Ask yourself what you want to explore in the epilogue. What has been left out of the main text that you still want to write about? You may write an epilogue to provide the reader with some closure, to wrap up loose ends, or to give the reader a glimpse of the future for the characters and the setting. Some writers also use an epilogue to expand on a major event that they did not get to explore in the climax of the novel. For example, you may decide the purpose of your epilogue is to wrap up loose ends about the fate of the main character. You may then focus on where the character ends up ten years or twenty years after the main story ends.
For example, you may decide you are going to write an epilogue that flashes forward twenty years to tell the reader what happens to certain characters. You may list these characters and then write several sentences about specific moments that occur in the future. These moments could comprise the whole epilogue.
The epilogue in Animal Farm by George Orwell [3] X Research source The epilogue in Atonement by Ian McEwan [4] X Research source The epilogue in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood [5] X Research source
For example, you may have a book that ends with the death of a character. Rather than leave the reader hanging, you may decide to include an epilogue that explores how the death of the character impacted the other characters in the novel.
For example, in the epilogue you may discuss what happens to a character who falls ill or a character who is pregnant. Try to include information about major characters in the story, as you want the epilogue to feel important and necessary to the reader.
If you decide to jump forward in time, you should try to make the characters’ stories feel realistic. Putting in details that do not seem to mesh with the main text may confuse your readers and undermine the rest of the story. Aim to keep the flash-forward details about the characters realistic and nuanced. For example, you may jump forward in time and explore the dissolution of the marriage of two characters. You may note that one character is now dating another character featured in the story.
For example, you may end the epilogue by having two characters get together and have a child. You may then indicate that the child has special abilities or is in grave danger, an issue to be resolved in a sequel.
You may read over the epilogue once you have a draft of it and consider if there are any sections you can revise or cut down. You may find that you are being redundant or that there are details that can be removed.
You may also show the epilogue to a sympathetic reader for a second opinion. Ask them if they feel the epilogue adds to the main text and is compelling.
An alternative is to adopt a different tone than that of the main text so the reader knows they are reading extra information or content that may complicate their initial reaction to the ending of the main story. You might do this if you want the epilogue to leave the reader wondering or unsettled.
