{"id":544,"date":"2011-08-07T12:25:30","date_gmt":"2011-08-07T19:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=544"},"modified":"2011-08-13T17:00:47","modified_gmt":"2011-08-14T00:00:47","slug":"scrapping-the-prologue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/uncategorized\/scrapping-the-prologue\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrapping The Prologue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While travelling down to L.A., I fussed about my novel, A CALL FROM THE DEEP, which I&#8217;m hoping to get published in the near future. It&#8217;s completed\u00a0but it has this lengthy prologue, an apparent no-no when it comes to\u00a0agents and other in-the-know literary types. My prologue tells the story of an event that impacts my protagonist, an underwater photographer,\u00a0in an unusual way, and I&#8217;ve been reluctant to let it go. Perhaps, it&#8217;s because I like the way it&#8217;s written. But then again, writers know that sometimes you have to kill your darlings, even if it means, scrapping the prologue.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_545\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/P1090495.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-545\" data-attachment-id=\"545\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/uncategorized\/scrapping-the-prologue\/attachment\/p1090495\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/P1090495.jpg?fit=1600%2C1200&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1600,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4.5&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;DMC-FZ8&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1311597174&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;35.9&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;100&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.005&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Photo by Michael Stevantoni\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Photo by Michael Stevantoni&lt;\/p&gt;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/P1090495.jpg?fit=700%2C525&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-545\" title=\"Photo by Michael Stevantoni\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/P1090495-300x225.jpg?resize=300%2C225\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/P1090495.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/P1090495.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/P1090495.jpg?w=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/P1090495.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-545\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Michael Stevantoni<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Like this photo,\u00a0my story has\u00a0a lot of mystery under the surface and I need to keep it juicy for the reader, which might mean scrapping the prologue.<\/p>\n<p>Although there are many published authors who&#8217;ve incorporated a prologue in their best sellers, I, as\u00a0a novice, need to consider whether keeping it is wise.\u00a0After\u00a0taking into account\u00a0the advice I&#8217;ve read,\u00a0for example in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.nathanbransford.com\/2009\/03\/prologues.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nathan Bransford\\&#8217;s Blog<\/a>\u00a0, advice that says- <em>if you can tell your story without resorting to a prologue, do it&#8211;<\/em>I&#8217;ve decided to scrap it. Of course, that means some fancy writing and weaving in\u00a0details that my prologue contributed to the story.\u00a0But like many writing teachers would say, writing is re-writing, and\u00a0I welcome the\u00a0challenge.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While travelling down to L.A., I fussed about my novel, A CALL FROM THE DEEP, which I&#8217;m hoping to get published in the near future. It&#8217;s completed\u00a0but it has this&hellip; <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[79,9,23,47,7,5],"class_list":["post-544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-writing","tag-nathan-bransford","tag-novel","tag-prologue","tag-rewriting","tag-story","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-8M","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":168,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/prologues\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":0},"title":"Prologues","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"3 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In my second novel, I wrote a prologue. I've agonized over it, as it's not short. As an avid reader, I've had mixed feelings about reading prologues, sometimes enjoying them, and sometimes feeling it's taken the author too long to get going. So, I went online to see what others\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1919,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/writing\/whats-so-special-about-st-patricks-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":1},"title":"What&#8217;s So Special About St. Patrick&#8217;s Day?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"4 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Ah, I love the Irish. I toured Ireland with my husband, Robert, in 2009 to visit my first cousins, who, prior to that, I hadn\u2019t met. I fell in love with the land and its people. St. Patrick\u2019s Day is celebrated now world-wide, wherever the Irish are and where the\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Greens of Ireland","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/P1010369-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6505,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2024\/books\/celebrating-a-cry-from-the-deep-with-a-sale-on-its-10th-anniversary\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":2},"title":"Celebrating &#8216;A Cry from the Deep&#8217; with a Sale on its 10th Anniversary","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u0416\u043e\u0432\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"My Debut Book Launch It was a dark and stormy night\u00a0in October, 2014, when I launched A Cry from the Deep, my debut novel, at the local library in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. It wasn\u2019t a night to be out. The wind howled, as it does across Discovery Passage,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 &quot;Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Welcome","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cropped-Coho-Bestseller3.jpg?fit=940%2C427&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cropped-Coho-Bestseller3.jpg?fit=940%2C427&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cropped-Coho-Bestseller3.jpg?fit=940%2C427&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cropped-Coho-Bestseller3.jpg?fit=940%2C427&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6194,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2023\/uncategorized\/ai-narration-surprisingly-natural\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":3},"title":"AI Narration Surprisingly Natural","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"28 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm excited to share my wonderful discovery about AI narration. But first, a comment about the envrinoment we're living in. There's been so much fear about the rising use of AI with ChapGPT, and similar tools that help to generate ideas and content. Writers are using it to brainstorm, students\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 &quot;Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"AI narration","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/chatbot.webp?fit=536%2C340&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/chatbot.webp?fit=536%2C340&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/chatbot.webp?fit=536%2C340&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3418,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2017\/writing\/an-extraordinary-book-of-belonging\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":4},"title":"An Extraordinary Book of Belonging","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"7 \u0416\u043e\u0432\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"My husband, Rob, and I recently visited Green Gables on Prince Edward Island. It\u2019s our second time visiting Cavendish, the place that inspired the novelist Lucy Maude Montgomery in the writing of her children\u2019s classic, Anne of Green Gables. The home, Green Gables, is furnished with period furniture of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 &quot;Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Anne of Green Gables","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_1090.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_1090.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_1090.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1422,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/writing\/inspired-by-a-fly\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":5},"title":"Inspired By A Fly","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"5 \u041b\u0438\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve neglected my blog for a week as I\u2019ve been busy revising, yet again, my novel\u2014a romantic adventure with some paranormal elements. My blog topic was going to be one about Snowden\u2014the whistle blower on American spying\u2014and whether he\u2019s a hero or a villain (our family is evenly divided on\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"fly photo (2)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/fly-photo-2-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}