One month to go

3/1/2011

Happy March! Well, we made it through February and it's all down hill from here. Yep, down hill. Picking up speed. Where are the brakes again?
This month I am awaiting feedback from my trusted first readers but I'm not going to be idle. I have a close line edit to complete by March 31st. I also plan on reading some of my books on writing. Today's book: Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. I'll give a summary later but I've found the book to be inspiring.
I'm also going to be fiddling with my next novel idea. I'll try the Snowflake method (http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php) and likely write a few scenes. If they work out, I may expand one into a short story for submission. We'll see.
I am also going to fiddle a bit with the prologue and epilogue for Angel Odyssey which got cut for length and for the stubborn conviction of editors I spoke to that no one likes to read prologues. Rabble. Still, we'll see if it's any good once the rough draft is done.
For now, I get to READ for a bit. Ahhhh.
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3 Comments

Tiyana link

2/28/2011 10:49:03 pm

Seems like sometimes prologues are just one of those "either you like them or you don't" things, or perhaps people have read prologues in the past that didn’t work and so they just decided they were all a waste of time. Though, if it really contributes to and is necessary to your story, I don't see why it would be a problem. :/

I wonder how editors would feel about an unlabeled prologue, or one that is given a creative title but is followed up with traditionally-labeled chapters, or perhaps even chapters with actual names rather than numbers. This seems like something that might be done more in literary novels than genre fiction, though. Hm...

Hey, do you mind if I ask how come you chose to use a prologue and an epilogue, like why it made sense for your story?

Mark Andrew Edwards link

2/28/2011 11:33:58 pm

I don't really know the reasons why prologues are verboten but I can guess. Often the events of a prologue are not felt early enough in the story. Also, lots of readers skip the prologue entirely. So if you put critical information in the prologue, it may well get missed. Prologues may also open 'soft', I mean, they don't really hook the reader. Some authors use the prologue to establish backstory, when that kind of information should be coming much later in the novel.

If you get the chance, ask an editor at a convention your question about the unlabeled prologue. I'd be interested in what they say.

In answer to your question, I haven't decided to use a prologue. I just decided to write one :) Here's my thinking:
Jael is a powerful supernatural creature but we don't get to see her in action with her full strength. She comes to Jacob wounded, near death and is only renewed after all their trials are passed. So my thought was to open with a big battle scene, Jael fighting the godling and his servitors. That way I can show the events that led to her fall rather than just tell the reader about it.

On the other hand...there's the 'don't use prologues' and 'readers don't read prologues' advice I've gotten very consistently from editors at Tor and elsewhere.

So I'll write it and if they like what I've written, I'll mention, 'hey, I have a prologue that I cut out. Would you like me to send that along as well?'

Tiyana link

3/1/2011 07:42:34 am

I see. From the sound of it, though, it actually seems that would be a great place to start the present story rather than using it as a prologue. I think as a reader I’d feel more emotionally invested in a character after seeing them in their glory then coming to a fall than I would seeing her for the first time only after the fall has taken place. I’d feel more of a connection.

I’m also struggling with the idea of using a prologue. The chapter-like length of mine is probably an issue, heh, but I also fear that labeling it “Prologue” may cause people to just automatically deem it useless, when in fact it is a very important scene whose particulars are only sparsely referred to in the beginning of the novel but then become very important in the latter half. It also puts the reader in the mindset of a major secondary character during an event that occurs about a month before the “actual” story, a character whose perspective I revisit only a handful of other times throughout the remainder of the story.

On another note, good luck with the Snowflake Method. I know I couldn’t stick to it, heh.

And also, nice subtle prod at the convention thing. (Yeah, I caught that. :P)

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