Good vs Bad FANTASY Prologues (Writing Advice)

My next fantasy novel, Kingdom of Dragons, launches on Kickstarter on November 2nd! Check it out here: bit.ly/kingdom-of-dragons-jed

There is another form of prologue: the one that sets the mood of the scene, usually used in japanese comics. It works in role-playing gaming, too... one time a GM started the session describing how the larva of a woodeating insect drills it's tunnels through dead wood, knowing nothing about the world outside, nor day or night being of meaning; just the munching, and the growing. So, eventually it was time to transform into the insect, and crawl outside where warm sun and air waited for it--- only to be crushed by the heel of one of the player character's boot. Turned out we were starting aboard of a ship sailing the high sea.

Tolkien´s prologue is not bad. It´s just different and you have to work with it differently. You can ignore it or you can read it, either way, you will probably get what is going on in the story.

As a completely untrained amateur writer, I cannot express how much I appreciate these video lectures! Thank you very much for helping those of us without the formal education/training.

I am one of this people that didn't get bored when reading "Lord of the Rings" prologue. Many people says that the descriptions bored them,but for me it was ok. I don't know why,maybe it just because I love discover a good lore?

What about "The flash forward". Where you show a reflective moment in the near future of the story that foreshadows further complications or developments. Then you spend 1-2 chapters developing the characters on their way to get there.

A prologue is the sign of the rules outside the pool. Theyre great. Prologues are not bad it’s YouTube trends that have made us think there’s way more agents who reject prologues than they’re actually are.

Tolkiens prologue was created mainly for people who were interested in the details after reading The Hobbit. After Hobbit almost 20 years passed until Lotr was printed. All those years Tolkien was swimming in letters from fans wanting more.

The best prologue I've ever read is the opening of Red Sister by Mark Lawrence. It tells you exactly what you're getting into, and sets up some expectations that are used to great effect later in the book and in the series. Tolkien was basically a tree in human form. He appreciated slowness and pre-modern styles of storytelling, and 'Concerning Hobbits' is all about the framing narrative and setting the reader in relation to the book as a 'historical' document. But it would be very, very hard to pull off today I would be really interested to see a video analyzing novel dialogue. Screen/stage dialogue is a different form where you have a performer's and director's interpretation involved to get across emotion and inflection. But novels have different elements at play that didn't get discussed in looking at film dialogue.

Love the How Did He Do That? That style consistently builds the most anticipation for me. I think because it’s more character/skill focused as opposed to a more abstract suspense like the Distant Threat

this is a perfect guide for writing fast food equivalent of novels. There are no good or bad fantasy prologues. Some like info dumps and detailed world building, some like fast punches. A writers job is not to cater to every reader. Fellowship of the Ring wouldn't be what it was without that 7 thousand word prologue. Just do yourself a favor and write instead of watching clickbait videos with worthless advice.

The way you highlighted the page in a game of thrones😭😭 But I was mesmerised by that prologue!

I know it's not the subject of the video, but you looked legitimately excited to talk about your book! That passion is really nice ^^

Very informative and precious info, thank you so much Jed. I found out I wasn't writing a prologue, but my actual Chapter 1. Gives me ideas so how to write a shorter and punchier prologue! Take care

I want advices about this: I'm trying to write a prologue where a future scene that is a battle scene filled with action and emotions. The reason I'm doing this is because the biggening of my story is sort of slow where i try to build my character and i don't want readers to feel bored or off-put by the slow start so i make a prologue setting the mood and showing readers what the story and the mood is about without jumping into the action without giving proper introduction and building of world and characters

I have a prologue typed up for the novel I'm working on. However, I've been debating whether or not to include it. The characters the prologue follows will have been long passed away when the chapter one kicks off, but are hailed as very important figures in the current time and referenced several times throughout. Still, whether I include it or not, it's good to have that bit of history logged away to maintain consistency.

Incredibly helpful as always mate, thanks a lot for making this.

One thing to remember about the prologue to the Lord of the Rings is that it was a sequel to the Hobbit. He was likely giving all that information to update and inform the fans of the Hobbit. That being said, I would agree -it isn't a great prologue to learn from. But I think we can cut Tolkien some slack because it kind of worked for him. I mean, the book is the second most popular fiction of all time so....

This was very helpful. thank you

Tolkien was slower pace because FANTASY was a slower at the timez it was a newer genre, unlike the great gatsby, lotr is about adventure, a Looong avdventure, having focus on details of nature and costumes and culture, since tolkien vallued these the most, speacially nature