wait, mages also? oh it just got more complicated since mages require 'coddling'. *remembers harry potter, and various other wizardy books* :/

okay, exactly what are these characters if not common soldiers? Mage-Knights? I'm guessing they would need to train their gift along with the body.

Yes, but no coddling. They have to be able to fight like non magic using folks or even better, because there are always situations where magic is not useful. And let's face it an arrow properly aimed will bring down a mage as well as a spell, or better.

So now I just have to find the right information about sword training and then I will be able to move that part of the story forward. In the meantime I can work on the other aspects of this story.

Had an English writing homework the other day where I'm supposed to write about someone home alone hearing/noticing that someone is breaking into the house. I scared myself writing it and couldn't sleep at all that night... I guess I must have gotten too far "into the mood".

Oh, that's awesome. I wish I could scare myself with my writing.

@EsmeAmelia: I can, but not in the way intended...

@mae: what cha mean? Oo?

like its so bad you want brain bleach?

@KTC: Yup. Also rinsing out all the syrup lodged in my eyes (very scary, that one!). Or noticing that the story is as stiff as a dead thing.

Ahh, disastrous story, eh? I had plenty of those. I can't believe I actually thought they were good.

Another problem of mine: If I'm stuck with one major story project, I find it very VERY hard to come up with a completely new project. Am struggling with that now... My English final project is to write a 10-page story. I'm bashing my head against the wall right now because I just can't come up with anything to write. Plus I seem to be unable to write anything that is NOT fantasy. It has to be at least urban fantasy like vampires or stuff like that. Problem is, this English class forbids me to write fantasy. It has to be realistic. ARGH!!!!!

Also... I need help: just WHAT is a prologue, and how do I write a good prologue? If I write a giant chunk of scene in the prologue, should I have made that part of a chapter instead?

Prologue: an introductory passage or speech before the main action of a novel, play, or long poem.

Robert Jordan tended to write long prologues that were chapters. It was part of his style.

As a reader I personally like short succinct prologues that prepare the reader for what comes next and captures your interest.

I like short prologues myself. They should be intentionally vague, with references to things you don't understand.

An epilogue, on the other hand, is really like a "chapter than happens well after the last chapter."

I'm not writing anything enjoyable right now: just a bunch of useless buzz-word-filled jargon for work. But if I get it done by Thursday, I get a $500 bonus....so as you can imagine, I'm writing like crazy.

You know, some prologues indicate "something that will happen later in the story". How exactly does that work? I mean, I'm sure the one I have now is an epic failure. It's too long-winded and looks more like a chapter on its own. Will be fixing that, of course, but how does that kind of prologue work? How do I write the story at the point where it "catches up" to the prologue? Do I... I dunno, not write anything and assume people know it's already up to the scene where the prologue is set? Rewrite the prologue in it? I mean, the one i have up is a fanfic of Aveyond and you already know about the majority of the plot anyway, but... I need to know if I want to use that in original stories.

Some writers go back in time then later in the story, the whole prologue takes place. In other words, the prologue *may* be the epilogue with a few additions (perhaps what took place afterwards), or it may be the climax.

In the novel that I am currently working on the prologue is a series of prophecies. They are short, but tell a story in their own right and prime the reader for what is to come. The prophecies take up one page.

But it may end up that I do something totally different in the long run!

A prologue I seen used often (and I've used at least once) is to present something to catch your attention.

Like in this really good fanfic I'm reading, she dropped a bombshell of a prologue which really made you go WTH, and now we're spending the rest of the time going over exactly what happened leading up to that bombshell.

Another example could be my entry for the rose contest. A short introduction that is pretty much only intended to attract a reader's eye, and than goes back in the past to find out how you got to that point in the prologue, and what happened after the prologue scene.

@KTC: I really need to try out that fanfic. The one with the bombshell prologue. I want to know how does that kind of prologue work.

http://seven-3-oh.livejournal.com/10130.html

here ya go though it probably won't make much sense if you didn't read the previous stories and/or have passing familiarity with legend of the seeker.

In a nutshell on why it was a bombshell:
there's warring going on between d'hara/midlands when last we saw, there was peace.

kahlan/cara appear to be long dead or something similar. last we saw, they were alive and well.

kahlan has a kid! when/how did this happen since both kahlan/cara are women and don't bed-hop.

kahlan's kid doesn't know her mom(s?) at all, which is really ominous since the women in question wouldn't just abandon their kid.

the current lord rahl knew kahlan/cara. that implies its richard since there's no other rahl that knows them that well. And last we saw, richard was a good friend of kahlan/cara.

and there you go, a prologue that dropped hecka bombshells.

@ ktc, Stardale, Rage and D_A - So I have (as I thought might happen)changed my prologue on this novel so that it is a short exerpt of a holy book that describes root of the matter. My proof-reader likes it a lot so I can only hope my editor will.

I am really glad that this came up in this forum, since I had not thought about the prologue and I would have had to consider it at some point. The link you sent was very helpful, ktc. My direction is quite different, but I was able to think about how I want to do this myself. Thank you all!

Thanks for the many suggestions people... I've decided to go with a "multi-chapter prologue", if you will... I dunno what's it called, but it's divided into "sections". The beginning section is the multi-chapter-prologue thing, the main section is the story, then the "ending" picks up at where the "prologue" left off...

http://iwl.me/

Thought this was an interesting little quiz to check out.

Though I ended up getting stephen king, neil gaiman, chuck Palahniuk, and Jame Joyce when i tested four of my stories. So according to the test, I used four different styles by accident. O-O!

OK it says I write like Margaret Atwood.

Nooo idea who she is. x)