Cracked the Code

I'm grinning ear to ear as I reread my revised prologue. It works so much better now. The problem with the previous prologue was that there was no mystery to drive the reader forward. Instead, there was exposition that didn't offer any conflict. All I did was waste a lot of ink describing a doomsday machine that would be important to the story. While I knew the machine was important, the reader wouldn't care about it because I didn't give them a reason to care.

The new prologue starts with a character running away with a part of the doomsday device. There are hints to the destructive power of the machine, but they come out in a confrontation between two adversaries rather than as long-winded exposition. Now there is a reason to care about the machine and, as a reader, I want to know more about it. I think this prologue will hook readers faster.

I have to remind myself that the start of a novel should be like a carnival barker enticing people to go into a house of horrors. Don't show everything that's in the funhouse. Just show enough to make the reader want to go inside.