Should My Book Have a Prologue? How to Decide

Your book should have a prologue only if it shows the reader something they need, which chapter one cannot show, and which would lose its force if you moved it later. That usually means a different time, a different viewpoint, or a promise about the kind of story ahead. If your prologue mainly explains backstory, sets up the world, or exists because you weren't sure where to start, cut it and open with chapter one.

That's the short version. The rest of this post covers why so many drafts end up with a prologue they don't need, how to fix each cause, and how to avoid the problem when you plan your next book.

What a prologue is actually for

A prologue is a short section of the story that sits before chapter one and stands apart from it. It belongs to the narrative itself, rather than offering commentary about the book.

The separation is the whole point. A prologue earns its label because something about it is different from the main story:

• A different time. An event years or centuries earlier, or a scene from the future that the story will build toward.
• A different viewpoint. A character who won't narrate again, such as a victim, a villain, or a witness.
• A different scale. A wide view of a conflict before the story narrows to one person's life.
• A promise of genre. A thriller that opens on a crime, or a fantasy that opens on magic, when the first chapter itself starts quietly.

If your opening section has the same narrator, the same timeline and the same tone as chapter one, it isn't really a prologue. It's chapter one with a different heading.

Why so many writers end up with an unnecessary prologue

Most unneeded prologues come from one of a few habits. Knowing which one produced yours tells you how to fix it.

1. The writer is warming up. Early drafts often begin before the story does. You write your way into the characters and the world, and that material lands at the front. It felt necessary to write. That doesn't mean the reader needs to read it.

2. The writer is worried the reader won't understand. So the prologue explains the history, the magic system, the family feud or the political setup before anything happens. This is backstory delivered as a lecture.

3. The first chapter is slow. The writer senses that chapter one doesn't grab, so they bolt an action scene onto the front. The prologue becomes a patch over a weak opening rather than a fix for it.

4. Genre imitation. Fantasy, thrillers and crime novels often use prologues, so writers in those genres assume they need one.

5. The writer fell in love with a scene. A powerful moment didn't fit anywhere in the main timeline, so it went to the front.

Every one of these can produce good writing. None of them is a reason the reader needs the section.

When a prologue works

A prologue works when it does a job the main story can't do as well. Here are the situations where it tends to earn its place.

It shows an event the main character never sees. If the heart of your mystery is a crime your detective only hears about, a prologue from the victim's side can give the reader dread and knowledge the detective lacks. That gap creates tension.

It creates a question the whole book answers. A short scene that ends on something unexplained can pull a reader through a slower first chapter, because they want to know how the two connect.

It sets a time jump the book depends on. If the story turns on something that happened decades earlier, and you want the reader to carry that knowledge from page one, a prologue is cleaner than a long flashback in chapter three.

It makes a genre promise the opening chapter can't make yet. A romance that begins with the couple years in the future, or a horror novel that opens with the thing in the woods, tells the reader what kind of book they're holding.

It is short. Successful prologues tend to be brief. A few pages that do one thing will usually beat a long section that tries to do several.

When to cut the prologue

Go back to the causes above. Each one has its own fix.

Warming up: Cut the prologue entirely and reread your opening chapter. Often you'll find two or three lines of the prologue worth keeping. Fold them into chapter one or a later scene, and let the rest go. Save the deleted material in a separate file if that makes cutting easier.

Explaining backstory: Delete the explanation and look for where the reader actually needs each fact. Feed it in at that point, in a line of dialogue, a character's reaction, or a short memory triggered by something in the scene. Readers tolerate a surprising amount of not knowing, as long as the characters on the page seem to know what they're doing.

Patching a slow first chapter: Fix chapter one instead. Start it later, closer to the moment something changes. Give the main character a want and an obstacle on the first page. Should chapter one work on its own once the prologue is gone, you've found the real problem.

Imitating your genre: Check whether your story has any of the "different time, viewpoint or scale" features described earlier. Without them, you don't need a prologue just because other books in your shelf section have one.

Loving a scene that doesn't fit: Ask whether it can become a flashback, an interlude, or a chapter later in the book. Sometimes a scene works better at the midpoint, where the reader understands why it matters.

Prologue vs chapter one vs foreword: the difference

These three get mixed up, especially by first-time authors. They do very different jobs.

	Prologue	Chapter one	Foreword
Part of the story?	Yes	Yes	No
Who writes it	The author, in the story's voice	The author, in the story's voice	Usually someone other than the author
Typical books	Fiction, some narrative nonfiction	All books	Mostly nonfiction, anniversary or reissued editions
What it does	Shows a separate moment that frames the story	Starts the main story	Introduces the book or author from an outside view
Can it be skipped without losing plot?	It shouldn't be, if it's working	No	Yes
Where it sits	Start of the body, before chapter one	Start of the main narrative	Front matter, before the main text

Two related terms cause more confusion:

• Preface: written by the author, about the book itself. Why they wrote it, how they researched it. It sits in the front matter, not the story.
• Introduction: common in nonfiction. It sets up the subject and is often part of the actual content. In fiction it's rare.

