I’m working on an Epic Fantasy in which the main character’s background is slowly revealed in chunks over the course of the story, including a major one being that she’s just not from that world. She just sort of appears on the side of the road right before the first chapter, and discovers the world right alongside the reader.
Now then, I really like this, but I don’t know if I should just stick with that plan, or I should include a prologue (which will be helmed by the then unnamed main antagonist from his dark keep) to provide the smallest of expositions as he sends out his men to find a girl.
I think part of it maybe depends on your intention for the novel!
agents and editors are notoriously against prologues unless they’re absolutely 100% necessary, but if you don’t intend to go the route of traditional publishing then this might not be an issue. that said, there are obviously still novels published, even traditionally, with prologues.
as someone who would like to be traditionally published, I do my best to avoid prologues in my own writing, instead working any prologue-y information into the prose or evaluating if it’s even necessary. perhaps the best thing to do would be to write the prologue and then see if it adds anything valuable to the story in beta reads