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I really appreciate this discussion, even though the website Bill mentioned didn't work for me (maybe it doesn't like women). However, it made me rethink some things and research what Dareau would be like. Although I described it as a figure-eight, I used a Forbes article on what a planet would be like in a binary system and altered things accordingly. I still have two sunrises and sunsets, not one with one sun, then the other dropping, like on Tatooine. (They actually do that but about an hour apart.) It doesn't come up, but each sun would be 85% of Earth's, and the year would have to be 280 days. That did come up, and I gave some characters two ages. Dakota specifically is 26 Earth years old and pushing 34 Dareau years. I made the months exactly 28 days, not just to correspond to menstrual cycles, but because the math is easier.  In the next book, I may make Barbara get annoyed when Heather insists on using her Dareau age. lol

Spent much of the day coming up with an outline of a plot for Book Six. Yay! I then went back and edited some in Book Five to make it compatible with Book Six. I've given two explanations for why Heather sleeps with Jeb. One is the one she gives Dakota, the other is the one Barbara gives Dakota. Not to keep the reader guessing, but to remove any discrepancies. To give a hint, it happened in "The Big Chill," which, I know, was a long time ago.

I have a home office, if you don't mind what you are saying. A desk, standing and sitting workstations, bookshelves, and my trusty laptop, printer, cell phone, all right in the corner of the living room, by a side door, with the kitchen table behind me. And I take my notebook (the one with rings and paper) everywhere.

Thanks, Randy. As I will with yours. In the past, I wasn't finished by the time you took yours down; I plan not to let that happen this time.

I've posted the last chapter of "Exile in Elsewhen." THE COUNTDOWN IS ON. It'll be at least a couple of months before I take it down. I have no plans for other posts until I do. I couldn't have written without your help, and I do need polish. Polish, polish, polish, as Heather might say.

Welcome Back!

Seabass. I'm on board. 10+ points. Wow.

Vern:

I feel better knowing I'm not the only klutz. At least the Pixaby cover works and it does sort of relate to the book.  I was going to use the magic words taught to me by my father-in-law when he couldn't do a home repair, but maybe I'll wait on that.

Congrats, Randy!

jp:
The secret of good world-building is to have the characters take their world for granted and to write for people in that world. I call it the John Campbell dictum, as he told his writers to do that. I find to do this, one simply models writers who are writing in our world but in sub-universe of it that their readers might not know.  For example, "The Women's Murder Club." Maxine Petrine goes into detail about San Francisco but has it revealed by the characters navigating around the city. We find the methodology and the hierarchy of the police force by Lindsey navigating it. In this novel, the reader is assumed to have heard of the Silver Wheel, but no details are provided and they can guess it's a powerful witch's society by use of terms like 'nun,' 'sorcery,' and 'Don't mess with the Silver Wheel.'  Offworlder is a play on outlander, or foreigner, to refer to aliens. The Marines are modeled after the United States Marines (semper fi) although obviously globalist.

No long descriptions like Gormenghast. And as to long introductions being accepted by fantasy readers, I rest my case.  100-page introduction. The Lord of the Rings?  Hey, it turned into a book in its own right--the Hobbit.

Other writers, e.g., Fritz Leiber, jump right into Lankmahr, but from context, you know it's in the desert. You know there are Viking-like Northerners from Fafred.

I think that, yes, if you find that the prologue doesn't really play a part in the hero's story, then it's best to drop it. Although, again from "The Women's Murder Club," one story had an incident at the beginning of the book which played no role at all, except that after the main plot was done, there was a tie-in, pretty artificial.  I suspect James Patterson gave it to Maxine as a Writing Prompt, it worked but left a big question that needed to be tied in. Whatever gets the creative daemon off her butt.

Oh, and Merriam-Webster defines 'conflictual' as the adjective form of conflict and 'instinctual' as the adjective form of instinct. 'Instinctually' is the adverb form.

You are right that all novels, at least (literature is a bit broad and I'm sure there are counter-examples) are supposed to revolve around conflict, which makes them conflictual. My point was that the first chapters met this criterion but only pointed in the direction of the main conflict, which some "How to Write Good" authors say should be in the first five pages. Again, not hard and fast, as Conrad didn't start his story conflictually (adverb modifying 'start') until page 10.

Thanks, JP. After all this input, I think I will leave the prologue in, more or less as it is, as it only seems to have been confusing to one reader. I think even that reader went on to find out what the heck was going on--which is the point of a "teaser" prologue.

Memphis, the great writers do everything wrong but it works. What makes them great.  I'm reminded of a Star Trek: TNG novel where Picard, just an ensign, was incredulously asked by an admiral at the end of the story:  "You risked destroying the ship, the peace of the galaxy, and unleashing 400 Gary Mitchels (the Esper with godlike power and a thirst to dominate) on the Federation?"  "Um, yes sir."  "You're ready for command."