Posted by Steph in writing process | 7 comments
Kristen Nelson on Prologues
Literary agent Kristen Nelson has some valuable things to say on prologues as a literary device:
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2010/02/why-prologues-often-dont-work.html
The prologue has parallels to the television teaser, and the function it performs (particularly in pilot episodes). Some teasers are brilliant: the Buffy teaser comes to mind, and the Firefly teaser isn’t half bad either (though I’m an unashamed Whedonite, so I’m biased). Some teasers not so much: the Glee pilot, in addition to not being a great pilot in itself, in my opinion, had a teaser that said nothing about the show. I saw the film Daybreakers with some friends earlier this week, and one of the (many) things that left us confused was the opening sequence – whilst cool, had little further relevance to anything in the rest of the story. I spent a good hour of the film trying to make the connection between the teaser and the main arc, before realising that it wasn’t meant to be connected at all.
The Twilight teasers are some of the things that annoyed me most about the film adaptations – justifiable in the first couple of books perhaps, but they feel completely clumsy in the films, laden as they are with hamfisted symbolism and Robert Pattinson’s bare chest.
A coincidence that you post this now for me, as I have rewritten and rewritten my opening page / prologue / preface this week. I agree with a lot of her points, but in the end I don’t like rules that much when it comes to craft. You feel it or you don’t, you want them or you don’t, whether or not that impresses an agent / publisher / gate-keeper is another matter and so subjective as to be almost irrelevant.
Generally I don’t like prologues in novels. Of course there are always exceptions.
I watched Daybreakers last week and enjoyed it. The opening scenes stuck out as being disconnected and just in there for the “look at the cool and crazy things that are happening in this world.” But since they weren’t too long and a lot of vampire stuff relies on setting the mood, I was willing to forgive that.
You enjoyed Daybreakers? Really? REALLY?
I think of all the people I went to see it with (there were about seven of us), I was one of the more optimistic going in. My reaction coming out was, “Who the hell gave this three stars?” Problems. So many problems. But not without its redeeming fragments, I suppose (interesting, though irrelevant production design, for instance).
Not the greatest movie I’ve ever seen. But thought it was fun enough. Ending was weak and predictible, but the lead actors were likeable enough to carry the film.
The scene in the wine vat? Where he touches her and says, “You’re warm”?
If that scene didn’t bring a tear to your eye, maybe you need your own heart jumpstarted.
Not the greatest movie I’ve ever seen. But thought it was fun enough. Ending was weak and predictible, but the lead actors were likeable enough to carry the film.