Prologue or flashback if the hero/main protagonist doesn't show up for a while?

[theresa_ramseyer]

Morning :).

I'm trying to work something out. I want Control for my hero/main protagonist. However, Teri, my second hero/protagonist, is prominent in the beginning, and with other story lines involved, he's not showing up for a while.

I know most folks don't care for prologues and flash backs/forwards, but in this case, can I get away with one/some before the main story starts?

Teri finds something out at the beginning, involving stuff from their pasts, that leaves her scrambling. Besides upsetting her, she needs to keep this under Control's radar until she gets it straightened out, which, of course, doesn't happen. The little side stories are to get some other necessary characters brought in - and that's about as far as I have solid ideas for.

I was reading a guest post on Storyfix by Jennifer Blanchard last night, starting all this. She reminded me that "the hero must be a single person," and "he has got to be heroic... and on a journey." I realized I was writing the wrong person as the hero, and that he wasn't hero enough. Now I'm trying to rearrange things to take care of that.

Have a great writing day!
Theresa

Comments

[linaewen]

I'm probably a bad person to be giving my opinion, because I use prologues and flashbacks and constantly change point of view in my stories (though I do try to make sure there is a break between each point of view so we know who is the main person in a scene). Anyway, I think that you can certainly get away with that sort of thing if it seems like it is what you need to do to set the scene before your main character makes an appearance.

[theresa_ramseyer]

Thanks linaewen :).

This is not going to be the story I wanted it to be - which is disappointing, but ok. I guess.

At first, I wanted to play with some love triangles, which necessitated a crossover, but that's not going to be enough to support a long story. The crossover elements may need to be dropped; maybe used in another story? I think that's why I hit a wall on this one and quit.

Been interesting in the planning to see how this plays out without too much of all that. Either way puts Control arriving a chapter or two down the road, instead of at the beginning. So I'll hush now and go back to writing :).

Thanks again,
Theresa