On Writing: Prologues [ Game of Thrones l Harry Potter l John Green ]
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
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QotD: How have your written *your* prologue, and why does it work for your story? Remember to check out my Squarespace link in the description!
~ Tim
i introduced the threat of the evil infection army thing, kill the people who know how to defeat the big bad
My Prologue follows your example of the time jump, taking place in the past to set up the main struggle of the story.
Haven't written one, but I'm highly questioning whether I should add one or not.
I introduce a king and a prince, their relationship, and the prince’s choice to being the other kings together which is only mentioned secondhand in the rest of the novel. The prince doesn’t show up until the end so I needed him introduced in the beginning so the reader understands
The prologue of my story would be an introduction to the main threat, the Pisahrak. How they work, what effect they have on their hosts, things like that.
I was planning to have an epic battle for it but that be just unnecessary for the plot. But after watching this video, I came up with another idea.
An investigation about a mysterious charred skeleton and a missing dog. With the realization that the two indecents might be connected.
I wonder if there's going to be an episode about epilogues...
I second this
Me Five Minutes Ago: "Damn, I don't know how to write my novel's prologue..."
HFM: *New video!*
Me: "Oh my God!" *Click*
Weird how he somehow knows just what we need
Well, it is just convenience
He did the same when I was writting the first chapter of my novel
I feel like your 'On writing'video's are getting better and better. Well structured, good use of clips, informative even for those who already did some research, examples are not just shown but show how to use techniques too. Thank you it helps me a lot :)
I couldn't agree more, Envy!!! They are honestly some of my most favorite writing videos ever!!! :)
@@lukeskywalkerthe2nd773 I don't know if it's among the best yet. Here are some recommendations for everybody interested.
- The Brandon Sanderson lasses (Write about Dragons) is very good.
- Ellen Brock is great,
- I like overly sarcastic productions a lot and there are even more about writing for films that are really good.
- Lessons from the screenplay just to name one example. (Every Frame a Painting and Just Write too although it's more about visuals than writing)
- Then there's Artifexian who's great with real nerdy worldbuilding.
- Then you have all the authors who wrote books themselves talking about writing. (Mostly generic tips where I feel they're doing it more to get recognision and sell more books, but that's fine too of course. Better than just doing nothing and waiting until people randomly find out about what you wrote and I am just rambling now so....)
I probablye forgot a lot and and then there's more websites about writing than I'm bothered to sum up here.
Not to say I don't like this channel or anything! It's definitely become unique and with enough of its own style.
Also, somebody should make a video just about good free online writing recourses. Would be so handy to have everything together.
@@nvwest If you think that then that's fine mine! I love all those examples you mentioned. But HFMs videos are some of my most favorite! :)
@@lukeskywalkerthe2nd773 Mine too actually :) Especially the later ones. I guess I just wanted to have a reason to procrastinate doing homework some more.
"Who would read lore dumps and lore books and… just really academic stuff…"
Yeah. I was laughing.
Pretty much everyone on this channel^^
Yay nerds! XD
Exactly 😂
Has this guy even read the Lord of the Rings? That is half of the point of Tolkien's works!
angelowl89 he’s read them, but I guess he missed that HUGE chunk of the book 📚😂
Yah plenty of us do like that it's just that a movie or a full novel is not the best source to give us that
I love a Prologue. Their very existence is exciting because you know you're going to learn an important secret in them. I also like a prologue can be very artsy or poetic because it's sort of a one-shot separate to the rest of the book
Jonny Khan I usually sigh when I see the word prologue. 😅 Just me, though.
Jonny: I love your perspective on prologues. It's refreshing. 👍🏾
@@LadyAneh why?
KingBowserVlog Because I’m generally more excited to get to the main story, not that I have never myself written a prologue.
The Name Of The Wind's prologue is imo the best in the artsy-poetic department.
Ah, Eragon. So nostalgic and singularly instrumental to getting me into writing, but wow, looking back, it does have some issues. Still love it, though.
Did I catch some new expressions for cartoon Tim? I like them.
my first question always is, "am i going to learn this later?"
don't monologue something to me that the plot is going to have to repeat to me later and don't tell me things about your story's setting that your set design shows me
Particularly in fantasy stories, it can be very useful to tease certain fantastical aspects, even if they're going to be explained in depth at a later date. This is particularly useful if we wouldn't otherwise see much of whatever makes this story special in the first couple chapters.
Good point
yeh
My favorite example came from pony fanfiction. To 'slightly' paraphrase yet in keeping with the spirit;
Rainbow Dash relayed the information about Queen-whats-her-face and the old war.
(All of which was detailed in the prologue)
THAT'S RIGHT!
The author expects us to go back to the prologue to reread if we forgot. Expects us to think Rainbow Dash (the closest to a dumb jock of the group) would know the prologue by heart. Expects us to believe that a ten THOUSAND year old history would survive unedited.
There was so much that was wrong there...
"Talk dirty to me"
"Appendix B..."
lmaooo
The last lines "Write the story you wanna tell. maybe it might not be the best storytelling technique, maybe it might make it a little bit of a drag at beginning, but if that is the story that you want to write then your only responsibility as a writer is to do that." hit different because I've been feeling lowkey anxious about how to write my story since there are so many good authors and writers out there who make it work. Even though my goal is not to write a book, but do just that, tell a story I've had in my head for roughly a year. Your videos are actually helpful, but maybe because of my current situation with having binge-watched your videos now for hours, it made me feel like I have to master all these different techniques and know exactly how to make the perfect prologue, but then you ending this video with saying that your only job as a writer is to tell YOUR story you want to tell, no matter how it looks and or sounds like, is the number one priority.
It actually reassured me that as long as I have passion and motivation to put my story out there, it doesn't need to be perfect Rowling or R.R.Martin from the first line or sentence. There is gonna be people who care and will want to know what happens next to my lesbian agent in the multiverse.
So thank you Hello Future Me, for reassuring me that my story doesn't need to be perfect from the get-go, my responsibility is to just tell a story.
