1
A thriller prologue can show an unexplained security breach that the protagonist will encounter only through its consequences.
8 Prologue Examples
Use these examples to study structure, specificity, tone, and variation. They are demonstrations—not claims about a real person or organization unless the example itself makes that explicit.
Before you copy
What to notice in the examples
A strong prologue earns its separate position by doing something Chapter 1 cannot do as effectively, creates forward pressure, and avoids becoming an information dump readers must memorize before meeting the main story.
- Give the prologue one clear narrative job.
- Use scene, voice, event, or document form when it creates a distinct effect.
- Keep only information necessary to create the intended expectation or contrast.
- Make the transition into Chapter 1 feel purposeful rather than like a restart.
2
A fantasy prologue might dramatize the origin of a rule if that event creates a mystery rather than a lecture.
3
A dual-timeline novel can use a short historical prologue when the object or decision introduced there drives the present plot.
4
A mystery can present a document fragment whose significance becomes clear much later.
5
A romance rarely needs a prologue simply to show both leads as children unless that history changes the adult story in a specific way.
6
A villain-perspective prologue can create dramatic irony if readers learn a threat the protagonist does not know.
7
A prologue can use a voice absent from the main chapters when that contrast is itself meaningful.
8
If the prologue contains the protagonist, same time period, same voice, and same immediate plot, it may simply be Chapter 1.
Keep the underlying decision or pattern, then replace the subject, evidence, relationship, constraints, and tone with details that belong to your situation. If your final line still works after swapping only one noun, it may be too close to the example.