Once Upon an Epigraph: Framing Your Story with a Touch of Magic

By Deb Miller

“The things I do for love.”
— Jaime Lannister, A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

What a way to start a chapter. Martin’s epic “epigraph”—a short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme—sets the tone for Jaime Lannister’s pivotal actions and character arc in A Game of Thrones. It’s universal, even if you haven’t read the book or watched the cultural phenomenon on television.

But you don’t have to be a New York Times b...