Why Should You Write A Prolouge?

Answer 1

A prologue is like an introduction to your story and can contain foreshadowing of what's to come in the rest of the book or can be told years before the actual starting time frame of your book. Prologues are not required and including one should be based on personal preference. I typically do not use them in my stories but I have one novel in which a crucial piece of information begged to be told to the reader before the actual story began.

Answer 2

A prologue is helpful, in my own opinion, in two instances.
First, if the book is volume 2, etc, of a series....that way you can provide a short synopsis of what went on in the previous book so that readers will refamiliarize themselves with the story up to that point.
Second, if you jump right into a story, and you want to give some basic background information about the setting or the character previous to the time frame you are writing about. Say you are wrtitng about the family of someone killed in a war. The reader may not understand the dynamics of the personal relationships the remaining members had with the deceased. By writing a prologue that gives the information in short, concise way, you can jump right into the story without the need for extra chapters that would switch the focus of the story..

Answer 3

A pure Prologue is somewhat archaic and in some ways harkens back to "warnings" about what is to come....(particularly in the theater).

Personal belief is that Novels today cover the same material in their first chapter exposition.

Hey, it's optional....like it, write it. Same results one way or the other.
(By the way, in Shakespearean times, a "play" would be an "event" occuring over a 4, 5, or 6 hour period. Audiences brought food, drink, etc. to the theater. A Prologue gave them some idea of the various theatrical "acts" that would unfold, and an opportunity to plan for, ahem, "breaks." Not unlike a summer concert with 6 or 7 bands.)

Answer 4

you don't HAVE to but it can be important
prologues set the setting, time or it foreshadows something in the actual story prologues tell something about the people, the history of a character or the history of the setting
if you're writing a scary story, i think a prologue would be proper about the setting to give it a more eerie feel but that's just me