Prologues and Epilogues

[ReidenLightman]

Do you use them? If so, is it okay to just have one of them? What's their reletive size compared to other chapters? do they count as chapters?

/Discuss: all of the above.

[Aevona]

In my story, I'm making use of my prologue as an attention grabber before chapter one starts and my annoying female protagonist shows up. e_e From my reading, prologues are generally shorter than other chapters, and rarely actually count as chapters.

I number the chapters in my story with capital Roman numerals. I numbered the prologue with a lowercase i.

[Elisabell-angel enraged]

It depends on the story. I have used them in the past.. but I don't really like to..

It feels a little... unnecessary or pretentious. It's hard to avoid either.

[Kikinumi]

UGH, I greatly despise prologues, but I think epilogues are a nice addition to stories because they give the reader closure. I have only ever used one in any of my stories and I eventually ended up deleting it because it bothered me so much.

I think prologues can be shorter or the same relative size compared to regular chapters, but shouldn't be too much longer because then they almost 'consume' the story- if that makes any sense. I also believe that they do count as 'specified' chapters.

[Catuboduus]

I kind of have a prologue. But my story isn't divided into chapters, so I don't think it counts as one. It's really just a musing about the universe and how the impressive things aren't very big, but actually the smaller parts, such as small planets and the even smaller life forms, which are actually rather rare in the universe.

[Chouryou]

I am not yet done.
>>>>>>>>>>

I have a prologue for my story, but only because the prologue event takes place several hundred years before the actual story, and I didn't want to jump right in without a brief background. It doesn't really explain anything but just shows a significant event.

<<<<<<<<<<
WITNESS.

[s o f t e r s t a r]

I use prologues to introduce the story. Because I have to explain the history of the world in which the story takes place, it kind of requires a prologue. I also use prologues to tell what happened in the previous books so that the reader doesn't get lost. Epilogues are kind of, "This is what happened, and this is what you need to remember for the next book," so the readers don't have to read the whole last chapters again.

[Lady Vizsla]

Haha I heart your sig.

I think it's best to have both. They should be like 3 pages maximum ... not sure word count. They don't count as chapters but you put them in the TOC.

[MissSweet77]

Far too cool for that.

[walikeheke]

I have one, its very short, and I don't think it counts as a chapter. Like said before, its used to briefly recount an event crucial to the story but that takes place much earlier. Prologues are more acceptable to me cause there are some terrible epilogues out there. Prologues too though... I guess always be careful. X3

[Chitoko Kanzaki]

KT_JDDD

Do you use them? If so, is it okay to just have one of them? What's their reletive size compared to other chapters? do they count as chapters?

/Discuss: all of the above.

My prologue is in my first chapter, its the attention grabber and is 2 paragraphs long. I was sneaky and put it in there ninja it also is the payoff for the joke I made with the chapter title. Which is "Dollar Short".