Writing that talks about the book is a foreword, preface or introduction. A scene from the book is a prologue or chapter. For more on what goes before the main text, see what front matter is in a book.

Whether readers and agents skip prologues

Some readers say they skip prologues, and the advice that literary agents are wary of them circulates widely among writers. Treat that as a warning about weak prologues rather than a rule against all of them. A prologue that's short, gripping and clearly connected to the story doesn't give anyone a reason to skip it.

There's also a practical point for self-publishers. Store previews usually start from the beginning of the book, and readers decide whether to buy based on those opening pages. Whatever comes first is your sales pitch. A slow or confusing prologue takes up the space where your strongest writing should be.

How to test whether your prologue earns its place

Run these checks on your draft.

1. The removal test. Read the book starting at chapter one, as if the prologue didn't exist. Note anything that's genuinely confusing. If nothing is, the prologue isn't carrying weight.
2. The difference test. Write one sentence explaining how the prologue differs from chapter one in time, viewpoint or scale. If you can't, it's probably chapter one in disguise.
3. The payoff test. Find where the prologue connects back to the main story. If the connection comes very late, or never clearly arrives, readers may forget the prologue or feel cheated.
4. The length test. If your prologue is as long as a full chapter, ask whether it's really a chapter.
5. The fresh-reader test. Give a reader two versions, one with the prologue and one without, and ask which opening made them want to keep going. Don't tell them which one you prefer.

A prologue that passes most of these should stay. One that fails the first two should go. Our guide on how to edit your own book covers more revision checks like these.

How to avoid an unneeded prologue when planning a book

Most prologue problems start in planning, so that's where they're easiest to prevent.

Decide where the story starts before you draft. Identify the moment the main character's situation changes. That's usually the strongest opening. Everything before it is backstory, and backstory belongs inside the story, not in front of it. Our guide on how to outline a novel walks through placing that opening moment.

Keep backstory in your notes, not your manuscript. A planning document that holds the history, the world rules and the character pasts gives that material a home, so you don't feel the need to front-load it. This is the job of a book bible.

Plan the prologue as a deliberate choice. If you want one, write down in your outline what it shows, why it's separate, and where it pays off. If you can't fill in those three things, leave it out.

Settle your viewpoint plan early. A prologue from a different narrator is one of the most common legitimate reasons to use one. Deciding your viewpoint structure up front helps you see whether a one-off narrator makes sense. See what point of view is in writing for the options.

If you plan with Inkora, the book bible includes a chapter-by-chapter outline you can edit before any chapters are written. That's a good moment to add, remove or reshape a prologue, rather than after a full draft exists.

Common problems and fixes

Problem: You cut the prologue and now chapter one feels thin. Fix: The prologue was probably doing some real work. Identify the one thing it did that's now missing, such as tension, a mystery, or the stakes, and find a way to deliver it in chapter one. Often a single line or a small change to the opening scene is enough.

Problem: Beta readers say they were confused by the prologue. Fix: Make it simpler and shorter. Cut names that don't matter yet, limit it to one clear event, and end on a single strong image or question. Confusion in a prologue usually comes from trying to set up too much.

Problem: The prologue gives away the twist. Fix: Pull back what it reveals. Show the event, but hide the identity, the motive or the outcome. A prologue should raise a question, not answer it.

Problem: The prologue is the best writing in the book and chapter one can't match it. Fix: Raise chapter one to the same level rather than lowering the prologue. Look at what makes the prologue work, such as specific detail, a clear threat, or a strong voice, and apply it to the first chapter.

Problem: You're not sure whether to label it "Prologue" or "Chapter One." Fix: If it's separate in time or viewpoint, "Prologue" signals that to the reader. If it's simply the start of the story, call it chapter one. Some authors use a date, place or character name as the heading instead, which can work just as well. For broader structure questions, see how many chapters are in a book.

Problem: You've already published and wish you'd cut it. Fix: Most self-publishing platforms let you upload a revised interior or ebook file. Check your store's dashboard for how updates are handled for your format before you make changes. If you drafted in Inkora, you can edit or regenerate a single chapter and export a fresh EPUB or print PDF, then upload the new file yourself.

Whether a prologue helps depends entirely on what it shows that the main story can't. Test yours honestly, cut it if it's only explaining or warming up, and if you keep it, make it short, separate and clearly tied to what follows.