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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 th...
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#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T04:39:41Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/19144 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
Kate S.
·
2019-12-08T04:39:41Z (almost 5 years ago)
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.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2015-09-27T19:15:14Z (about 9 years ago)
Original score: 4