What is a prologue?
A prologue can be several different things. It can hint at what is to come in the story, give background, or set a mood. More than anything, it should entice the reader to delve further into the book.
For Dancing Into the Light, I wanted the prologue to bring both the present and the past into focus so readers could see that a large part of the book would be a recollection of a magical past.
It starts in the present. I am dancing in a Latin club with my husband and friends. A particular song by Harry Belafonte instantly brings back poignant childhood memories of dancing with my father. I imagine my father and mother dancing romantically together in Tehran, Iran, where we then lived. Then I mention that my father is Arab and my mother is American, from Tennessee, and that both of them are now deceased.
I describe the feelings that ignite in me when I dance to Latin and Caribbean music and I hint that there is a story to follow that will trace my current dance passion—I mention that I presently teach dancing and study ballroom Latin dancing—back to my childhood.
On theme
It sets the two themes of the book—dancing and loss—and describes the power that music and dance hold for me, pulling me back to my youth with my parents during a time when we were all together. It also hints that things changed and we are no longer together.
So, in the four pages of the prologue, I try to encapsulate what the book is about, tease the reader with the promise that the story will be both heart-breaking and joyful, and set the mood to invoke the reader’s interest in the story to follow.
Connecting the story
In the epilogue, I come back to the scene in the prologue and explain how my last days were with my father before he passed. I wanted the epilogue to be a sort of continuation of the prologue, a coming full circle, to wrap up my memoir’s theme—that dancing during my youth pulled me out of depression and loneliness, and into the light of living joyfully again.
Kathryn K. Abdul-Baki was born in Washington D.C. to an Arab father and an American mother. She grew up in Iran, Kuwait, Beirut, and Jerusalem where she attended Arabic, British, and American schools. She attended the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, has a BA in journalism from George Washington University in Washington D.C., and an MA in creative writing from George Mason University, Virginia. As an astute observer of two distinct cultures, she has published five works of fiction, some of which have been taught at universities in multicultural literature, women’s studies, and Arab studies departments. She is the recipient of the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award for short fiction. Abdul-Baki has three grown children and resides with her husband in McLean, Virginia. Find out more about her at www.KathrynAbdulbaki.com.
A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.
Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.
