Epilogues are kind of like dipping a chocolate bar in chocolate… usually unnecessary.
Let’s discuss the pros/cons of some well-known epilogues, then practice writing our own together!
During the last stream, a subscriber requested that we write some epilogues.
An epilogue is like the opposite of a prologue: it comes at the end of a story, typically showing the characters many years later. A good epilogue usually does one or more of these:
#1. Presents new information about the characters (ie: their children, new jobs, dealing with trauma, etc.)
- BUT! Don’t go overboard, treat it like frosting on a cake, it should enhance the ideas already there not be brand new
#2. Ties up emotional loose ends (ie: two characters finally meet each other after a long time)
- BUT! These loose ends should not be related to the plot, all of the plot should be tied up nicely in the story itself
#3. Gives a different point of view (ie: someone else seeing your MC, a new narrator, a different way of seeing the theme, etc.)
- BUT! Make sure the new POV doesn’t come out of nowhere, and that the “new” theme plays into the established one(s)
#4. Hints at more to come in the series (ie: a new character, a sudden event, etc.)
- BUT! Too much of a cliffhanger can leave a sour taste
With that in mind, let’s take a look at three epilogues:
#1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Presents new information about the characters
- Yes, almost too much information!
- All the kids’ names are like mouthfuls of frosting
Ties up emotional loose ends
- Not really, all of the relationships are basically the same
Gives a different point of view
- Not really, still Harry, just physically older
Hints at more to come in the series
- Kids hint at the possibility, but “all is well” shuts the door
#2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Presents new information about the characters
- Yes, Katniss and Peeta have kids, a new nation, etc.
- Just enough to see societal progress, but not too much
Ties up emotional loose ends
- A little, though the trauma is understated
Gives a different point of view
- A little bit, comes full circle from Katniss not wanting kids
- She now sees life as a mother, not a hunter/warrior
Hints at more to come in the series
- No, the series is over
#3. The Handmaid’s Tale
Presents new information about the characters
- Epilogue takes place 200 years later
- A male professor talks about how he is the one who compiled the story from recordings made by Offred
Ties up emotional loose ends
- No, we still don’t know what happens to Offred
Gives a different point of view
- Yes, a male professor centuries later
- Symbolic of Offred not even being the one to tell her own story, and the professor says that they must not pass judgment on past cultures, showing that history is doomed to repeat itself again if not learned from/judged
Hints at more to come in the series
- Yes, can either continue the story with more “recordings” or in the “present day” too
After that, chat voted on a story we’ve written before on stream to create an epilogue for. They ended up choosing this one: The End of the World Saved My Marriage.
Here’s the epilogue that we wrote:
The family of four hovered over to the thousand-foot-tall monument on their air shoes, then stopped in front along with all of the other hundreds of tourists taking pictures.
“You see that, Petabit?” the mom said, bending down to the youngest child and pointing up at the monument. “That’s your grandmother and grandfather right there. Daddy’s mom and dad.”
The monument was a beautiful chiseled mountain of marble, towering up to the clouds, showing a man and woman silently screaming at each other with their hands thrown up in the air. An eternal enshrinement of them arguing, which had saved the world and changed humanity for the better.
The other child, a slightly older girl, hopped up and down in the air on her hover shoes.
“We learned about them in yesterday’s neural upload!” she said. “It was thanks to grandma and grandpa that all the alien spaceships crashed, and we reverse engineered their technology!”
“That’s right, Zally,” the dad said this time. “Here, you can go ahead and press your forehead button to hear a sample of their alien destroying powers.”
Excitedly, the two kids pushed the bright red buttons down into their forehead skin, and the neural pattern of the recorded sound was beamed into their brain implants.
“You were flirting with that hussy waitress at the bagel house!”
“Oh please. Just because she had her buns on display doesn’t mean I was shopping!”
“You were trying to pump her nickel, and you know it!”
“Ugh, every time we go there, no matter how you slice it, something goes a rye with you.”
The two kids smiled at hearing their grandparents, but Petabit was a little confused.
“Father,” he said, “what is a bagel?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” he said. “You don’t really knead to know.”
“Okay,” Petabit said quietly, then perked back up. “But can you tell me what a hussy is?”
“Oh, that’s an easy one,” the dad said. “Just look at your mom and you’ll see a perfect specimen.”
Mom glared back at him. “Hussy as in hustler, since I’m the only one with a job! Mr. Moocher over here only lets his dough rise over grandmommy’s fame.”
“At least I didn’t peak in high school, like you!”
“Yeah, you’re right about that. I haven’t peaked once since we’ve been married.”
“Hey, I helped design this monument! It’s a masterpiece!”
“Oh, I heard you masterpiecing plenty in your office at night when designing it, that’s for sure.” She bent down to the two kids and looked up to the top of the monument. “Hey, Petabit and Zally. Do you know why this thing is so tall? It’s because daddy likes to overcompensate for things.”
The husband and wife stared at each other, the air between them practically on fire.
Then they smiled and embraced one another, laughing at their potent argument. Up in the sky, the acoustic instability shield that surrounded the Earth shimmered red in one location, absorbing their small contribution to the constant protection of the planet.
The family stood side by side, summoned a camera drone to take their picture in front of the monument, and each of them flipped it off. A beautiful memory for them to upload into their own grandchildren someday.
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.
And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Featured image: Pakutaso