On Prologues and Editing

If there's a rule that limits the length of a prologue, I'm going to break it. The damn thing is over 6,000 words long. That's roughly 24 pages. With the way I edit, it's only going to get longer. On the bright side, since this is my own web site, I'm allowed to break the rules. I don't have to adhere to any expectations except my own, which might not be such a good thing after all, now that I think about it. A little structure would probably do me well.

I like Wikipedia's definition of a prologue. It is an "[...] opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one." This describes my prologue precisely, so I'm on the right track, at least. There is some sense of norm to what I'm doing. Wikipedia doesn't mention a word count.

I'm in the process of editing, or rewriting, the prologue at the moment. I combine the two, usually, post first draft. I start a new document, use the latest draft as a reference, and begin anew. I do this until nothing remains in the text that bothers me. It isn't a very technical approach, but it is one that has worked for me so far. I'm going to hold back on announcing any dates for the prologue for now, but the prospect of putting this first piece online has me very much excited!

Back to writing.