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Q&A

Can prologues and epilogues change POV from the main text?

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I have completed my book. But I'm stuck writing the prologue. I've written the story with narration by the writer (not from the point of view of any of the characters).

But I don't feel like that works for the prologue. I thought I could have one of the characters narrate the prologue, as though telling the story to somebody else, but I don't want to go and change the entire book to that character's point-of-view.

How should I write the prologue so that it works with my main story?

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This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/14272. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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You are allowed to have the prologue narrated by a different character as long as it is absolutely clear who the narrator is. You do not have to change the whole book. In fact, every chapter can be a different viewpoint narrator; George R.R. Martin does this throughout his Song of Ice and Fire books.

You can also have the prologue written in third person omniscent even if the rest of the book isn't. Prologues and epilogues, being set off from the main text, have a little more leeway.

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