Wow.
Absolutely the best look at prologues I've ever seen.
Usually the advice is unhelpful, "Make it interesting! Don't info dump!" but this video is pretty gr18 on giving good variety in examples of good prologues and why they are good at being prologues. Usually people get stuck on one or two prologues when explaining, one bad one good, and that doesn't give as good a sense as what is actually happening mechanically.
That was my aim! Most are pretty much just "Don't do prologues" or "don't info dump."
~ Tim
You talk a bit about hooks in this video, but as someone who struggles in particular with deciding where to start the story, could you make a video talking about hooks? How to identify them, how to set them up, structure them. That sort of thing?
Don't know of you've found a solution in the space of time, but hey, I'll reply for anyone else who's also wondering and sees your comment: he goes into hooks in a decent bit of detail in his video On Writing: The First Chapter
Well everything was normal until the fire nation attacked...I mean until this channel uploaded a new video.
Great video. Most people say, "If you're thinking about writing a prologue... don't."
But this outlines the reasons why a Prologue is necessary.
if
Also the Way of Kings has such a frustrating prologue because it doesn't actually make sense until you know about the true nature of desolations, the Heralds and their Honorblades and the Voidbringers which really isn't until the end of the second book
Good examples of Prologues are in Horror Movies. A bunch of different campers are in the woods, they get brutally murdered by the monster / killer. (One week later to 30 years later...)
The main story starts and a bunch of happy teenagers are getting ready to go have a fun camping trip. The mood here is fun, but the audience knows the danger.
That's also kind of overdone though, we expect that in horror.
mm!
Eragon started with Arya and Durza because Star Wars started with Leia and Darth Vader.
Only the first instance of the Eragon series diving face first in an endless ocean of dumb clichés and almost plagiaristic "inspirated" moments and names.
@@edoardoprevelato6577 Do remember Paolini was like 16 when he wrote Eragon. When I was 16 I was SIGNIFICANTLY worse at hiding when I was wholesale stealing ideas off other authors when I tried to write stories. Also, a cliche is only cliche when it has been overused to the point where it has become expected, which doesn't make it a bad thing, just something to be used in extreme moderation. If everyone suddenly stopped using ANY cliches in writing, most of the backstories for a significant amount of famous characters would be stripped right down to the bones.
And your unprofessional opinion on 'plagiaristic' is irrelevant if lawyers who make a living suing people for plagiarism didn't sue the writer for plagiarism. Very very few ideas have not already been written by others and it is VERY common to draw inspiration from already popular works. The lawyers will let everyone know if the 'taking inspiration' has dipped too far into plagiarism.
@@BobTheTesaurus of course my opinion is vastly profane, but i felt Paolini's writing style hardly improved through the four books. Besides the naming and plot choices, which i found frustrating with the bleak ending, are furtherly hindered by too verbose descriptions of every character, item and situation presented. It just breaks my immersion: we are supposed to experience what Eragon (or Roran) are doing and thinking, but no human being can relate to that much information taken up neatly and infallibly at once.
I enjoyed the inheritance cycle.
When I read Eragon I loved it. It may use cliches and rip off tolkien but I think its still a decently written fantasy book.
Thinking about adding a prologue. Mostly to set the stories true setting. It takes place in a futuristic fantasy world, but the fantasy elements of the 'world' specifically are pretty removed for the first bit of the story
that dependence on what these fantasy elements are. and above all you should ask your self this question. can you fit it in to your story by hinting at it and slowly revealing these elements? or what ever they are. i mean if you finish you book and you can explain or hint at this fantasy setting you will have show the true setting of the story but stil leave some mystery in the story. and you wont need a prologue. i mean i'm also writing a story and its an near future world in a alternative time line with a more than century of different history (and its filled because i gone a bit crazy with world building) and so the world has changed a lot but writing a prologue isn't necessary because i can't easily reveal all that in the story i'm telling. and on the back of the book if needed.
Ha ha, I’m doing something similar. Leaving out the magic until later that is. I would not call it prologue though. I always sigh when I see the word prologue. Just use chapter 1 as prologue, like J.K.R did with Harry Potter, and I think Tolkien also did with Fellowship.
@@LadyAneh
the reason I thought of using a prologue instead of ch1 was to show the setting of magic being sealed (x)hundred years ago. It would help the change of pace/setting not be so jarring later on, as well as show the main factions of the world (angels demons and the great houses) and that none of them are necessarily evil, just greedy in their own pursuits.
It being so heavily disconnected from the main cast is why I felt it to be a prologue should I write it as litterally 14/hundreds of souls from the time of that event would still be alive come chapter 1... But I'm still teetering on whether it needs to be written in as exposition later as well.
Leviathan's Iris hmm...you might do the scene where magic is sealed as a short prologue, which would be good in explaining the situation in the beginning of the main story. You could then go on to do exposition about angels and demons and great houses other ways, like introducing characters, however extra, that are members of these various peoples. You could also introduce some of the things by having a storyteller tell about them or something. Patrick Rothfus (The Name of the Wind) does something like that to give the reader a very basic idea of the origins and some rules of magic before the main character actually learns magic formally.
Leviathan's Iris Anyways, hope your story goes well! I’d read it, from how you described it.
I feel like one thing that lord of the rings (the movies) and eragon do get that thry need from their prologue is establish that the magical object is something people see as worth fighting over... which you cant immediatly do with a protag from out in the sticks. And if the protag finds it and notices this seemingly unassuming object it before any weight has been given to the object the moments plays kinda off.
0:10 To prologue or not to prologue
0:55 What is a prologue?
1:30 The prologue-hook problem
2:35 The double-hook structure
3:13 The type of hook needed
4:35 What make a prologue necessary?
5:55 Why backstory-prologue are often bad
6:35 Which backstory elements to include?
