Tuesday's Writer's Tip Prologues and Epilogues #BWLAuthor #MFRWAuthor #Prologue #Epilogues Wwriting

 What is the advantage of using a prologue in your story. A prologue is a small scene that sets the problem for your characters. The prologue is also the past. The story must move forward after this. For the prologue to be effective, the scene should be short, telling and point to what the characters are facing in the present part of the story. I seldom use prologues but there are times when this short scene is needed to produce tension, or interest in what is occurring in the character's presence.

Epilogues are seldom used these days. Often just making what would have been the epilogue into a final scene in the book works. In the past, epilogues were often lone and gave the characters what happens in the future, making this a long, long scene. 

At present I am using an epilogues in the story I'm currently working on. But this is a single scene and is used for a rather shock element and involves only a shadowy character seen in the prologue.

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Wednesday - Plot - flashbacks, prologues and epilogues

A bit aboug flashbacks. A look into the past can be just a line of memory, a passage of exposition, a conversation or a genuine flashback that is a scene that has taken place in the past. The first kinds of looking at the past seldom cause problem, but the long scenic flashback can pull the reader out of the story. One of my favorite writers used this in one of her books where perhaps a chapter or two were in the present and then one in the past. I'm sure she was just trying a technique but for me the story was so disjointed I began to skip the past scenes and focused on the current story. When the information is vital, try to find another way of presenting the information. Used judiciously a memory of the past can hold clues to the present problems in the story.

Prologues and epilogues are generally better left off. For the prologue if there is information that is vital to the story use a prologue but remember to make it vital and short. If the material in the prologue goes on for pages and pages, this may mean the story has started in the wrong place.

Epilogues tell something that happens in the character's futures. I've never been partial to them. This is my own view but often they're found in romance novels and make me feel the writer is trying to convince me that this romance really works. Something to think about. If a writer is planning a sequel to the book, an epilogue can act as a teaser for what is to come.

Remember to use these three additions to the plot judiciously. Keeping the reader turning the pages is a good thing. Having something that causes them to stop reading isn't good.

Writing Tips -- The End

The ending of a story must be satisfactory. Yes, a happy ending is essential to some genres and some stories but not all stories have a happy-ever-after ending. The last part of a story must lead a reader to say yes, I can see that's the way it had to end.

But there are things leading to the ending of a story. There is the black moment or the crisis. This is when one or both of the main characters believes all is lost. The hero or heroine feels they will never gain love. The detective believes the criminal will go free. That's the sort of emotion the black moment brings. Following this the character or character must come to a decision and see what changes must be made so they can attain their goal.

Some books are hard for a writer to end. The characters have become really alive and it's like saying goodbye to a friend. One way to solve this is to do a sequel. When I was writing The Quest For The White Jewel, the editor thought the ending was all right but wanted me to do a bit more. That was the moment when it hit me that the story wasn't complete. Though the White Jewel had been found there were other jewels without Holders and there were also some of the baddies still running around. That was when I started the second book and untimately there was a third.

Here's a bit about epilogues. I generally don't write them because the ending I've written satisfies me, In romances, especially, an epilogue is often used to show the hero and heroine really have managed the happy-ever-after. I'm not sure this is necessary.