Prequels and Prologues by Annmarie Miles
For reasons that will not be mentioned in this post, I have had some extra time on my hands in the last few weeks. I've spent some of it watching and listening to movies and music from my youth. It's been fun and has brought back great memories.
I had never seen any of the Star Wars films and thought it was time to try them. I didn't know where to start, so consulted an avid SW fan friend of mine who was adamant I should watch them in the order they were released. So, as instructed, I started on Episode IV, A New Hope and though I'd never seen it, I recognised that characters, some of the famous phrases, and of course the unmistakable theme tune. After watching IV, V and VI, I went back to Episode I. The improvement in graphics is probably the most obvious change, but I was glad they kept the 'swish' of the light-saber.
I've read and chatted to many people about stories that start, then go back and the general consensus seems to be that George Lucas' genius not withstanding, it's not a good thing to do. Though the makers of the Tolkein series also seem to have done well with it.
A hot topic that has gotten me into some very lively conversations is, the prologue. Now I LOVE a prologue. Love to read them and love to write them. I seem to be in the minority. My novel, Gorse Lodge, has a prologue at the beginning of each of the three sections. They really annoyed one beta reader. I was trying not to laugh as she got all fired up. "No, no, no - the prologues have to go. I kept it to myself that she might be a poet and not be aware of it.
I put them in because I wanted the history to unfold slowly. When I moved from short stories to longer work, I found I could not tell the story in one line. I had to go back and fore; peeling off another layer of history every so often. I enjoy writing that way and I'm often surprised by some of the history that reveals itself as I'm writing.
I've had some great feedback about the novel, and readers who aren't writers don't seem to have any issue with the flow of the story. So I think I'll stick to my prologues :) I would love to hear your thoughts. Do you like them or not? And why?
Annmarie Miles is from Dublin, Ireland.
She lives with her husband Richard who is a pastor in the Eastern Valley of Gwent, in South Wales. She writes short stories, magazine articles, devotional pieces for Christian radio, and blogs about her faith at www.auntyamo.com Her first collection of short stories published in 2013, is called 'The Long & The Short of it'. Her second collection, 'A Sense of the Sea and other stories,' was published in 2018 and in December 2019 she published her first novel, Gorse Lodge. She is currently editing a non-fiction book about being an overweight Christian called, 'Have mercy on me O Lord, a slimmer.'
I had never seen any of the Star Wars films and thought it was time to try them. I didn't know where to start, so consulted an avid SW fan friend of mine who was adamant I should watch them in the order they were released. So, as instructed, I started on Episode IV, A New Hope and though I'd never seen it, I recognised that characters, some of the famous phrases, and of course the unmistakable theme tune. After watching IV, V and VI, I went back to Episode I. The improvement in graphics is probably the most obvious change, but I was glad they kept the 'swish' of the light-saber.
 |
| Pat Vader The farce is strong with this one |
A hot topic that has gotten me into some very lively conversations is, the prologue. Now I LOVE a prologue. Love to read them and love to write them. I seem to be in the minority. My novel, Gorse Lodge, has a prologue at the beginning of each of the three sections. They really annoyed one beta reader. I was trying not to laugh as she got all fired up. "No, no, no - the prologues have to go. I kept it to myself that she might be a poet and not be aware of it.
I put them in because I wanted the history to unfold slowly. When I moved from short stories to longer work, I found I could not tell the story in one line. I had to go back and fore; peeling off another layer of history every so often. I enjoy writing that way and I'm often surprised by some of the history that reveals itself as I'm writing.
I've had some great feedback about the novel, and readers who aren't writers don't seem to have any issue with the flow of the story. So I think I'll stick to my prologues :) I would love to hear your thoughts. Do you like them or not? And why?
She lives with her husband Richard who is a pastor in the Eastern Valley of Gwent, in South Wales. She writes short stories, magazine articles, devotional pieces for Christian radio, and blogs about her faith at www.auntyamo.com Her first collection of short stories published in 2013, is called 'The Long & The Short of it'. Her second collection, 'A Sense of the Sea and other stories,' was published in 2018 and in December 2019 she published her first novel, Gorse Lodge. She is currently editing a non-fiction book about being an overweight Christian called, 'Have mercy on me O Lord, a slimmer.'
I rather like prologues, although the first three Star Wars films are sacrosanct in my view, and the next three didn't really add anything. Quite the reverse in the case of The Phantom Menace. I like the idea of peeling off layers of history too - a nice image.
ReplyDeleteenjoyed this. we can and should all see what helps us write. variety is good!
ReplyDeleteI'm currently wrestling with book 4 of a trilogy - basically one of the characters wouldn't lie down and go quietly at the end of book 3. Giving that character a fair crack of the whip has had me unravelling the very entangled threads of the past two books (and wishing I'd known then that I'd be writing this now!). Playing with time and what we reveal when is very much part of the writer's toolkit and I reckon long-term plotters have it easier than seat-of-the-pantsers like me. I'm hoping that taking my readers back won't be a disaster and that I'll find a way to a decent ending that is a definite ending. There's another completely different story I'm wanting to get stuck into!
ReplyDeleteThanks for championing the Prologue!
ReplyDelete