Epilogues

[Heijan Xavier]

Can the events of an epilogue happen before the events of the end of a story as long as there's a clear time stamp on the events, or would that be too confusing?

 

[Phyrebrat]

I’m not sure if there is a rule (other than the usual one about execution), but I’d rather like it!

pH

 

[Heijan Xavier]

I’m not sure if there is a rule (other than the usual one about execution), but I’d rather like it!

pH

As long as it's clear what's going on, then it should be OK?

 

[The Judge]

I think it depends. If the last few chapters are in one POV, and the epilogue is in another which sheds another light on those last chapters and there isn't much time difference, that should be OK eg the goodies get into secret base but the baddy has fled, and we see them go through the base, and the book ends with us seeing how the baddy made his escape and swearing vengeance a few hours earlier. Actually, although he doesn't call it an epilogue, and it's dressed up as a flashback, that's effectively what HareBrain does in The Goddess Project.

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

I was once considering something similar--it was a semi-detached prologue/epilogue pair, and while the prologue did take place before the events of the story, the epilogue was going to be simply a continuation of the earlier prologue events (which was a sort of real-time, wider-camera look on the story from a separate character's perspective) in a kind of thematic, we're-finally-back-to-the-beginning-feel. A comment upon events--the only hitch being that the scene happened before the events resolved. I ditched that format for other reasons (and I hadn't totally decided to do it yet) but I think I could have made it work. Maybe. It depended on a few other things. Skipping back in time after you've finished the story, to a time when it hadn't been finished, is always going to be a little bit risky.

Personally, I'd still like to try and make it work sometime. Maybe I'll find another book I can do it with. I'd say go for it, if you can make it feel right.

Actually, wait! Now that I think about it, the eventual formatting I ended up with did place the epilogue about halfway through the story. It was a fuller revelation of the main character's hinted-at action, just before the events of the climax. A message, basically. The character sent a mysterious message just before the start of the climax, and the epilogue showed the other character receiving it and reading it--basically around the time it was sent. The prologue was an earlier message, sent to the main character, and this was the answer.

It's similar to TJ's baddy situation, I think. A new spin on events already shown, now seen through another perspective, and revealing information we were deliberately and memorably withheld from knowing earlier in the book.

 

[Mouse]

You can do whatever you like. I have an epilogue about events that happen before the entire story.

 

[HareBrain]

I have an epilogue about events that happen before the entire story.

This is also the case in one of my favourite anime series, RahXephon. The epilogue shows how the two main characters met, before the events of the first episode. What makes it poignant is that neither of them remembers this even by the very end.

 

[Heijan Xavier]

I was once considering something similar--it was a semi-detached prologue/epilogue pair, and while the prologue did take place before the events of the story, the epilogue was going to be simply a continuation of the earlier prologue events (which was a sort of real-time, wider-camera look on the story from a separate character's perspective) in a kind of thematic, we're-finally-back-to-the-beginning-feel. A comment upon events--the only hitch being that the scene happened before the events resolved. I ditched that format for other reasons (and I hadn't totally decided to do it yet) but I think I could have made it work. Maybe. It depended on a few other things. Skipping back in time after you've finished the story, to a time when it hadn't been finished, is always going to be a little bit risky.

Personally, I'd still like to try and make it work sometime. Maybe I'll find another book I can do it with. I'd say go for it, if you can make it feel right.

Actually, wait! Now that I think about it, the eventual formatting I ended up with did place the epilogue about halfway through the story. It was a fuller revelation of the main character's hinted-at action, just before the events of the climax. A message, basically. The character sent a mysterious message just before the start of the climax, and the epilogue showed the other character receiving it and reading it--basically around the time it was sent. The prologue was an earlier message, sent to the main character, and this was the answer.

It's similar to TJ's baddy situation, I think. A new spin on events already shown, now seen through another perspective, and revealing information we were deliberately and memorably withheld from knowing earlier in the book.

Yeah that's kind of what I'm going for. The book is exclusively from the perspective of the 2 main characters. The epilogue (or interlogue as some of it may be) is from the perspective of secondary characters, now filling in the details of some of the highly coincidental events.

 

[Heijan Xavier]

This is also the case in one of my favourite anime series, RahXephon. The epilogue shows how the two main characters met, before the events of the first episode. What makes it poignant is that neither of them remembers this even by the very end.

I'll have to check out that and The godess Project.

 

[Heijan Xavier]

I think it depends. If the last few chapters are in one POV, and the epilogue is in another which sheds another light on those last chapters and there isn't much time difference, that should be OK eg the goodies get into secret base but the baddy has fled, and we see them go through the base, and the book ends with us seeing how the baddy made his escape and swearing vengeance a few hours earlier. Actually, although he doesn't call it an epilogue, and it's dressed up as a flashback, that's effectively what HareBrain does in The Goddess Project.

That's kind of what's going on, but the last few chapters span about ten years, then we jump back in the epilogue about 8 years, from the POV of secondary characters, filling in some secrets. Worst case those can be a chapter before the end, just to keep the chronology intact. I do have every chapter and epilogue scene dated though, if the reader is keeping track.

 

[Star-child]

An epilogue should be after the events of the novel, but it doesn't necessarily have to be after the events in time. It just needs to be post resolution, so as long as the epilogue reflects on the way the story ends, that seems like it is reasonable.

 

[Heijan Xavier]

An epilogue should be after the events of the novel, but it doesn't necessarily have to be after the events in time. It just needs to be post resolution, so as long as the epilogue reflects on the way the story ends, that seems like it is reasonable.

That's kind of how I was thinking of it. Post-resolution.

 

[Karn's Return]

I would say that this is possible, but, it would have to be done very well to avoid confusion and frustration. Even simply the use of certain terms can help with this, as implication goes very far. When a reader thinks of the word epilogue, they think of the wrap-up after the major conflict is over. Keeping the word "epilogue" out of the equation can help reduce any potential confusion about the point in the timeline it belongs in, though again, this should be done very well. Also, epilogue has a sort of finality to it, I feel, so if you plan on putting out more volumes of a story in consistent timeline-which is something I wish some certain authors I shouldn't name here *cough* Terry Brooks *cough*-I would probably avoid using the term until the final volume, when everything is just wrapped up and life as the characters know it go back to the way things were before as much as it possibly could after whatever events they experienced would allow.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I wonder about something like the Johari window, where we can have things buried deep inside us. If that was the case, and it was revealed there was something deep buried that was then relevant and made a difference to our understanding of the plot, it could be significantly cool.

 

[Heijan Xavier]

I would say that this is possible, but, it would have to be done very well to avoid confusion and frustration. Even simply the use of certain terms can help with this, as implication goes very far. When a reader thinks of the word epilogue, they think of the wrap-up after the major conflict is over. Keeping the word "epilogue" out of the equation can help reduce any potential confusion about the point in the timeline it belongs in, though again, this should be done very well. Also, epilogue has a sort of finality to it, I feel, so if you plan on putting out more volumes of a story in consistent timeline-which is something I wish some certain authors I shouldn't name here *cough* Terry Brooks *cough*-I would probably avoid using the term until the final volume, when everything is just wrapped up and life as the characters know it go back to the way things were before as much as it possibly could after whatever events they experienced would allow.

Hmmm. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. If you're not going to do that, then it has to, as you say, be done very well.