Hi. I have a problem: I keep falling into and out of love with the beginnings of my stories. I have what I feel is a pretty decent hook - comes in the first few paras, develops in the few following, sinks deep by the end of the first chapter... They always do.

But I often feel the need to scene set with a prologue. My prologues invariably pan out in a few hundred words, are usually succinct, direct and self-explanatory, but still...

What do you guys do? Do you use prologues? Do you dangle your hook there and then? Do you use them as a vehicle for something more? Do you keep them brief or bin them completely?

Prologues - What are they good for?