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IN THE BEGINNING………
Today’s Snippet theme is prologue. Some writers love them, some not so much. I myself enjoy a good one. They can help to set the tone, lend a little backstory to help set the main premise up. I’ve chosen a prologue that is for my YA book, Ravyn’s Fall. I hope you enjoy. Please don’t forget to read the others that are participating. They are listed below the excerpt:
against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
The child had been swept into the small town of Kings Crossing on the heels of a fantastic thunderstorm; one that had drenched the entire area in torrents of rain, hail and lightening. Days later it was referred to as a “hundred year rain”, meaning the swollen storm drains, sewers and rivers were unprecedented.
The residents were grateful no one had been killed. They claimed it was a miracle.
But Hank Creed knew better.
He held the miracle in his arms.
“Keep her safe until I come for her on the night of her birth, seventeen years hence.”
He’d been charged with the newborn’s protection, and as the other, the one who stood in the shadows, swept up and was away into the angry night sky, Hank made a vow that he would give his very life to do just that.
Sadly, he had no way of knowing his future. No way to know that his fate was shadowed in darkness, one that would touch the angel child he held so tenderly.
One that would eventually tempt her fall.
Sylvia Day
Shelley Munro
Jaci Burton
Michelle Pillow
Juliana Stone
Moira Rogers
Sasha White
TJ Michaels
Lacey Savage
Jody Wallace
Eliza Gayle
Kelly Maher
Taige Crenshaw
Beth Williamson
Lauren Dane
Mandy Roth
Beth Kery
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I myself love prologues and everyone I talk to love them too so I don’t know where this aversion to them from the higher up’s comes from really.
Loved your prologue. Gave me shivers.
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I enjoy prologues if they’re short and add something useful to the story.
Yours fits that bill — short, exciting, and makes me want to read the book!
The downside on prologues — writers frequently seem to get swept up in their research for a book….which can lead to the "I’ll just stuff all the backstory into a prologue" approach.
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Hi Julianna:
What an excellent prologue snippet. I really like prologues because if they are well written it spurs me on to read the story and find out what brought the characters to this point.
Your prose is very lush, beautifully written.
Thanks
L
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@nancy, I do like me a good prologue, but they have to be short and sweet and hopefully exciting enough the reader wants to turn the page and get into the bones of the book!
@Grace, hey siren thanks for stopping by. You’re right, I’ve read prologues before that were so chalk full of info dump, I really didn’t care to read the book. It’s a very fine line
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Lea, thanks so much for your kind words. I do think a well written prologue can add so much to the experience of reading the story.
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I like prologues when Juliana Stone writes them
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Aw, Lauren, you are a sweet thang! Three sleeps to nationals! Woot!
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Jullianna,
I love prologues when they work, and your definitely does!
C-:
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Hey Elle! Thank you and you’re completely right. When they’re good, they’re good, but when they’re bad….well, you know!
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I normally only read erotic romance, but once in a while a writer can tell a story so well that they grab your attention. I love how you’ve done that here. It was short, but instantly you’ve left me hanging…wanting to find out what the next page would say.
I myself LOVE prologues. Sometimes I don’t think you can tell a story without one. It gives you the background you need for the rest of the story to make sense.
Thanks for sharing it with me!
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Nicole, thanks for stopping by. And I agree, some stories need that little bit of "prequel" to get the party started!
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Wear your first sale pin proudly! Can’t wait to hear all about it.