[269] Bluevale — Fantasy prologue

I'm not sure whether prologues are a thing that needs to exist, much less fantasy prologues with backstory infodumps. But I sort of like this one that my brain blurted out, so I'm conflicted.

My first question is existential - does it need to exist? Of course I could get straight into the action but it just feels like a nice frame?

Second, given that it does exist, is the setup interesting enough? Line edits, comments on strengths and weaknesses all welcome. I want to keep it at a page, max, so I don't want to add in wordier explanations better left for the actual chapters. Clarity and tight wording will be king. If I can strip it down to 250 words or less without losing anything that would be great.

I've been reading a lot of century old faerie stories lately - Scottish, Welsh and Irish - and they've informed this and seem to have given it a bit of a voice, so I'd like to know if that works as well. The actual text will be more casual, and at the moment not YA, a touch older with the protagonists 19-20ish.

Bluevale [269]

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