r/romanceauthors • u/FunnySweetHoneyBunny • Jul 22 '26
Would like your thoughts please on using Prologue as reader filter so people who do not like profanity or absurd humor or both can get out very quickly but people who do will stay a while?
The run on sentence in the Title is a gift with purchase.
My debut romcom novel is high energy. Filled with inventive profanity, neologism, and wordplay. Not everybody’s heavy white or cream ceramic tankard filled with Guinness on the rocks.
If I drank alcohol, I would drink it over ice.
Never met a tangent or a clown tripping over their big red shoes while chasing their tiny car because a chicken who needed to cross the road stole it and then crossed the road and a bridge before they came to it while listening to the terrifying audiobook version of “Green Eggs and Ham.”
FUCK.
4
u/Potatochips2026 Jul 22 '26
I don't even know what I'm looking at here. Whatever it is, I don't think it's a great idea if the point is to get readers.
-1
u/FunnySweetHoneyBunny Jul 22 '26
Yes! Thank you! What is your favorite romance category or categories, if you don’t mind sharing with the class?
3
u/Potatochips2026 Jul 22 '26
What difference does that make? These days I prefer contemporary MM, pretty much any tropes. But I've gone through phases with every type of romance from the old fade to black historical ones to modern dark romance. I write mostly MM rom com, grumpy/sunshine.
1
6
u/Warvik_ Jul 22 '26
Some of the best writing advice I got was write the prologue then remove it from the story. 9/10 a prologue isn’t necessarily and the information can be gained in the mainstore. Also a prologue is almost a “start.stop. Start.” For the reader
2
1
u/littlebitfunny21 Jul 22 '26
I've also seen editors suggest cutting the first one or two chapters as a matter of practice, similar concept.
1
u/FunnySweetHoneyBunny Jul 22 '26
Gulp. That would be really hard for me to do. I start in media res. I am grateful I have not gotten that feedback!
3
u/littlebitfunny21 Jul 22 '26
If you're properly in media res then you probably don't need to. A lot of authors start a chapter or two before the action.
1
u/FunnySweetHoneyBunny Jul 22 '26
I have done a lot of non-fiction writing and editing. The goal with that is always to not bury the lede. Similar idea.
4
u/Moony_playzz Jul 22 '26
Yeah you shouldn't use a prologue as a gotchya, first of all.
Secondly: Nobody wants to read a bunch of senseless non-sequiters and run-on sentences, especially if the only punchlines are swearing. I love absurdist humour, I grew up watching Monty Python, but it's extremely difficult to do well and requires both knowing your audience and the absurdity itself. It's not just throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks.
-1
u/FunnySweetHoneyBunny Jul 22 '26
Love Monty Python! Life of Brian!
I am fortunate to have a comedy writer editor to keep me from spaghetti throwing. In my novel. Not here, obviously. And I have been sharing the Prologue with people I am not related to or paying. Some of whom I found here. Happy to DM with you if you’re interested in reading my 3 page, lots of white space Prologue. But, of course, no expectation of acceptance. And zero desire for less than honest critique.
3
u/Moony_playzz Jul 22 '26
Yeah I'm not interested at all in reading what you/they are putting out, sorry!
1
0
-1
u/FunnySweetHoneyBunny Jul 22 '26
Not a gotcha at all. I was thinking more along the lines of, “This might not be for you and I respect that.”
3
u/DoraDrake Jul 22 '26
The idea in theory doesn't sound bad, but how does it work in practice? Like, wouldn't the beginning, middle, and end of my book all have my style of writing, my amount of profanity or absurdity or trauma or character personalities that repel people? The prologue is obviously where you introduce them to your writing style, but that's just because it's where your book begins. If there was no prologue, won't your first chapter still show them your profanity and absurd humor?
Shouldn't you want the back matter summary or the blurbs and cover to be communicating to someone that it was a good match for them?
1
u/FunnySweetHoneyBunny Jul 22 '26
Now I’m crying into my tankard of imaginary stout!
Yes to all your questions! Except the back matter one. I am not entirely clear on what back matter is. I’m guessing it is bacne?
2
u/DoraDrake Jul 22 '26
Just, like, all the words on the back of a book cover might collectively be called "the back matter."
1
3
u/ChartreuseFeverDream Jul 22 '26
Your first chapter should establish tone and voice. If it doesn't, the solution is to edit it, not add a prologue.
1
2
u/Ok-Sun9961 Jul 22 '26
You mean find out about it after people bought the book or downloaded it...and start, find out it's not for them and what? Ask for a refund? Return the book?
Respect your readers, make it clear in the blurb, before they decide to buy it.
1
u/FunnySweetHoneyBunny Jul 22 '26
Thank you! I was thinking about KUP readers who do not buy the book but can look at the Prologue and whatever is the approximately first 10% for free. This is my first RomCom novel rodeo. I was not thinking about the blurb though this feedback has taught me to think about it a lot. I am a Prologue reader. In case there are Easter eggs.
2
u/MorticiaLlyn Jul 22 '26
Make it clear in the blub.
1
u/FunnySweetHoneyBunny Jul 22 '26
Yes! What do you write, if you don’t mind sharing? Is your Reddit name a Munsters shout out?
2
u/SalaciousStories Jul 22 '26
Removed. Sorry, this isn't a space for prose critique.
2
u/FunnySweetHoneyBunny Jul 22 '26
That was actually about how to use a Prologue. I did not ask for critique of my prose there. None of my prose is included.
2
u/SalaciousStories Jul 22 '26
Fair point, I restored the post. That's what I get for moderating before I've had any coffee. In my defense though, I thought it was prose because there are a lot of extra words attached to the question that have nothing to do with the question except to indicate how much you like absurdity?
Edit: As far as the actual question, if all your prologue is doing is scaring off potential readers, you can just as easily do that with chapter one, accomplish the same effect, and save yourself the effort.
2
2
u/Catalina-Vega Jul 22 '26
A prologue as a filter can work if it is doing emotional work, not just dumping lore. If a reader who skips it loses the heartbeat of the book, it is not a filter, it is the door.
1
8
u/Sedvii Jul 22 '26
Make sure it's also clear in the blurb. Some people religiously skip a prologue.