Making a great Prologue?

[DeletedUser160413]

Hi guys! I was wondering about a couple of things. Recently I've been putting a lot of work into writing, but I only realised now how fast a player will be able to read a couple of thousand words. So here are my first questions:

How long should the prologue be? And if I'm planning on dividing it into chapters, how long would you like the chapters to be?

So far, me and my friend have written almost 7000 words, but it only took me about 20 minutes to read the whole thing in the VN. In the beginning I only wanted the prologue to be about 10.000 words long but I realised now that it might be too short. So what do you guys think about this?

Next questions, how long/many words should a scene be, or a conversation with a character? And what makes a great prologue great to you?

I might add some more questions, but I would appreciate it if you could help me with these ones first! Thanks!

[KiloTango]

In regards to prologue length, it kind of depends on the rest of the story.

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about word count. Your prologue should have as many words as it needs to say what it needs to say. It could be 10,000 (though that feels long to me for a prologue), but it could equally be less than 500, with the right phrases, images, audio and pacing.

The perfect prologue for me is something that pulls me in, either making me ask a lot of questions or otherwise making me want to find out more. It should give me a sense of the tone of the story and the themes it might be about. Ideally it'll do it in a stylish and interesting way but even if the presentation isn't anything unusual, it'll have interesting enough characters/setting/plot to spark a need to play the rest of the game. If it's a prologue and not just a first chapter, it should be tight and well crafted enough you could almost read it out of context in its own right... but leave enough hanging that you want more.

re: Timing, some of that is going to heavily depend on your use of pauses, sprite expressions etc as well. And people have different reading speeds. Don't worry so much about the time things take, as just telling the story. Padding your work to hit a particular word count rarely helps, your story will be as long as it is.

[DeletedUser160413]

Thank you! I must say that I loved the demo for The Lighthouse. I thought the art was absolutely beautiful and I loved the pacing of the story! I really appreciate the reply!

[KiloTango]

Oh! Thank you very much! (The thread has been quite quiet so I've been assuming most people didn't play it).

Glad I could help. Good luck with your prologue!

[Cith]

Next questions, how long/many words should a scene be, or a conversation with a character?

This is my view of things (different people have different views, no right or wrong in writing.) Scenes drive the story forward, and a scene should wind down/end once something happens which furthers the story. This can be 1 paragraph or ten pages. Regarding conversations, conversations in a story have a purpose. Once it's fulfilled its purpose time to end it.

[Asceai]

What is this prologue? What purpose does it serve?

You see, when some people say 'prologue' they mean a segment of exposition preceding the VN proper. In this case, 10,000 words is likely too long. I think there's an argument for cutting the prologue down to 0 words, personally, but anyway...

On the other hand, I've heard some people say 'prologue' to refer to what is more commonly known as the trunk in a standard multi-route VN structure (i.e. there's a prologue, and after that the story branches out.) In that case, depending on the overall length of your VN, 10,000 words could be too short.

Naturally the only way to tell how long something is is to actually read it (or preferably get someone else to read it) and it of course heavily depends on words per line, how much you change scenes, show fades and fancy effects etc. but I personally think 300 words per minute is a good VN reading speed estimation. Using this metric, 10,000 words is slightly over half an hour, which is a long time to be reading pure exposition and I would probably stop reading it if this was something I had just downloaded on a whim and wasn't particularly invested in. That's why I think this is too long for a prologue in the typical sense of the term.

On the other hand, if this is more of an introductory piece, written in the same style as the VN proper with the same characters and not exposition - sort of the pre-opening scene - 10,000 words might be perfect if it works for your story.

[DeletedUser160413]

What is this prologue? What purpose does it serve?

Well, I'm calling it a prologue but it's actually just the demo of the actual game. It's supposed to be something that introduces the story/plot and the characters. I want there to be things that you only get to know about at the end of the prologue or even in the game itself, questions that will only be answered later on. But my idea was basically a preview of the actual game.

On the other hand, I've heard some people say 'prologue' to refer to what is more commonly known as the trunk in a standard multi-route VN structure (i.e. there's a prologue, and after that the story branches out.) In that case, depending on the overall length of your VN, 10,000 words could be too short.

