So I suck at writing epilogues. Any general advice? I have gotten to the end of my story, I wrote the epilogue and it basically came out sounding like, "They got married and lived happily ever after!" ACK! Help?
Yes, I'd like to echo @BayView's question. Why do you need your epilogue? (I'm not against them, by the way ...in fact I wrote one myself.) Is there some aspect of your story that didn't get tied up during the main story arc? That can be a reason, especially if it ties up AFTER the main story arc comes to a close. (Mine involved a trial that took place after the main story events came to an end, and did not involve my main characters—but did tie up the loose ends surrounding a few minor characters who had figured in the story.) I would say you probably don't need an epilogue if readers will come to the conclusion on their own, however. They lived happily ever after? Probably don't need that one. I don't see any harm in writing it, though. Sometimes people are quite keen to know for sure, or maybe follow the characters beyond the end of the story.
I kinda left the story on a cliff hanger. The last line reads "....and I walked away from my last shot at revenge." Then that's the end so I would like an epilogue.
I'd say you want to set a tone for your epilogue, then. You want to show how your character has grown over the course of the book and is moving on, it sounds like? So write a scene from however much later, with the focus on whatever you want his new life to be like. He's living with his love, going to work, whatever. Maybe introduce a tiny conflict, one that shows how he's changed - like, somebody gets in his face at the pub and instead of fighting he's got the maturity to turn away. Or whatever (obviously I have no idea what your story is about!). A good epilogue is often like a short story, with all the structure that entails.
I would add that I think the tiny conflict should be very much like a conflict that got him into trouble in the first act... or even mirror the very conflict that got him involved in the story to begin with.
lol I actually read that one wrong. my MC is a girl named Rose so when I read "he" I thought "oh Thantos!" (which is the guy lead) and he got mixed up in to all this by watching his parents heads being hacked off and then he went berserk and murdered an entire army... So I can cut off more heads and kill more characters but that's A LOT of violence for one novel!
You need to NOT hack another character's head off! Show how your MC has grown, and calmed! No more head-hacking!
