
In response to the child me, I have now developed a particular way of writing prologues and epilogues, which may or may not be helpful to you.
1. Make sure the prologue and epilogue contain extraneous information.I never worry about putting anything strictly necessary in the prologue or epilogue of a book. I select information carefully, making sure that it is hooking, but ensuring that anything essential will be repeated within the bulk of the story. Just in case a reader like the younger me is reading the book, and the prologue or epilogue winds up being skipped.
2. Do one or the other.I typically don’t do both a prologue and an epilogue, because sometimes this feels like too much “extra stuff”. Of course, other authors may do it differently.
3. Make it extraordinarily hooking or intriguing.I am deliberately outrageous or provoking in my prologues and epilogues. I either write something particularly quirky or something horribly hooking. I enjoy inserting an epilogue at the end of my books, which includes a cliff hanger. My reader may choose to skip it (and it will probably be to their advantage to do so). But if they decide to read it, they become hooked and begin asking about the next book. It’s a win-win situation.
4. Don’t use the title prologue or epilogue.This is a strategy I’ve employed occasionally. If the book is for a younger audience or any audience that might be scared of a word ending in “logue”, I name the prologue or epilogue something completely different. For instance, in an urban fantasy book I’m working on, I headed it up “On Monsters”, which is always much more interesting than the word “prologue”.