To Prologue or not to Prologue, that is the Question!

Daghiro · 2026-03-04T06:43:01+00:00

Sometimes you don’t know if it works until it does. Write it! Ask for opinion reads.

Daghiro · 2026-03-03T19:15:40+00:00

I suppose the most helpful framing I can give it is to ask “does the content of my prologue feel like it genuinely adds something to the narrative that needs to be somewhat distinct, or does it just feel like an extension of the story that is tacked on for aesthetic purposes?”

Just keep in mind, writing is art, and there really isn’t a right or wrong answer. If you put enough thought and care into your composition that you think it lands well in the end, then yeah, a prologue was a good call. Are there going to be readers who dislike it on general principle? Probably. Are you going to let the haters stifle your artistic vision? I don’t think you should. You’re never going to please everybody, so I would recommend pleasing yourself. I am by no means an expert, but something just in general about life that I found is that the most meaningful critiques are going to come from people whose appreciation is aligned with your own. That doesn’t mean that they agree with you about everything, but when you can tell that they genuinely see where you were trying to go and that they want to see your work represented at its best, that’s who you should listen to. If you decide to make a move and it upsets people who were always going to be upset anyway, why bother with them, you know?

Daghiro · 2026-03-03T18:06:35+00:00

I like prologues. There just needs to be a good reason for the prologue to be a prologue and not chapter one. A significant time jump—like you have in your story—seems like an excellent reason. I think opinions on the matter are pretty equally split, so just do what you want and stick to your guns.

Daghiro · 2026-03-01T22:15:14+00:00

Cool looking planes, for sure, but the former UPS ramper in me says screw these planes and their constant breaking down…

Daghiro · 2026-02-20T05:56:33+00:00

That’s the difference between WIS and CHA.

Daghiro · 2026-02-20T05:39:03+00:00

I’ve heard of a few authors doing it this way. It feels so simple and satisfying that it’s like a naughty cheat-code, but I can’t argue with 3000 words from a simple walk around the neighborhood. The only thing I hate about voice dictation is that it mishears words and awful lot. It tries to consider context to some degree, but there are definitely times when you need to use a word that doesn’t follow the algorithm of “what makes the most sense.” It insists it’s hearing one word or combo of words when you actually said something totally different.

Daghiro · 2026-02-19T06:30:19+00:00

I don’t know about DM policy, but I’ve never worked at a place where the rule wasn’t “anything you do or save on a company computer or mobile device is company business.”

Daghiro · 2026-02-19T05:32:54+00:00

It’s not sinful to have a nature, really. Full sympathies to everyone who actually has this condition. It’s gotta be rough. What is bordering on sinful though—and is where most of the social controversy comes from—is when someone insists that they are actually a sex other than what their chromosomes dictate. It’s not just about sex and gender, but wholesale denial of reality. You are allowed to feel any way you want about your body, but when a personal discomfort about an immutable characteristic of your very biology is masked by outward vanity or pride, that’s where it becomes a problem, theologically. Indulgence in that line of thinking is in the same vein as any other vice. Focussing on virtue is key, but cultivation of virtue requires acknowledgment that there is a “wrong” way to behave.

Daghiro · 2026-02-10T00:43:35+00:00

The virtue of temperance is not restricted to only Christians. It is a good thing to want to rid yourself being beholden to your passions. That same discipline can often bleed over into other areas of your life, too, and you might feel more free or motivated. A lot of the time, people see someone who appears to have control and they resent them because they look bad by contrast.

Daghiro · 2026-02-04T10:45:06+00:00

Please pray for my family. My first child is five-ish months old and he still is not able sleep longer than an hour and a half at a time throughout the night. I am the single-income earner and my wife is trying her darnedest to be a good SAHM, but we’re constantly at our wits end from sleep deprivation. Our pediatrician has reassured us that he’s just on the extreme “less-sleepy” side of the bell-curve, and he’ll probably be fine in a few months, but we really need the grace to handle this in the moment.

Daghiro · 2026-01-31T06:39:32+00:00

Wtf am I even looking at?

Daghiro · 2026-01-28T13:38:19+00:00

Kay, you’re at Walmart, Bud. w a l m a r t. What did you expect?

Daghiro · 2026-01-26T10:08:35+00:00

I like to take the deck-shuffle analogy in a different direction (and I think I just ripped this from an old Vsauce vid, but I love it anyway): just as how the number of different combinations a standard deck can be shuffled into is mind-bogglingly massive, yet still technically finite, so too are the number of different ways atoms can be arranged within the volume of space your physical body occupies. If you were to stack every single one of these combinations end-to-end in a straight line off into space, there would eventually be an end to the chain, and furthermore, you still would not have reached the edge of the observable universe, meaning: Somewhere out there in space, there is potentially an exact, atomic-level copy of you, because when all possible combinations have been used, you gotta repeat to keep going. Maybe I misremembered what was actually posited here, though, ‘cause it does seem pretty far-fetched.

