these things? Sometimes they're more focused on their business model than on your best interests. Sometimes they are teaching power techniques that may not work for you or your genre.
In the end, you need to be a business owner and think strategically about what is best for your career.
Start with your goals.
What do you actually want to accomplish?
What makes you happy, keeps you sane, and gives you joy?
Understand that some of what may be best for you may not be what's best for others.
Do you want a six-figure career? Are you comfortable with rapid release? Then get to know your audience and start writing! Learn marketing and make it happen! Focus your efforts, and when something comes across your path that you should do, check it against your goals.
Is this good for your goal? Or just an interesting distraction? Will it help you succeed or just add stress?
Are you a passion writer with a story to tell? It may take you 10 years to write a book, and that’s fine. Because that is meeting your goal.
Understand: there are some good things that will also stifle some people's creativity. Something that damages your mental health isn't good no matter the potential gain. There are excellent software solutions that I don’t recommend for some of my clients. Why? Because the software will interfere with their creative process. They need to write first, analyze later.
You know your situation and your creative spirit better than anyone else.
Choose your path. Choose what gets your attention.
What are some shoulds that you've realized are should nots for you?
About Lisa
Lisa Norman's passion has been writing since she could hold a pencil. While that is a cliché, she is unique in that her first novel was written on gum wrappers. As a young woman, she learned to program and discovered she has a talent for helping people and computers learn to work together and play nice. When she's not playing with her daughter, writing, or designing for the web, she can be found wandering the local beaches.
We all know that writers are super-powered beings who can convince readers snug in bed that they’re actually freezing on the Arctic tundra…
...eloping with the incredibly attractive leader of the enemy forces…
...saying a final goodbye to their stalwart horse…
...basking in a Paris penthouse while they plan how to spend their billion-dollar inheritance…
We do that every day of the week.
Because we’re creators of magic, right? We can take ANY situation and turn it into something funny, or dramatic, or terrifying, or heartwarming, or thought-provoking, or whatever our readers want.
So if we’ve got that kind of superpower -- the mind-boggling ability to turn any situation into exactly what an audience wants -- why is it so incredibly hard to write a blurb for our book?
Especially when, most of the time, we can pretty much take our superpower for granted. While we don’t usually get tired of hearing people rave about our writing skill, we’ve gotten accustomed to comments like:
“Your note made my day.”
“Your hero made me swoon.”
“Your reference letter won me the job.”
“Well, of course,” we think. “Come on, I’m a writer -- this is what I’m great at!”
Which makes it all the more startling when we come across some new type of writing that we’re NOT necessarily great at right from the start.
Okay, we might not expect to be great at computer coding. Or calligraphy. Or composing a symphony. But writing a synopsis, a query, or <gulp> a blurb for our book?
How can that be so HARD?
I used to think I was incredibly gifted because I could whip out a blurb or synopsis in no time. A novel, not so much…but summing up the essence of the book? Piece of cake!
But then I realized this was only because of my day job as an advertising copywriter. Anyone who’s written for clients with something they want people to buy learns pretty quickly to identify -- and highlight -- the Unique Selling Points that’ll appeal to this seller’s Target Market.
(Although, drat it, that still didn't make writing the manuscript any easier. Hmph!)
The Essence of a Blurb
A blurb is very much LIKE an ad because it tells somebody why they want to buy your book -- but also UNLIKE because it doesn't have to tell the entire story, much less how the conflict gets resolved.
And, back to why they’re alike...you know how an ad needs to draw you in from the very start? It's gotta have a headline (or an opening) that makes you think "hmm, I want to see more of this."
Then to keep reading for more.
Your blurb has to do the same. Which is why you need to:
Forget everything you know about writing a novel.
When you're writing a novel, you have to think about plot structure and character development and turning points and how the people grow-learn-change and where to plant clues about upcoming developments and at what point the setting should evolve....
In effect, you have to think long-term.
For the blurb, you don't want long-term. You don't necessarily even want to include the plot plus the character/s plus the setting/s, any of that -- all you want is a BIT of what's cool about your story.
Since identifying what’s cool is generally more the job of a publicist than of a storyteller, you need to switch hats for this particular writing task. We all know what a great storyteller does, and we do it all the time. But a great publicist might NOT know every character in the book... every fabulous little plot twist... every nail-biting complication… as thoroughly as you do.
What they DO know, though, is the guts of what your book delivers. And when offering up those guts (ew, that sounds yicky!) here are:
3 DOs & DON’Ts to keep in mind.
1) DO make use of unusual connections that readers might not expect.
Examples of those would include some intriguing combinations like:
Vikings & Kindergartners
Wedding & Murder
Cowboys & Wizards
Terror & Humor
Anyone who already likes half of such a pair is gonna be eager to see how the other half fits into this story.
2) DON’T mention a cool detail that’s not a big deal in the plot.