7:20 Juxtaposition with the first chapter
8:20 Prologue exposition - STAHP
9:08 Talk dirty to me, baby
9:40 Exposition through mystery-prologues
10:50 Exposition through emotionnalism
11:55 Communicating only vital info
12:40 Unique tone/mood/themes
13:55 Got boring after the first chapter? CHANGE IT.
14:15 Length of a prologue?
14:50Eragon: I know you loved it, but still.
16:13 Where you can get access my research!
17:10 Summary
18:00 Write the story you want to tell
I considered making my opening chapter a prologue but instead decided to make it the first paragraph of my opening chapter in case anyone skipped it, which I wouldn't want to happen since it's exciting and I wouldn't want someone to miss it.
In case you're wondering what it's about, it's a fantasy novel starring an autistic druid as the protagonist, which I decided to write since I like fantasy and am autistic. A difference between it and the Freya Snow stories is that my protagonist is a male druid, not a female non-human. The working title for my story is "James the Druid".
Thanks for all the likes.
A fantasy novel starring an autistic druid? Funny; so is my novel that I'm writing, which I'm also writing because I like fantasy and I'm autistic. Though my book is more along the lines of a fantasy war novel, and the autistic druid is just one of 4 point-of-view characters in it.
Funny enough, the autistic druid in my book is also a human male (well, sort of. I don't want to say too much, but I can say that his dad is definitely human).
@@matthewmuir8884Well, that's a coincidence. What's the working title for your book?
@Snaketooth 09 I don't want to say; mainly because it's a title no one else has used that fits my book so well, and I don't want anyone to use it before I can. I'll just say that it is the name of a unique crown of deep political and symbolic importance to the kingdom in the book, and it is made from a material from which crowns are not normally made; the material in question having both cultural importance and symbolising the royal family's humility.
@@matthewmuir8884 Okay then. Can you tell me/us (us being the comment section) once it's released? Its just I'd like to read it.
Does One Piece's prologue work ?
"Wealth, fame, power.
Gold Roger the king of the pirates obtained this and everything else the world had to offer.
And his dying words drove countless souls to the seas.
“You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you just have to find it! ”
These words lured men to the grand line, pursuing dreams greater than they ever dared to imagine.
This is the time known as the great pirate era."
I feel like it has a lot of mystery (not giving too much points),but wants you to know the thing. And it is deeply linked with the main protagonist : Luffy.
not sure: depending on how your countrys dub handled openings, it appears at the start of every episode in the beggining of the show. does avatars four nations intro count? if yes, so does this. i do definitly agree with what you said there though
Marco Pohl Yeah i see,then i’ll consider it as a prologue.
Hell yeah it does. I never got into one piece, but I was like the only person who liked the 4kids op. especially the little prologue at the beginning
It's more like the entirety of chapter one is a prologue and tbh it's the best one I can think of
Never seen the intro "the legend" as a prologue but it definitely works
I really love the inheritance cycle. Even if they have flaws.
*Prologue*
She watched as the ship blasted away from the blue-gray dot that she had called home. Perhaps she would never see it again. All the better; the memories made there would stay there, forgotten, like the ancient buildings, the faces of old _Empri_ carved into unyielding granite, the cities once desperate for more, now empty metal shells, abandoned in the hopes of something better.
She leaned against the window, knees tucked against her chest in a familiar position from days long gone. She could enjoy this moment to herself before having to face whatever was to come.
~~~
Without spoiling too much, this is a sci-fi story set several centuries in the future. Functionally, the prologue serves to add an air of mystery, making the readers confused and wanting to find out more. The same goes for the first chapter, where I leave a lot of open questions regarding the setting and the characters involved.
It also introduces both the tone and the narrative structure of the story. The story alternates between the perspectives of the two protagonists. One is introduced in the first chapter, while the other is introduced in the second chapter as a continuation of the prologue.
I feel that the tone conveyed by the prologue is perhaps a bit different from the typical action-packed stories I see in most sci-fi stories (which would be the fourth point in the video summary)? Idk, I don't actually read much sci-fi. It also contrasts sharply with the tone of the first chapter, which is action-packed and … takes place over 100 light-years away.
Hello- I have a video request:) how to write a story arc. Basically just a video on things to think and plan out before you actually start writing.
I watched some of you videos over the last 2 weeks and I want to say THANK YOU: your videos motivated me to review old chapters of my novel (i kinda have a writers block for over a year now). and through reviewing i actually started actively working on it again (i ordered your book too xD). and it goes so smooth now. still have some trouble since i'm more of a "go with the flow" writer and don't plan everything out point for point. i kinda only have a rough outline, start-climax-end. but, i'm moving forward! (currently working on plannning out chapters, yay me!)
i learn to improve my storytelling ♥ so big thank you!
This video really helped me, now i understand, what i have to change. Like: prolog -> first chapter; new prolog
I went back and forth but think my ~250 words is a prologue because of the POV. It's a character that won't hit the narrative until the 3rd book but is pivotal to understanding the world and magic. I also ensured that I put that specific word in there (like "strings" in your example) to help the reader understand its importance. Thanks for all the great content!
Funnily enough, I cut the prologue from my story just a few weeks before watching this video. At the time, I just did it because it felt like it didn't fit, but thanks to this, I now know WHY it didn't fit. While it did establish an air of mystery and feature a different point of view than the rest of the story, almost everything it did exposition-wise got rehashed in the first chapter. The few elements that weren't immediately restated didn't need to be established until later in the narrative anyway.
(I have since expanded said prologue and published it as a teaser for the final product, which I think works much better.)
I really enjoy these videos. I discovered them earlier this year and watch or listen to them when I'm able to. They're very helpful and educational, and really help me with my writing.
As far as your question, mine is the long-forgotten history of where the story takes place. It comes into play much later in the book in the form of a fable and is largely avoided until the events start to fall into place over the course of time.
Favorite prologues in recent history come from Maggie Stiefvater in her series The Raven Cycle. She generally switches perspectives between the four main characters and the antagonist of each book, so getting the occasional glimpse into one of many common and integral characters is a treat. There's lots of lovable characters that don't get a ton of time in the spotlight, despite being driving forces or anchors for protagonists.
