Just as I believe every writer should heed his/her own voice rather than sell their artist’s soul to follow trends in the hope of increasing book sales—follow your instincts when it comes to formulating or foregoing a prologue.

Defined as an opening to a story, the “prologue” has potential to establish context, provide relevant background details, establish tone, introduce a theme, or provide thumbnail insight into the main characters.

An Indie author who devoted considerable time this week to writing the prologue for my WIP in the genre of Contemporary—'Aida’s Fishing Ground'—I view the prologue as a vehicle to provide just enough information to entice the reader to delve into the story.

I take umbrage with negative feedback about prologues:

1. They’re out of vogue as most readers find them boring and want to jump right into the story.

2. They’re considered an information dump of incidental overload.

A writer who is also an avid reader, I’m fond of saying that I write books I’d like to read. Hence, as my own harshest critic, I’m confident my prologue has its mojo working by establishing the setting, staging the tone, and providing story direction and focus to pique the reader’s curiosity. It’s not full disclosure, but rather an opening or lead-in, as is the nature of a prologue.

It’s my opinion that critics need to give potential readers more credit. I refuse to believe that an avid reader is looking for a jiffy-fix rather than a soulful journey which begins with a prologue.