When a agent askes for sample chapters, e.g. the first three. Does this include the prologue, as in the prologue being one of the three chapters, or do you send in the first three chapters and the prologue. Please help, I'm so lost.
When a agent askes for sample chapters, e.g. the first three. Does this include the prologue, as in the prologue being one of the three chapters, or do you send in the first three chapters and the prologue. Please help, I'm so lost.
When I did my most recent submission, I included the prologue as a chapter in itself as it was they key event that set up the rest of the story (in this case, it was the murder that launched the subsequent investigation). Then again, my submission requirement was for "the first three chapters or approximately the first 10,000 words". I would also urge caution on this point: If chapter 1 references events in the prologue and the prologue hasn't been included, it will be confusing for the reader and I would therefore include the prologue.
It depends what you mean by prologue.
Random sample from somewhere in the middle of the book because Chapter 1 is not exciting? Omit and revise chapter 1.
A chapter which, for many reasons, isn't chapter 1? Include.
With the three chapter rule, use your common sense. Depending on how you think of a chapter, my first three are either 2K or 30K - most of my subs went out at 8K because that was a natural break.
Maximum sub would be 50 pages, or about 10K.
As said - "if it doesn't ask for it don't send it".
If you were asked for double spacing you wouldn't send single.
My Dad was an examiner and used to bring home piles of scrips to mark. The pile on the left of his chair would rapidly go down as the pile on the right went up most of the time. The reason? The candidates hadn't answered the question. That was always the primary reason for failing.
It taught me well that the most important thing to do before "finishing" is to check that I have done exactly what I have been asked to do.
I did this once in a finals exam and realised (with minutes to spare) that I had answered a question on completely the wrong point. I frantically appendeda note to say what I had done and added a list of key points for what I should have answered. I was discretely told that I got a good mark for the combined effort. One important thing was that I put a note at the start pointing the examiner to the appended notes at the end.
I would not recommend this though! It is not good for the blood pressure.