If you have a military thriller during which the agent who’s fleeing pursuers winds up racing through Prince William’s coronation ball during a single one of the book’s 320 pages, this event doesn’t belong in the blurb. Otherwise, readers who love Prince William and coronation balls will be annoyed when they don’t get any more than just that one-page mention.
3) DO convey the mood of the book.
This is crucial, and it’s also where Test Marketing comes in the most handy. Which is one MORE thing that makes writing a blurb similar to writing an ad.
And, speaking of ads, that leads to a:
Prize Drawing Question
What’s some ad (in print, online, TV, radio, signage, whatever) that made you think “yes, I want this” -- to the point where you actually DID place an order, go to the business, make a donation, whatever they wanted you to do?
Do you remember how it opened? (It’s okay to mention the ad even if you don’t remember the opening; it was still doing its job just fine.) Share your answer in the comments!
Someone who comments will win free registrationto Blurbing Your Book, a June 3-14 email class on using ad techniques to do exactly that. On Monday morning, I’ll have random dot org draw a name and post it at the end of the comments...and, hurray, I can even justify doing that while at my Day Job since technically it’s about how advertising affects people. :)
About Laurie
After winning Romantic Times’ “Best Special Edition of the Year” over Nora Roberts, Laurie Schnebly Campbell discovered she loved teaching every bit as much as writing...if not more. Since then she’s taught online and live workshops including the one at groups.io/g/Blurb, and keeps a special section of her bookshelves for people who’ve developed that particular novel in her classes. With 50+ titles there so far, she’s always hoping for more.
Top photo created in Canva by Writers In the Storm.
Rumor has it that agents and editors hate prologues. The truth is agents and editors are readers. Some readers love a good prologue, others will never read a prologue. The same is true of publishing houses.
Prologues aren’t bad per se…but they are tricky to get right. They are so tricky there are no hard and fast rules. A poorly written prologue can prompt your potential readers to close your book and never open it again. Knowing what a prologue does and what questions to ask will help you decide if your story needs a prologue.
What Is A Prologue?
The word prologue has its roots in two Greek words. In Ancient Greek, “pro” meant forward or before. “Logos” means word or plan. Latin, then Middle English, language each changed the word to what we use today.
Today’s dictionaries often define prologue as an introduction or preface. In the world of books, a preface refers to a section of the book that talks about the book. And that is not what we mean when we say prologue.
In fiction, a prologue can be an introduction to the world or society of a story. It can be a past event or a future event. It can also set a mood, a tone, or to provide information.
Prologues come before chapter one without exception.
What Makes a Good Prologue?
The most important thing a prologue does is it establishes the context for the story. You can do this in several ways.
If it provides necessary information that would disrupt the plot of your story if you included it in the main story, that is a useful prologue. This is especially true if the reader will understand the plot more deeply by having this information.
Introducing an important-to-the story philosophy or religious belief can make a good prologue. If it helps the reader understand why the story characters make the choices they do but would require a lump of exposition that would disrupt the story, this would make suitable prologue material.
You can write a prologue from the point of view of a character who knows or experiences something that is outside your plot and your viewpoint characters’s experience. Whatever this knowledge or experience is, it should add to the reader’s understanding of your story.
Another good prologue introduces a little of the antagonist’s background and motivation. It could be a scene that humanizes the character or a scene of how far the antagonist will go. This type of prologue is effective when the antagonist doesn’t appear until later in the story.
Finally, a prologue can be a bit of background or a glimpse of the future that reinforces the main plot.
Examples of Good Prologues
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
The opening four lines of this play introduces the conflict between Romeo’s family and Juliet’s family. The culture and long-standing conflict is information that helps the reader immediately understand that these two young lovers will have colossal problems.
A Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones #1) by George R.R. Martin
The prologue in this book is a complete scene. None of the characters in this scene are viewpoint characters in the rest of the book. However, each of the characters represents a part of the story’s culture and society. It shows us that there is something unusual happening, and it’s freaking out the viewpoint character. By the time the reader has finished reading this prologue, they want to know who were the creatures that attacked, how cold is it going to get, and who’s going to stop the threat from the creatures? The reader is prepared for the brutality of the world and for the feudal culture and government of the story.
The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books Book 1) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
This prologue is told in the main character’s voice. It takes place when he was a young boy and his father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten books. It’s an exclusive and mysterious place of wonder presided over by an old man. The protagonist is told he may select one book, take it away, and make it part of his life. This sets up the reader to understand the character’s obsession with the book years later and how this leads him to a mystery that is the heart of the book.
What Makes a Prologue Bad?
1. Information Dump
This is the most common “bad” prologue. If your prologue is only about one element of the story (technology, the world, the society, a character’s lineage, etc.) it will most likely be unnecessary and boring. Like the rest of the story, a prologue needs only enough of each story element in order for the reader to see it in his mind’s eye.