Your stuff has inspired me to write a story again.
I like to use prologues in my stories, the way I plan to do them though is that yes they're info dumps, _but_ I try to keep it relevant to the setting a story takes place in, such as the history of the region focused on in the story, and building up why things in that region are how they're found in the story (i.e. in my second latest one, how the cities important to the story were made, why the people controlling the area were too weak to find and stop the villain before he caused trouble, among other things)
Eh, I don't really need a prologue. I already planned like 15 chapters of trading deals and planet-hopping before shit actually hits the fan and stuff starts happening...
At least I have a holiday where people eat leaves.
A holiday where people eat leaves!? Sounds like my kinda holiday! Good luck btw
My prologue is fairly short, about a page long. A girl with jet black hair is being chased through a forest at dusk. She thinks that if she can just keep going til the sun is truly set, she can turn into starlight and shadow and escape, but she's hit with a tranquilizer dart and passes out. The first chapter is about a redheaded girl waking up in the infirmary of a boarding school, with no memory of who or where she is.
That sounds great!
Love this series! One thing I’d love a video on is character development (because I’ve been having trouble with it during my own writing). And maybe even on on character flaws.
Me as well. Good luck writing!
You're good at this
A little late to the party here, but I had to laugh a bit about wanting to know more about the lore of a story and I’m the same way. If I love a world, I want to know everything!! I tend to go down rabbit holes and find something I find very fascinating that everyone else just doesn’t care about.
I loved the prologue from A Game of Thrones, which I read years prior to watching the show and had nothing to compare it to. It hooked me in a way that few books have, and changed what I felt about prologues up until that point. It was fantastical, yet grounded in realism, describing their armor and weapons, their fear, and how arrogant the commanding ranger was, contrasted by his youth and the experience of the older ranger, who he did not, but should have, listened to. The blue-eyed wights introduced therein were at once threatening and strange--the show did not properly capture their undead mystique and icy armor to my liking, but oh well... adaptations rarely do. Great video
My favorite prologue is for Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. It is emotional and draws you in on a first read, and it is extremely satisfying on a re-read due to understanding everything about the scene.
i was waiting someone to mention this, it's awesome that it depicts the moment that set everything in motion even though you'd expect it to be exposition.
As always, amazing video :D I was wondering if you had any plans to make a video covering writing action? It's something that I think is extremely important as well as extremely difficult, and usually divulges critical information about the story, like exposition, magic systems, and can turn the plot. If you have any insight, it'd be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for the video! I feel like 95% of writing advice is "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT WRITING A PROLOGUE", so it's nice to hear your thoughts on it. Obviously prologues aren't always needed or, if people do write them, the first chapter can be rewritten and do a better job at telling the story and hooking the reader, but sometimes prologues make a story better.
I loved your examples. Especially The Incredibles. It does such a good job at introducing characters and their wants and needs, the catalyst of why super heroes become illegal, our villain, and the world itself.
I think I want to have a prologue that is through the point of view of the antagonist of the story though he will not be mentioned by name. It explains sort of his origin and then is referenced later in the story when the main character meets up with them. Could be interesting lol
i also love fantasy world exposition but only from certain worlds
Hey there! You made some great comments about how writers don't have to listen to you or other internet writing advisors. I know everyone gets a bit of backlash for posting opinions online and I know comments can be harsh. I haven't heard you make these disclaimers in past videos (atleast not nearly as often) and I want you to know you don't need to do that. You're videos are fantastic and your advice has helped me view media through the lens of a better writer. Don't ever feel like you need to change to cater to people who may not appreciate your views, I do and I know I am one of many. PS: You are doing the overlord's work; never question the holy path upon which our great Mishka has placed you.
No prologue for both of my two projects. One may use it. It takes place in a very young country, to be short a giant monster attacked country A, a lord from country B seized the occasion and vanquished the monster and took the crown as he was now a hero and more capable of defending this part of land than the ancient ruler (Charles Martel style). The main character witnessed it and was awe struck by this great deed. She wants to give her life for the one who saved her life and become a musketeer of the king. The first chapter begins when she leaves her home to become one. This could provide reasons of why she have this dream of entering the army and foreshadow the international tensions that will happen as this new country is both menacing on the long run and diminished. But no prologue is also fine I think. The second project doesn't needs one at all.
Me: alright, no exposition dumping, get it.
Dark Lord: but how will people know that i´m actually the good guy?
Me: ...Shit
Edit: Jokes aside, there is no way to express how much you are helping on my first steps to write my own story, this video just changed an unsatisfying prologue into a first chapter and gave me a perfect idea to make precisely what i want.
Gonna have to rework the entire first protagonist centered chapter though...
Good luck! I feel the same.
I love prologues. When I write them, it is often to hint at a darker tone to my story than originally presented and even clue the reader into the expectation of something supernatural at play. Sometimes though, I write a prologue in a first draft as more of a guideline for me - like an excerpt that the story must steer through to be fulfilled. Since I tend to write first, plan later, it really helps me keep track of what I want for each story as I switch between them. Of course, there are times I do without, since I prefer to go with what feels most natural to me in a given situation.
The prologue I wrote is theoretically an excerpt from the religious book of my world to give the origin story of my magic system. Weirdly enough, I wanted the prologue because the magic system is so simple that I couldn't introduce it well since no one would talk about it and it isn't very flashy. Also, the religious elements of the book aren't well explored for a while so I wanted to set up the religious pressure/expectations for the protag.
What about when the writer comes back and adds a prologue later on? For example: New Spring by Robert Jordan, or maybe the prequel trilogy for Star Wars.
