we must rip out all the epilogues from the books that we have read

i am not a fan of the epilogue in novels. i don't really know why, but i just don't like them. okay, that's a lie because i do know why, but it doesn't change the fact that i feel epilogues are a waste of everyone's time: the author's, the editor's, the reader's. i mean, yes, sometimes (read:practically all the time) i wish the author would continue the story just a bit. i want to know about the characters' futures and what happens next. that's the sign of a good book: it leaves you wanting more. but, more often than not, epilogues end up ruining it in one of two ways.

the first is that what is labeled as the epilogue could really just be the final chapter. i dunno where exactly some of these authors went to school, but someone should've taught them that epilogues are not a necessary part of a novel. yes, every story needs a conclusion, but that doesnt have to be set off from the rest of the book. a conclusion can fit perfectly well into the normal chaptering scheme. so, if your epilogue talks about what's happening two days after the final chapter, and your book just doesn't seem complete without it, then i think you should change that "epilogue" to "chapter whatever." especially if throughout the entire book, large periods of time are skipped over with chapters beginning like "Six months later," or "The next couple of months flew by," or "Time was moving so fast, I couldn't keep track of it. Had it been one month? Two? More?"

the other way that epilogues mess up is that the writing just seems awful after everything else. it's almost like the author couldn't let go of the characters but ran out of pages to write in. so what do you do then? you cram their entire futures into three or four pages and call it a day. of course, with all the cramming, a lot of the author's writing talent gets pushed out the window. because really, you can't spare too much focus on making your writing pretty if you're using it all to get twenty years of story in for twenty different characters. a prime example of this kind of epilogue is found at the end of harry potter 7. though i've only read it once (i skip over it when i reread the book) and my initial reaction to it may be a little too harsh, i hated it. it read like a mediocre fanfiction.

though i love knowing what the character does next, if you can't fit it into the actual story or a compelling sequel, then just keep it in your head. save it for interviews. because more often than not it turns into a bad spin-off after the ending of a great show. (remember joey?)

*At the Bottom of Everything - Bright Eyes