What's the most natural way to show a passage of time between the prologue and chapter one?
In my current novel, the protagonist is driven forward throughout the plot by events that happened to him in the past. The reader needs to know these events, so I'd like to include them in a prologue. The prologue would take place nearly a year before the events of the rest of the novel.
Here's my question: How can I show how much time has passed between the prologue and chapter one? Is there some technique I can use that will seem natural?
Methods that won't work: Previously, I've included a bold header above the chapter, maybe with a date, maybe with a number of days later. I'm trying to veer away from this method though, because it doesn't lend itself to every kind of writing (this is just my personal opinion).
1 answer
I'll refrain from standard cautions about the advisability of prologues vs. weaving the back story into the main story and assume that you've definitely decided a prologue is the way to go. With that in mind:
I think just having the first chunk labelled "Prologue" cues most readers that there's a time separation between Chapter One.
Beyond that, I think your technique will depend on the content of your prologue. If you have Joe getting blown up in the Prologue, in Chapter One you can have Joe testing his scars and musing about how they don't seem to be fading any more a year after the injuries. If Joe watches his true love walk away from him in the Prologue, have him still trying not to think about her in Chapter One, or have a friend mention that it's been a year since Jane left and it's time for Joe to start dating again. etc.
Textual cues, I'd say. But I can't give you more details about what they might be without knowing what happens in your prologue.
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