I don't like using prologues, but I remember one I did, funnily enough, for an Inheritance Cycle fanfiction. It was something of an homage to the original prologue, having a Shade try to steal a dragon egg from the elves transporting it, but this time he succeeds. I realize now that it establishes several things: First, that the villain is a visceral threat, having killed several elves in his attack (though anyone who read it will probably say that I nerfed them, and they'd be right). Second, his plan is going to be unusual, because as soon as he gets the dragon egg, he sends it away to a recipient that even he doesn't know the identity of. And third, the Dragon Riders have returned, but they are not all as strong as Eragon, since the Shade kills both a dragon and its Rider in the attack. As much as I can see where I went wrong in that story, I also tend to reference it when trying to make a point.
Also, I recently realized the true importance of the question "why should we care?" in a novel, since it's a question that some authors don't answer it when it should be (the first chapter preferably). Just wanted to warn everyone how much it can gut a reader's enjoyment if they don't care at all what happens beyond "this should happen in a story."
In my book, The Vampire Hunters, there's a prologue detailing the first vampire. It takes place in 1469, five hundred years before the main narrative, and shows the first Vampire becoming a Vampire and him dying to Vlad the Impaler, and sets up the Vampires' quest to resurrect him.
Super insightful, thanks!
I feel greatly called out by the top left text at around 8:50, as I write multiple versions of scripture for different cultures in my story 💀
I've been debating how or if I should write a prologue, but I didn't quite know what it should be. I will, but it will be much different than originally planned.🤔😃👍
Tysm this was so helpful
Hellow future me, I just want to say thank you so much for this videos on how to write a good story (as well as your avatar and how to train your dragon videos), I had been struggled with writing my original story since I first started, but now thanks to you I can write my story more fluently. Thank you so much for your support and dedication to writing stories and thank you so much to introduce me to the nerdy world of writing novels.
AND THANK YOU OH SUPREME LEADER MISHKA FOR THIS SLAVE THAT ENTERTAINS AND HELPS TO YOUR SUBORDINATES!!!
ALL HAIL MISHKA!!
All the best with your work, and I'm happy to know I've helped! #allhailmishka
~ Tim
These writing video's have massivly improved not only my own writing, but my enjoyment of different books. Thank you so much for these massivy insightful essays, and in such an accessible format as well
*Please ignore the terrible film for Eragon. Just, the film, ugh. I realise that Eragoon is pretty iffy on the who critical side, but the film is so terrible its not worth bothering with
I know this video is 4 years old, but I have a prologue I'm kinda proud of. It was for a high school project, which was to write a short story, but me being an overthinker and overachiever, it evolved into a short novel that I had to submit half finished way past the deadline. Teacher still loved it though. It's still unfinished today, and I'm not sure if I still want to finish it, but it's the first draft that I was actually proud of. Here's the prologue:
"Panting, he pushed through the pain in his lungs as he ran for his life. The moon loomed above him, a few minutes from approaching its peak. He didn't dare look back, but he could almost swear that he could feel his pursuers' breaths down his neck. He knew that if that were true, he would be dead, but the knowledge that they are right at his tail overwhelmed him. This shouldn't have happened.
Finally, he reached a hidden door on the ground: his destination. He quickly opened it and jumped in the hole, hoping that his hunters didn't see him. After shutting the trapdoor locked, he huddled in a corner, shuddering.
With a crash, the trapdoor was blasted open, and in entered two figures, draped in hooded robes. Once they spotted their prey, they reached inside their clothes to withdraw their weapons. The figure at the corner trembled. He felt his arms change into claws and attacked."
I think it works on 3 fronts. 1) It's an artistic one-shot by itself that has some mystery to it. 2) It's clearly a backstory, but from whose perspective, we don't know yet. 3) It establishes important things about the world and story: there are shapeshifting monsters, and they're being hunted.
The first chapter is also short, it just introduces our two main characters are moving into a new town, but I still tried to give it some mystery. The younger mc smells meat in the air and grows hungry, so he asks his older companion if he's sure they're in the right place. In response, the older mc observes that everyone is speaking in secretive whispers and says, "It's perfect."
Later, it revealed that (surprise) they're secretly shapeshifters, who are being hunted and whose transformations are involuntary. There will be references to a past event as the older mc says he doesn't want a "repeat of last time," to which the younger mc defensively replies, "Last time was a mistake." This implies that the younger mc is the one in the prologue, and that his mistake almost got them killed. However, it will be revealed that the mistake only risked them getting exposed, and that the older mc was actually referencing his mistake when he was younger, before he met his friend, and that he was the one in the prologue.
Idk, I think it works. Sorry if this was long, I just wanted to share. :)
Lol, love that expression at 9:45.
I can now say I have been jumpscared by Philip DeFranco
I'm surprised that the Wheel of Time was not mentioned in some capacity. It has both good and bad uses of prologues, including one that is about 2-3 times the length of an average chapter (87 pages vs. 25-40).
*Spends the whole video about how Sanderson's various prologues stack up:
Kelsier stirring up trouble. Vasher breaking into jail and showing off the magic system. Flashback to Wax in the roughs. Gavilar's assassination, including the fantastic opening line, "Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king." Raoden undergoing the shaod.
Love your writing videos, keep up the good work! This one made me realize that I need to cut my 1st chapter to keep the reader asking questions so all may be revealed later, like A Game of Thrones
This video was so good!! Also it helped me very much!!! I want to write a book and I was thinking about using a prologue, so this video was very helpful.
I made notes and checked my aspects of the prologue with what you consider a good prologue. And I am honestly confused by my prologue. The thing is the prologue can be used as the first chapter, but it would be a weird chapter, because I end it with the bang of a car crash and I find it weird to use that ending as the ending of the first chapter. For me that car crash symbolize the end of an area for a person! And after the car crash there is a huge change! And that car crash is the result of it! So for me there has to be a visible cut for the reader. And that is why I would prefer to use the car crash thing as a prologue. And not as a first chapter.
Does this make sense?
