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Epilogue or No Epilogue?



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Sun Nov 22, 2015 10:55 pm
WeasleyDragonStar says...



Are epilogues beneficial to a book, satisfying one's need to relay/discover what happened after the story, or are they an elementary way to wrap up a book? Team Hazel Grace or Peter van Houten?
  





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Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:43 pm
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Rosendorn says...



It depends on the story.

Epilogues are usually something after the action, wrapping up ends that cannot physically be wrapped up in the final chapter. They're usually a fairly sharp transition, either in tone or time, and show the progress made in whatever time was skipped over.

Quite a few of my favourite books don't have epilogues. Quite a few of them do. I've found epilogues are good for sleepy or loving side additions, wrapping up a particularly traumatic event with "it's okay now". It can act as an immense amount of reassurance, especially if the main story ended at a point that didn't allow for some character arcs to be resolved. (This can also be botched if it feels out of character, but that's another story)

They have their place, but I take epilogues as a story by story basis. If it fits in, feels like it'll add something to the narrative, then yes. If it's just tacked on because you feel like you have to, or because you're supposed to, then no.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Sun Nov 29, 2015 2:54 am
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Senmaster says...



Hey, this is Senmaster. I'm still new to the site, and although I've been writing for a while, I'm still no expert. I'll give my honest opinion. Hopefully it helps and if someone objects to my opinion, feel free to correct me.

But the way I see it, the epilogue is an author's thematic conclusion to a novel novel, cutting off the action from the perhaps more interesting resolutions to the conflict. It can describe the new government established after a revolution, a relationship between the MC and his/her lover, or even the reactions after the death of some character. In any circumstance, the epilogue is a toned down chapter that has no real sub-plot within it, and it's sole purpose is to satisfy the reader's quench for more.

However, I have recognized in my personal reading that epilogues work best after a series of novels because it establishes the end to a series of books and gives the reader that last glimpse at the characters they have come to love. With a book that is not part of a series, the epilogue ends the authors chance to write an immediate sequel unless its placed further along the novel's timeline.

All in all, it really boils down to the writer. The writer understands his/her work best, and is practically the god of the work. They control everything that goes on inside their novel.

As the writer, you will just have an instinct on whether or not to add one. Perhaps if you were thinking of writing a possible sequel, I would advise not writing that epilogue. But if you feel that all the action has already been compacted into that one novel and just wish the resolution to the conflict to be the resolution with no new conflicts arising, then that's the perfect time to use the epilogue.

I really hope my answer helped answer your question, and that I'm at least right in some aspects.
  








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