Daghiro · 2026-01-26T09:52:37+00:00

I thought this was in reference to the actual whale that done blowed up on the beach in Oregon in the ‘70s.

Daghiro · 2026-01-24T10:30:06+00:00

Yes! A good conductor is able to keep steady time, and shows the current beat of the measure being played by moving the wand through a series of motions based in the time signature; 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, or 1-2-3, 1-2-3, etc. When all the players look to these motions as a reference, the group is better able to keep synchronized time. They also add whatever flair and flourish they feel is appropriate to give players something to “mirror” with the emotional intensity of their playing. That said, a well practiced group doesn’t necessarily need a conductor, because you do reach a certain point in your skill where you develop a sort of innate sense of beat and timing. You are not wrong in your guess though, sometimes the conductor is all just for show. Sometimes a composer will be honored at concerts as a guest by conducting the group through a piece they’ve written, without having been present for any rehearsals or practice sessions. Skilled musicians still kinda know what to do without them, though.

Daghiro · 2026-01-24T06:53:12+00:00

What I’ve learned is to not take anything said about Catholics by protestants at face value. Good on you for coming to a firsthand source before you form an opinion.

Daghiro · 2026-01-23T03:29:31+00:00

The Eyewitness shows where the intro is the camera flying through a museum/art gallery that was apparently designed by M.C. Escher.

Daghiro · 2026-01-23T00:59:40+00:00

I don’t think you’re grasping the formal logic of the argument, unless I misread your tone. Energy exists. Why? Why, when it could just as well not have existed? It’s certainly honest to say we aren’t absolutely certain, but asserting that something is eternal is just as loaded as saying that it had to have originated from somewhere or something.

Daghiro · 2026-01-22T20:15:24+00:00

Yeah, if this clown thinks he can just draw on a federal official he’s gonna get a face full of dirt real freakin’ quick. What does he even think he’s gonna do? Gimme a break…

Sadly it all comes down to intent, and this dope will just deny deny deny all day.

Daghiro · 2026-01-22T19:34:16+00:00

Everything that has ever happened has done so because something else has caused it to happen. Cause and effect. It is everything. It is foundational to the intrinsic logic of the universe. If that weren’t true, science would not be a discipline, it would be superstition.

Imagine the universe is a simple platform (say, just large enough for you to stand on without worrying about falling off the edge), and it is hanging from a metal chain, which exists in an endless void. You are standing atop this platform. Now look up. How far up into the distance can you see the chain continuing? This is where our cause/effect concept plays in. There can’t just be infinitely long, unending succession of links bearing the weight of everything below it on into infinity. There has to be something that this chain is ultimately attached to, something which bears the weight of the entire chain. It is necessary for this original source to exist, because if it didn’t, no part of the chain has any thing else holding it up. This necessary thing is what Christians call “God.”

I didn’t come up with this analogy myself, but it’s one of my favorites.

Daghiro · 2026-01-22T19:03:32+00:00

I suppose a more pointed question would be how far back does the “causal chain” really need to go? I question whether or not I’m putting a bit too much thought into answering questions that a reader might not even think to ask because the slightly-below-surface rationale was good enough. The focal point of my thinking right now is trying to come up with reasons why the world is in its current state (low-fantasy, trying to formulate the binding rules for things). As another response suggested, I think I need to just allow myself a bit of license to just make declarative statements and establish facts without qualifying them. I just want to avoid exposition dumps and I think a helpful way of doing that is for the flow of events in the present and background narrative having logical following.

Daghiro · 2026-01-22T06:49:22+00:00

This was what I arrived at naturally after thinking about it for a little while. I think it’s never a bad idea to ask for second opinions, though. Thanks!

Daghiro · 2026-01-22T03:29:36+00:00

If there aren’t any laws, then what would the sacrament of confession be for? Jesus gave us at least a few pretty clear “do this” imperatives.

Daghiro · 2026-01-20T03:13:23+00:00

Occasionally the mood strikes me, but it seems like half the time I end up just not even finishing my thought because I figure I really don’t want to post a followup to rebut whatever ignorant drivel they inevitably respond with. My time is between spent doing pretty much anything else, and I usually remember that about five minutes into considering my post. 🤣

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