Hmmm. I'm working on a prologue that describes a sort of doomed expedition. Chapter one starts with a brief discussion of some 'found footage' clips from that expedition before it's dismissed by a skeptical protagonist as a big dumb hoax, who then goes on to attend to his own objective before eventually crossing paths with the remains of the prologue group. I am kind of wondering how long I should keep referencing this initial, doomed group for in later chapters though.
I truly believe A Game of Thrones had the perfect prologue. Not only does it introduce the reader to the real threat of the story, but it sets the tone and theme with it’s unreliable narration where it’s intended for you to judge harshly and quickly.
We see through the perspective of Will, who wholeheartedly seems to agree with the veteran ranger accompanying him, Gared, over their commander, the young, arrogant and inexperienced Waymar Royce.
Except if you look closer, Royce is actually right and simply trying to do their job while Gared frankly is just a coward who wants to hide behind the wall. Royce is right for wanting to investigate because it doesn’t make sense that an entire wildling band would freeze to death during a season where it’s not especially cold. It’s the duty of rangers to keep threats away from the wall.
When things hit the fan and the wights come out let’s look at what each does. Will clings to a tree he had climbed too scared to move or talk, Gared runs and eventually deserts the watch entirely, but Waymar despite being presented in a poor light the entire chapter, chokes down his fear and faces them alone and fights bravely.
In a different story Waymar Royce would’ve been the hero of the story, but in this one he is disliked by his peers, mocked by his enemies and killed horrifically.
Hi there, can a dream be used as a prologue ? (kinda premonition one). Even if it directly preceeds the action in the first chapter, it's semantically different... (I mean, someone dreaming in the story and waking up for first chapter).
Well, that's what happened in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (technically that was chapter 1 but a lot of Rowling's first chapters are basically prologues)
I'm beginning to think I SHOULD write a prolouge for my novel; it contains a jarring fantasy element that's different from every other element in the story, and, honestly, could probably use a secondary character experiencing it first like that ranger did in Game of Thrones. I always liked that Martin's cynicism was on such full display as to write a very engaging story from another man's POV and then have that man killed by the main character because no one believed him. Full stop. XD
My prologue to a story I'm still writing is a bit of an alternate history if a certain choice by the main character did not make. Spoilers: it ends badly for everyone
Holy fuck it's so long ago that I saw Stardust that I had no idea it was Charlie Cox who starred in it lmao
I know this is really late, but from a filmmaker’s perspective, would you consider TITLE CARDS as a prologue (card/segment usually in the beginning of the film where text is used to introduce the story)? Favorite director, Ridley Scott, uses them in many of his films: Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Black Hawk Down, etc.
i tried to simplify what's needed to creat a compelling story in breaking it down to some points:
Themes (how)
World (where)
Plots (what happens)
Characters (who)
- Chemistry (How they do with one another)
-Conflicts/Obstacles
- Backstory (what happened)
Key Elements
Core (digging deeper, what did you want to express)
---
Parallel stories
Alternativr Versions (What if)
is this a bit accurate at least? XD
Can you do a dragon torment between the bewilderbeast and the red death
A WIZARD DID IT
A WIZARD DID IT
I love Avatar, but why does it get a pass for the infodump opening?
Why do GRRM's prologues get a pass despite taking place in a completely different location and having nothing to do with the characters?
for any inheritance nerds: how do you think Galbatorix spies on the Varden? does he use his Eldunari like the ones on Vroengard, or does he not know of that capability? if so, why do you think he needs conventional spies? if not, what are the other methods of gathering information he mentioned to Nasuada in the Hall of the Soothsayer?(sidenote, do you think Angela has her own store of Eldunari as her mysterious method of gathering information? or perhaps a wizard(witch) did it?)
Thank you so much for this video Tim "Hello Future Me". I'm currently writing my prologue and this video became really helpful in my novel work. As a fellow pop culture researcher, I enjoy looking at all the references you place in this video. Keep up the good work!
Yo future me do you know where the entwives went?
My prologue is the equivalent of the "prologue" in Beauty and the Beast, or a comic book. Here's the main character, here's his motivation and how he got his powers.
Can you do a video on how to write a character/ main character that is a prodigy
I am 'currently' writing for a passion project game.
That prologue is a small scene of one of the characters sending a warning letter to the more main characters before getting arested by some guards. It is about 1 or 2 minutes before Chapter 1 starts.
I'm barely working on it though, maybe if in Year 3 I might be able to convince my fellow students to work on this project. Right now I am in Year 1.
I study Game Design in Breda, one of the highest rated in the world etc. I'm aiming for Narrative Design so your videos are such a good help for me. :)
Out of 9 stories I’m writing, I’m really worried about one’s prologue that I can’t seem to adjust to become necessary (as I’m far too attached to it to let it go).
It’s actually an excerpt of a scene that occurs later on in the story, only written with a little more detail and no context in order to give readers initial questions that unravel later on. As well as I want to show how polarizing this character’s two lives are, given that the first chapter opens with what I can best describe as the other side of their coin.
I understand how easily it could be removed without compromising the plot and why it should.
I guess I’m just asking if you had any thoughts on this technique or if there’s a way to use it that would make it more meaningful.
th-cam.com/video/yJ-Z_DW0AuE/w-d-xo.html
This is personally what I think of Flash Fowards: Don't do it unless you can make it seriously interesting. Like seriously interesting.
It can either work as a great hook, since a reader might want to know more. But it can just as well disinterest any reader.
A good example of a flash foward in my opinion is the opening to Persona 5: th-cam.com/video/W4vDgZOhuHA/w-d-xo.html
This creates a lot of mystery, is exciting and gives an introduction to the premise of the game.
The immediate good I can see there is that you are juxtaposing with the first chapter - providing an immediate contrast.
On the other hand, in my experience, having an excerpt from later in the text stuck at the beginning is annoying more often than it's interesting - once you get to that section of the text, either you re-read something rather than being able to continue with novel material, or you stop reading and skip/skim ahead to find where the new stuff resumes.
