When Does a Novel Need a Prologue or Epilogue?

Use of Prologue and Epilogue Can Help Explain a Complicated Story

Jan 6, 2009 Vickie Britton

A prologue is an introductory piece which tells what went on before the novel begins. An epilogue appears at the end and tells what happens years after.

A prologue is an introduction that is not quite a chapter. It is set apart from the rest of the book either in time or in viewpoint. An epilogue appears at the end of the book, and tells what happened after the story is over. It is not necessary to have both a prologue and an epilogue. Many books have a prologue with no epilogue. Others have both. A few books have an epilogue but no prologue.

The Prologue

The purpose of a prologue is to provide necessary backstory for the novel which cannot be told in any other way. Often, it serves to provide a general background or to set the stage for the drama to come. For example, a historical novel about the French Revolution might have a prologue which provides dates and general information how the revolution got started. The book would then begin with specific characters and follow them as they are caught up in the turmoil of war.

A prologue may also be used for dramatic effect. A common use of the prologue in a thriller is to have the prologue either be in the villain’s viewpoint, or to start the story with a murder scene or crime in progress, an evil face peering into a window, or someone hearing the footsteps of a stalker. Then the novel begins with the detective or main character’s viewpoint.

The Epilogue -- And they Lived Happily Ever After…

An epilogue is a short piece tagged on to the ending that relates events that happened long after the story has ended. Often, it will tell whether the main characters married, had children, moved to a farm in the country. Epilogues without prologues are used when the beginning of the story is self-explanatory, but the ending needs closure.

An epilogue is usually not necessary unless you have a novel that spans a long period of time or have an event such as a birth or a wedding that is not covered by the ending. Often, in a historical romance, the book will end with a kiss, and the epilogue might start seven year after and tell that the couple married and had three or four children and lived to ripe old ages. In this manner, little extras the reader might want to know, but that take place far after the ending of the story, are covered in the epilogue.

Use of a Prologue and Epilogue to Indicate a Span of Time not Covered in the Novel

In Mary Higgins Clark’s I Heard that Song Before, the prologue introduces the main character as a little girl who overhears a cryptic conversation in a hidden chapel on the Carrington Estates, where her father works as a landscaper. The first chapter begins with the same character as a grown woman. She returns and falls in love with estate owner Peter Carrington, but gradually realizes what she overheard that night as a child might be a clue to the murders her new husband has been accused of. An epilogue tells the state of affairs a year later--did their marriage last? Was he convicted?

Use of a Prologue and Epilogue to Span Years of History

In a novel that spans years or decades, a prologue explains certain events pertinent to the plot that went on before the novel begins. For example, Robert Goddard’s historical suspense novel Name to a Face has both a prologue and an epilogue. The prologue begin at an earlier time than the story takes place. Godfrey Schillingstone has discovered a mysterious secret he is about to reveal to the world, one that will bring him great academic fame. But before he can show what he has discovered, he is murdered.

The actual first chapter begins with another character, Tim Harding, who in modern times finds Schillingstone’s discovery has some bearing on a mystery in the present.

Here is a sampling of a few contemporary books that contain either prologues or epilogues or both.

• Dead Souls Ian Rankin (prologue)
• The Associate Philip Margolin (prologue)
• Midnight in Ruby Bayou Elizabeth Lowell (prologue)
• I Heard that Song Before Mary Higgins Clark (prologue and epilogue)
• Name to a Face Robert Goddard (prologue and epilogue)
• Cruel and Unusual Patricia Cornwell (prologue and epilogue)
• Where are you Now? Mary Higgins Clark epilogue onlyl)
• Still Life with Crows Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (epilogue)

Click these links for more articles about the craft of writing:

Do You Need a Plot Outline?

Writing the First Chapter

The copyright of the article When Does a Novel Need a Prologue or Epilogue? in Writing Fiction is owned by Vickie Britton. Permission to republish When Does a Novel Need a Prologue or Epilogue? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Prologues and Epilogues