Some readers love them. Some hate them.

Prologues and epilogues are the topic today!

I don’t happen to mind them, but I could generally do without them. I mean, as long as the story is complete without them, I don’t miss them or wish they were there.

I feel a novel should have a prologue and/or epilogue only if it makes sense given the story and adds something to that story.

Ideally, a prologue should provide background information that comes into play later on in the story. It should introduce characters, plot points, or themes that readers should recognize reappearing, and there should probably be a time jump between the prologue and chapter one, or some other kind of distancing (maybe a different point of view).

If there is no real distancing between the prologue and chapter one, then personally, I think the prologue is simply chapter one, and should be titled such.

Epilogues are great to give a peek into the future–to show how characters or doing or to wrap up a subplot that isn’t a HUGE deal (otherwise it should wrap up in the main story).

You should also have some distance between the end of the final chapter and the epilogue, be that distance via time, POV change . . . something, to justify an epilogue being an epilogue and not simply the final chapter.

How do you feel about epilogues and prologues? Are there any that particularly struck you and you remember?