It is possible to do a good flashforward, but it's not easy. One thing that works, as with prophecy in general, is to make the scene one that takes an entirely unexpected meaning once context arrives. Even then, if you're still including the same scene twice in the same work, it should be written differently each time so that there's still a point in reading it again.
What I'm trying is establishing characters and plot and whatnot so that when the prologue is revisited, the events are the same, but the meaning is changed by what the reader now knows from the present. Maybe the reason something happened in the prologue suddenly is different from what the reader initially thought, for instance.
Derek Grant
I’m not particularly experienced with that technique. However, have you considered using a different Point-of-View for that scene?
From what I know of that technique you want vastly different experiences reading the scene each time. This can be via point of view or having a good amount of information for context.
“I am trying to show how polarizing this characters two lives are.” I’m not quite sure what you mean. Is this a reader-character conflict, and intra-character conflict or a conflict between different characters?
I think this means that you are going for characterization so we are not talking about the murder mystery “how did I get myself into this predicament” scene often shown at the beginning of cop tv shows.
However I do not know if this is the main character. If so, what genre? I need more info to be more helpful.
This kind of technique may be great for showing how others see your character and contrasting it with the cause or reason behind his actions. For example, to show WHY he is an assassin.
If you want to show how society or others see the character you could do that scene from a completely different point of view. Is he killing someone? Show the victims point of view the first time. Make it feel justified the second.
Perhaps instead of the same scene it could be a very similar situation. The first time it turns out poorly- perhaps the reader wonders what the reasoning behind it was.
(Another reason to have it not from that characters POV the first time- or just a more limited POV).
Perhaps the second time has a better end result and the reader also understands why the character did it.
This type of thing might work best as a way to get the reader interested in the character. The second scene would finish introducing the character. After that the reader has a good idea of who he is.
If you are looking at a mysterious side character then its a completely different situation. This could be a great way to introduce a mysterious villain who lives a double life. You introduce the evil side in the prologue but then have his alter ego join the hero’s team or at least be a neutral looking party. Then when you replay the scene you show the audience that this good guy and bad guy are the same.
Generally, I think this technique is used when you need to have a well established character change alignment (good to bad or bad to good) in the viewers eyes. It needs some good but subtle foreshadowing to work.
But since it seems unnecessary you may have to decide whether you want to change the scene or change the story to fit the scene (or a little of both).
If all else fails and you dont want to cut it completely perhaps consider making it a teaser. Put it on your website or release it beforehand instead of in your book. Maybe even the back of the book or that teaser text on the first page if it’s interesting enough.
I don't know how to help you, and for that I am sorry, but good luck with your writing journey. (Please update how it ends up later)!
This channel inspired me to go back and re-watch The Last Airbender - holy shit. What an excellent show. Can't wait to jump back into Korra now.
Don't. Korra's honestly not worth it and does far more wrong than right. I know it's pretty popular to hate on Korra, and I don't want to seem like just another person jumping on the bandwagon, but I'm serious. It's not worth it.
Magi V I personally enjoy it, despite it flaws.
@@merrittanimation7721 Superficially yes, Korra is a fantastic LOOKING show. But sadly that's about it and it's incredibly...hollow and sometimes downright stupid, ESPECIALLY compared to its groundbreaking predecessor. I don't want to feel sad out of disappointment, so I probably won't ever watch it again. But let's not get into an argument. I respect your opinion, although I don't agree with it.
Play the original Spyro from 1998... it opens with the Artisan dragons being interviewed on tv... a lot of the 84 and counting books I have written open in a similar way but it’s usually the main character giving the reader a sense of how the world works and what’s been going on in between books or introducing other important characters who well have vital parts later on... or maybe they’re telling you their back story... all but the first 3 books start in the first person but if the main character wants to show you something, I as the author have something to share but the main character cannot be a where of it, or needs a break from doing interviews, the story well switch to the third person... but I try not to have to resort to keeping it in 3rd person for too long... DO NOT READ THE EXAMPLE IF YOU DON’T WANT MY BOOK SPOILED FOR YOU
And If you want another Spyro game with a good prologue, The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning... just play the opening cutscene, then the cutscene after the second to last boss fight...
Example: in the story I just finished about the Light Queen, Aurora Gently, the queen says something along the lines of “hey, have you (the reader) met / seen X character?” camera operator moves camera to make it nod or shake its head... story switches to the character in question... I used this set up to show the reader that the two Elvan sorceresses (sisters) that the queen was looking for were both being held hostage... for the majority of their imprisonment the queen had no clue where they were... until they, malnourished, cold, and pregnant with their captors’ children, were rescued... one of the sisters was married and her husband was willing to adopt the baby she’d become pregnant with while she was a Prisoner of War... The other sister was a single mom but had a lot of help from her sister and brother-in-law...
9:08 Can we just have a 10-20 minute video of this? Please?
The prologue in the book I am writing is a very short one. Less than a page. And it is there to communicate to the audience a fundamental mystery that the main character doesn't know about yet, but is central to the story. Its a simple scene where a character has a vision of a great and destructive battle, he is then pulled out of the vision and another character tells him what he saw was the future. This prologue sets up three important things: 1 the prophecy/vision of the future, which becomes the most central plot point; 2 the character who sees the vision, who is a central antagonist; and 3 the character who tells the other character that what he saw is the future, which is another, albeit less central, antagonist.
Why is this the prologue and not the first character? Its from a different POV than the other chapters and the protagonist isn't aware of the vision/prophecy until late into chapter 2/3, and even then not to the degree we see in the prologue.
The prologue does not give any exposition, save perhaps establishing that one of the forms of magic in this world is scrolls, that when viewed for the first time, give the person viewing them a vision of something related to the prophecy written on the scrolls, something that will come up again later in the book, but is not fully explained at this stage either.
Thanks for the great video as well by the way, your stuff has been really inspiring, not so much for the worldbuilding itself in my case, but for catching "mistakes" or pieces of my worldbuilding that I realise I could have done much better with not much more effort and things that don't make as much sense on second reading.
