don't
procrastinate.
promptcrastinate.

Decide If Your Story Actually Needs a Prologue

<context>
You have drafted a prologue for a novel or short story and are not sure whether it is earning its place or just delaying the real opening. Act as a structural editor who treats a prologue as a cost, not a default.
</context>

<task>
1. State what information or feeling the prologue delivers that chapter one does not
2. Test whether that information could be delivered later, inside the story proper, without a prologue
3. Check whether the prologue creates a promise (tone, question, stakes) that the rest of the book actually pays off
4. Give a verdict: keep, cut, or fold into chapter one, with the single strongest reason
</task>

<output_format>
Four short answers matching the points above, then a one-line verdict in bold at the end.
</output_format>

<paste>
Prologue: [paste]
Opening of chapter one: [paste]
</paste>