2. Has Nothing to Do with the Story.
It does not matter how interesting a bit of business, a scene, or a description is if it doesn’t illuminate some part of the main story.The life cycle of a Fairy Godmother might be an interesting story, but as a prologue for Cinderella, it would fail. Why? The reader does not need to know the life cycle of a Fairy Godmother in order to understand the story. The same is true of a prologue about the lineage of Prince Charming. Neither of those bits of backstory is necessary to understand and enjoy the story.
3. It only has one purpose.
Like the other parts of your book, a prologue needs to fulfill more than one purpose. Offering the reader a tourist brochure and guide or an encyclopedic description of the geo-political world instead of writing about an event and a character they can identify with and learn about the world alongside, will probably bore your reader. Or they’ll skip the prologue or put down the book. More than one purpose rounds out your prologue and gives it strength.
4. It’s used to supplement a boring first chapter.
No matter how suspenseful or interesting your prologue is, the reader will not keep reading if the first chapter is boring. Every part of your story must be the best, most interesting story you can write.
5. The content could be part of the main story.
If it could be, why isn’t it?
6. Is it longer than your chapters?
A good prologue needs to be short and to the point. An overly long one may show information that you (the writer) need to know (and the reader doesn’t). It may also show you need to include this information in the main story. At any rate, if it’s longer than your chapters, it is in danger of not hold your reader’s interest.
7. It doesn’t fit the genre.
Readers of genres such as science fiction, fantasy, thrillers, and historical fiction are accustomed to prologues. Readers of contemporary romance are not as used to prologues.
How to Tell if Your Prologue is Good
1. Does your story make sense without it?
The best prologues give the reader little bits of information that help them "get" the story. Test yours to see if yours does that. Try having someone read it without the prologue. If they read and understand the story without the prologue, skip it.
2. Could this content be part of the main story?
It's okay if there's a part of the prologue is echoed in the main story, but the best prologues are the puzzle piece that helps complete the story. If your prologue could be part of the main story, by all means, put it in the main story.
3. What does the reader gain from your prologue?
Even though your prologue is short, the best ones offer a full story moment. If it exists solely as exposition, or world-building, or mood setting, reconsider. Or rewrite your prologue to include an event and/or characters that will enlighten your reader about the main plot.
4. Does it give information that the reader could not glean from the rest of the novel?
If it does and the information enhances the reader’s experience or understanding of your story, then go for it.
5. How does your prologue stand out from the rest of the book?
It can stand out by being a letter or poem, set in a different time period, or from a different point of view. If it doesn’t stand out from the rest of the book, why is it a prologue?
6. Does it make the reader ask questions but does not frustrate her?
A frustrated reader is a reader who will put the book down forever. If you’ve written a good prologue, then the reader wants desperately to continue reading.
7. Is it gripping and intriguing?
Your prologue must be as gripping as the rest of your book. Remember, an agent, editor, and some readers will judge your story by the first ten pages of your book.
Additional Tips to Writing Prologues
Despite genre and reader preferences, whether you write a prologue is all about what works best to tell your story.
If you can’t decide if you should start with a prologue, read books in your genre. Do they have prologues? Look at what those prologues give the reader and what story techniques were used to create them. Another way to decide prologue or no prologue is to finish your story first. Once it’s complete, you will have a better idea of whether a prologue works.
Consider giving your prologue a title other than the word prologue. Some say this is necessary if you publish your book on Amazon. I don’t know the veracity of this. However, if you choose to give your prologue a title, make it stand out from the rest of your book. In The Shadow of the Wind, Zafón uses “The Cemetery of Forgotten Books” as the title of his prologue. He numbered the chapters in this book.
Finally, keep in mind that some readers may turn away from a book with a prologue. Other readers may skip it.
You can’t do anything about the readers who see a prologue and give the book a miss. But for the readers who skip it there are two things you can do.
1. Make certain the readers who skip the prologue can still enjoy your story.
2. From the first to the last line of your prologue, use crisp, evocative language that pulls even a reluctant reader in.
To Prologue or Not to Prologue
Prologues are not for every writer or every story. If you choose to write a prologue, use your best story writing techniques. A prologue isn’t simply something you tack onto the beginning of a story, it’s a story (or at least part of one).
Have you thought about starting your story with a prologue? Why did you decide to use one/not to use one?
About Lynette
Lynette M. Burrows is an author, blogger, creativity advocate, and Yorkie wrangler. She survived moving seventeen times between kindergarten and her high school graduation. This alone makes her uniquely qualified to write an adventure or two.
Her Fellowship series is a takes “chillingly realistic” alternate history in 1961 Fellowship America where autogyros fly and following the rules isn’t optional. Books one and two, My Soul to Keep, and If I Should Die, are available everywhere books are sold online. Book three, And When I Wake, is scheduled to be published in late 2024.
Lynette lives in the land of OZ. She is a certifiable chocoholic and coffee lover. When she’s not blogging or writing or researching her next book, she avoids housework and plays with her two Yorkshire terriers. You can find Lynette online on Facebook or on her website.