You should have a book reference list for this video
Honestly he should just have a book recommendation list, while also giving a reference list for each video - books he likes that demonstrate well what he's talking about.
The name of the wind by patrick rothfuss - is one of those outlyers that just work. Its got a prologue and 6 chapters, before the main story starts. (Thats 50 pages in.)
If you havent read it, I recommend it. I know i just made it sound boring, but there is no way to explain this book. If it was writen in a different way it would be boring.
What I can say about it is: It is a story about a very underestimated, but important person in the world in which he lives. The world is a fantasy realm with magic, funny religiouns and dangerous creatures. Its mysterious by nature and entertaining.
Something i wouldnt mind your oppinion on: How baffling it is how well the writer kept you reading a prologue and 6 chapters, before the story even properly starts. Thats basicly a 6 and a half chapter prologue!
And
How masterful and beautiful the language is. Without using overly big words no one understands.
Just...
Its so impressive i know i will never write a book like this.
Not even in my future children's dreams.
QotD:
My prologue features a scientist and a military commander, getting ready to deploy a last-ditch weapon against alien invaders. The scientist is worried because it hasn't been through all the testing for safety yet. But they're out of time. The colonel(?) doesn't appreciate the concern. The weapon is deployed, and nothing immediately happens. The colonel relaxes - betraying he was more anxious than he let on. The scientist points out it's not instantaneous. "So give it a minute?" ".....Give it a week."
Cut to a week and a couple ages later, to the world that's rebuilt itself from the world that was doomed in that moment. That moment that had so little fanfare that it was mistaken for safe. In chapter one: Cairn-at-Roam.
Same, in terms of Eragon.
Prologues: That one chapter you edited out of your Voltron fanfic and stuck into your fantasy universe
THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I AM REALLY PROBLEMATIC ON MY PROLOGUE CUZ' IT'S WAAAAAAAAAAY TOO LONG AND IT EVEN BORES ME! THANK YOU FOR EXPLAINING THIS AND IT HELPED ME A LOT! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I'VE BEEN LONGING FOR SOMEONE TO EXPLAIN LIKE THIS AND I COULDN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU DID! THANK YOU SO MUCCCCHHH!
So my series is about a young knight, right?
The prologue is about him and his sister celebrating their acceptance into the academy where they are trained. It's a whole affair that the whole neighborhood celebrates before they go.
The second chapter introduces the main villain while in the middle of a crime, at which point the hero shows up older and already in the flow of things.
Here's the kicker, though. Each book in the series features a prologue that documents a specific moment in time which sort of foreshadows the theme(s) of the rest of book.
Part of the reason I'm doing this because I want to build hype around his growth as a person as well as interconnect him with the other characters through shared experiences.
Any advice or comments?
John Bradley You mentioned what the prologue does, and what the second chapter does. But what does the first chapter do?
Also, if you want to build hype around his growth as a person, why are you jumping from him just beginning his training to several years down the line, when he's already experienced? Unless you're wanting to build a sort-of mystery around what happened in-between; such as if his personality has significantly changed as a result of important events that happened in-between. Does this make any sense?
I do like the idea; it certainly has potential, but perhaps if you could please clarify a few things?
@@matthewmuir8884 Oh my gosh I messed up.
Okay, by "Second chapter" I meant to say "first chapter". So that's a derp on my part.
As for the purpose of the prologue, the first book has time skip forward to him being more experienced, but still have the same happy and curious kid he was during his childhood shine through. He's living his dream and stopping this bad guy is his big break. You wanna root for the kid because he's a good guy.
However (and this is kind of spoilers), the first book would end with a cliffhanger marked by a tragic event. His character would be suffering as a result, and he's now a bit more upset and driven for revenge... but the prologues still retain the same tone they once did.
So basically, the idea is for the prologues to act as a reminder of how he was able to overcome his obstacles and achieve his dreams through positivity rather than let one become jaded and bitter.
I want the reader to root for the main character to overcome his anguish and become the hero he had always wanted to be in the first place.
@John Bradley Okay. If he retains his personality between the prologue and chapter 1 though, then what's the reason for the prologue then? Does it have a distinct hook? Does it set up some unique theme/tone/mood? The fact that he was just a small neighbourhood kid seems like something more suited to a flashback unless there was juxtaposition between prologue him and chapter 1 him that would make a hook.
Maybe not even a flashback; maybe even chapter 1 opening with (just as an example), "Seven years it'd been since he'd been accepted at the knight academy; seven years since his Cheapside neighbourhood gave the biggest him and his sister the biggest farewell celebration he'd ever seen; seven years of grueling training and intense studies. But now, he was finally ready; he was finally a knight."
That being said, I can see one big potential reason for this prologue: you say that the town bids them farewell in the prologue, and the first chapter opens with the villain in the middle of a crime. If there was a best friend, beloved elder, loved one, etc. in the neighbourhood who was dear to the hero, and the villain's crime in chapter 1 led to the death or hospitalization of this dear character; affecting the hero, then I could see the prologue being useful to introduce this character to the reader and enable the reader to feel the hero's emotional pain in chapter 1.
I write a first chapter only to realise I've acctually written a prologue, leaving me back at square one. 😧
Can somebody please explain me why, despite all this, Star Wars exposition with literally text on screen still works? I mean, people seem to love it, but... why?
You _do_ know, that we are expecting a book, with all your Tipps and Tricks about (Screen)writing?!
I am considering compiling all the scripts into a book!
~ Tim
@@HelloFutureMe Great! I would really love this. I like your way of thinking about the whole topic. Have you studied writing or something?
English was part of my degree, but none of that contributed to the OW series. That is all purely my own study and research.
~ Tim
When it comes to my story, I am scared I am introducing too many questions. Namely, An annoying character who is at the same level as the protagonist calls her a "murderer" the traumatic past. I also mention that the main character is a demon hunter and if one of the great houses, what are demons, what are the great houses? Who is this person the main charcter has to hunt down. Is this too much?