Oh - How I Hate Prologues

I hate Prologues, there I got that off my chest or my mind, or as my granddaughter would say, “Whatever.”

I started reading a book this afternoon. I turned to the first page – there centered at the top – Prologue. This page then proceeded to describe the protagonist to me as he looked at himself in a mirror. And it described his thoughts as he looked in the mirror. Not sure if the mirror was bouncing back his thoughts or what.

I skipped the rest of the false beginning, ur, I mean prologue and went to the first chapter. And it started with a description of the beautiful day and how many colors the sky was that morning.

So there I was, I hate prologues and the beginning of the first chapter was a yawner.  I quit. Started a new book.

How did it start? “The old back wound ached and his shoulder still hurt all day long, but two years of healing and pushing papers at a Kansas City desk made the pain bearable. U.S. Marshall Blade Holmes tipped his head back and blew out a long cold breath, He watched the air turn to a misty white steam.  Hooking his thumb inside the collar of his deerskin coat he pulled it up tight under his chin, felt like winter might be in a bit of a rush to get to the Wyoming high country this year.

Yep, I’ll stick with this one. Where is he going? Did he get shot two years ago? Will he get trapped by a storm? I want to know. I need to know. As a reader I must know.

This is how I pick what I read, if it starts too slow, or I just do not like the beginning, I pick another. At my age I don’t want to waste time reading bad books when there are so many good ones out there.

Read on!