Hmm, it depends. I guess the most important thing in my eyes is that every character gets introduced, the player gets a good look of what the story is about and how the MC starts of, and how the overall structure of the game and it's design looks. I mean most people usually look for three things in a VN, good storytelling, good writing and good art. Some might look for more, others less, but the most important thing for me is that I can reach out to as many people as possible through my prologue.

[Asceai]

Well, if you feel 30 minutes may be too short for that, I'd have a look at your overall plan and the kind of playtime you expected for the full thing and work out how well you understand the scope of your project. If the plan was to make something 20 hours long, you might be right that it's too short. However, I wouldn't just go adding filler text to pad out the prologue or anything - instead, read it and determine if it feels too short for what happens in there and what you might be lacking. If, for example, you feel the characters are introduced in a bit of a hurry, brainstorm interactions with them that will allow you to introduce those characters to the player and write them on. Or, on the other hand, you find that the setting feels a little bit thin, brainstorm description, anecdotes, whatever as necessary, find an excuse to talk about locations, to give some background information on the setting and the prominent people in it. On the other hand, if you feel what you've written is basically right for the story, I'd have another look at your scope. You might be writing a shorter story than you thought. (Don't distress too much, though; once you really get into including conversations between developed characters, those will eat up word count like nothing you've ever seen before. Then you'll be looking for ways to cut down!)

[Broodelin]

The key to making a great prologue is simple: make me care.

While setting up all that plot and world stuff is pretty important, it's a waste of time if your audience doesn't give two figs about what's going to happen.

[InvertMouse]

The visual novel might be a bit different. As for the novel writing community, many agents and authors say prologues should simply be scrapped altogether ~ I guess what's more important is, what we call the introduction hardly matters. As long as there's tension immediately, and the plot advances (VS just exposition), it's all good . Good luck!

[Gospel]

How long should the prologue be? And if I'm planning on dividing it into chapters, how long would you like the chapters to be?

Next questions, how long/many words should a scene be, or a conversation with a character? And what makes a great prologue great to you?

The length of anything you write should be one of your lesser worries.
There's no right answer when it comes to that. No standard for the perfect length of a prologue, conversation, etc.
I've read prologues that are just a couple of words long, and prologues that took me an hour+ too read. As for what the prologue is suppossed to depict, that also heavily varies.
One work uses it to introduce characters, plot and setting, another shows a scene completely unrelated to the aforementioned, which will only make sense once you've reached a certain part very late in the story, while using the first chapter to introduce characters, setting and plot.

So, regarding the length, I'd say just write and see what happens.
If it's 7000 words, then it's 7000 words. If it's just 500 it's just 500.
I wouldn't see a problem with either as long as it's interesting and draws me in.

You should just make sure not to artificially draw out the prologue (or a conversation), because you want to reach a specific word count. That might turn out bad.

As for the contents, I can only say what I personally like to see.
Introducing the main characters, giving a glimpse as to what they're like, as well as what kind of story it's going to be would be enough.
For me characters and plot are the most important, so I'd like to see as soon as possible if I'm going to like the main characters and if the story might be interesting.
(Actually, even introducing the characters would be enough. I can also enjoy a plot that's not too great, if the characters are interesting/fun. However, if a plot is absolutely great and I hate the main characters, I can't enjoy it at all. So yeah, I'd put the main focus on introducing the characters, but that's just me).

[Zootower]

Framing devices can be useful if you're in a rut. Giving the prologue a function in the overall plot at least gives it a baseline justification for audience interest. George R.R. Martin's quite good at this, as is Bioware's "Dragon Age 2", to pluck the first two examples that came into my head. Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" is pretty successful at this as well and actually utilizes it to give the reader a break from the more dense parts of the text, as well, just to throw a few examples in mainstream literature.

[Clayton Barnett]

"The best place to start a story is in the middle." -- Jerry Pournelle.

However, depending on what story you're telling, you don't want to leave your readers clueless. If you're on a different planet, a little about the colonization would be nice. If it's swords/sorcery, perhaps a small (small!) creation myth (think Tolkein's Rings poem).

If needed, a prologue is just the deep breath before the plunge. Best of luck!