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This week: Maybe You'll Need That Epilogue Edited by: Joy  
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"Originally, Twilight had a more defined ending. But, when it was ended, I started writing epilogues. After I'd written three epilogues, all of them over a hundred pages long, I realized I wasn't ready to stop writing about Bella and Edward. One of those epilogues turned into Forever Dawn."
Stephenie Meyer
"I wanted to make room for antiheroes."
William Gibson
"Southern writers must have learned the art of storytelling from listening to oral tales. I did. It gave me the knowledge that the simplest incident can make a story."
Erskine Caldwell
"Occasionally, something sticks. And then I follow that. The only image I can think of is a man walking around with an iron rod in his hand during a lightning storm."
Arthur Miller
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. Our discussion in this issue is about writing the epilogue.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Until this year, I never thought any of my novels would need an epilogue. For me, the novel ended with the last chapter as my character rode into the sunset of his or her storyworld.
In October, while working on my outline for 2011 NaNoWriMo work with the "October Novel Prep Challenge Group" , I saw the necessity of an epilogue, since my novel has a modified episodic structure and there are stories within the story. I, therefore, decided on this: My main character's learning her lesson that causes her change will be dealt with in the last chapter, but I have to report the afterlives of, at least, four or five more characters as well. Because putting these characters in the last chapter will take away from the impact of the main character's emotional storm, an epilogue has become a necessity.
Epiloques explain the aftermath of a story. They may involve the main character and/or other characters. Although most of the time, we don't need an epilogue, there are instances when an epilogue adds to the story.
Until recently, before novels in series became the norm, contemporary novels very rarely had an epilogue. Some novels in the 19th century did end with extensive and drawn-out epilogues, but that practice was put aside in the twentieth century. Lord of the Rings, for example, has a very long epilogue.
In our day, some books in a series end with an epilogue, so the writer can take off from it and base his or her main characters of the next book on one of the secondary characters. In some movies, the final scenes may constitute an epilogue as they may contain montages and clips that show what will happen to the characters in some future time.
When writing an epiloque, what we need to do is:
 Keep to the point of view and the general tone of the finished novel.
Choose the characters in the epilogue well, Don't overload it with too many or unimportant characters. The readers only care for the fates of the primary and some of the secondary characters who have been important to the story arc or to the main character in the finished novel.
Pick a good point in the future of the storytime from which to start the epilogue.
Make the epilogue's storyline short and let it run smoothly in conjunction with the novel. In other words, don't introduce another major conflict, as the main conflict is already over and done with in the finished novel. You may, however, hint at a tiny unresolved conflict or a new twist in a couple of sentences, if you want to write another book using some of the information in the preceding book.
The length of the epilogue depends upon your choice; however, it's better to keep the epilogue short.
In formatting, write the epilogue as a separate section, apart from the numbered chapters.
If you wish, you may finish the epilogue with a poem, as the form of an epilogue can be quite different from the mode of the finished novel.
Whether you write an epilogue or not, if you are taking the NaNo challenge or if you are writing a novel, enjoy your time with your characters and the other elements of your story.
I wish wonderful closures for all your novels.
Happy writing!
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Drama: November 15, 2011 Issue [#4701]
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