Is "prologue" a dirty word? In my latest novel, I want to set the stage with a quick montage of scenes covering the last 40 years before the Real Action starts in the Present Day.
I submitted this opening and Ch.1 to one of the writing groups I belong to. WELL, to my naive surprise, I learned that the majority of the gang wouldn't touch a "Prologue" with a ten foot cattle prod. If the first pages of a book are so labeled, they skip right over them.
Verily, I did inquire, "Why, fer cryin' out loud?" These are pages written by the author. Skipping them will no doubt make the ensuing plot unnecessarily cryptic, no?
Their reply was but to shrug. A risk they chose to face rather than sully themselves in a Prologue.
Have I found a nest of lovable, talented weirdos or is this a common thing out there?
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