What it shouldn't be is an info dump or a lot of boring back-story, which it often is and is one reason a great many readers don't seem to like them. At least in a novel: you can get away with a prologue in non-fiction, but then it's more properly a preface.
Scene-setting is the usual reason for including one, which is fine so long as something interesting happens. In the same way as a first chapter needs to drag readers into a story so does a prologue, but a hook is probably even more important.
I'm no expert, though both my completed stories have them and they were written for different reasons. The first was because (i) it was a war story and there was no 'action' in the first chapter and (ii) the prologue introduced an important character who did not reappear until the final third of the book.
In the second story I was again stuck for an exciting start so I wrote the aftermath of a shipwreck, which happens the day after the final chapter, when an unidentified body is discovered on a beach. It means the reader has to go through the whole book to find out who's dead. Or still alive.
So basically I think a prologue ought to be short, full of something to hook the reader, whether that be action or intrigue, and it needs to relate to some facet of the story which follows, at least in the reader's mind.
I know there are those here who dislike prologues, so we'll see what they have to say :)
Prologue is ...... well a bit boring according to me.......
It is usually used to introduce a character who is appearing late in the book or for some other connecting event!
Though it has no specified length and it depends on your genre and story, Prologue is usually for 1- 2 pages !! :D
It rather depends on its function, I think.
What it shouldn't be is an info dump or a lot of boring back-story, which it often is and is one reason a great many readers don't seem to like them. At least in a novel: you can get away with a prologue in non-fiction, but then it's more properly a preface.
Scene-setting is the usual reason for including one, which is fine so long as something interesting happens. In the same way as a first chapter needs to drag readers into a story so does a prologue, but a hook is probably even more important.
I'm no expert, though both my completed stories have them and they were written for different reasons. The first was because (i) it was a war story and there was no 'action' in the first chapter and (ii) the prologue introduced an important character who did not reappear until the final third of the book.
In the second story I was again stuck for an exciting start so I wrote the aftermath of a shipwreck, which happens the day after the final chapter, when an unidentified body is discovered on a beach. It means the reader has to go through the whole book to find out who's dead. Or still alive.
So basically I think a prologue ought to be short, full of something to hook the reader, whether that be action or intrigue, and it needs to relate to some facet of the story which follows, at least in the reader's mind.
I know there are those here who dislike prologues, so we'll see what they have to say :)