Epilogues and prologues: like or dislike?

[Jud]

I can't think of any books I've read that had an epilogue actually... Apart from JKR (by the way, can't believe I missed your sarcasm Elle, as if you wouldn't have known the chapter I was talking about! You little HP fan, you).

[Elle]

Haha.


I haven't read many either Jud but the ones I have read I felt like it was just the author tying everything into a neat bow and it felt too neat. It doesn't stop me complaining that I want an epilogue in other books though lol

[Jud]

Probably when you really enjoy a book and you don't get one you want one but when you do get one it's too tied up and cheesy and you wish they had never written it.

[Will]

I like my epilogues!

Just the characters tend to abuse them a bit, that's all

[David]

The Handmaid's Tale, has a sort of epilogue, but it's cleverly disguised as Historical Notes,and becomes part of the narrative.

[Elle]

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "Probably when you really enjoy a book and you don't get one you want one but when you do get one it's too tied up and cheesy and you wish they had never written it."

Exactly!

[A.L.]

I have to say I used both and I don't mind either. I would prefer a prologue to foot notes. it is a bit of a pain leaping back and forth. Although Terry Pratchett's ones are funny.

I guess it depends what is done with the prologue and epilogue. I don't really understand the hatred. The information is often useful, or at least entertaining and certainly historical info might not work so well as told by the character.

A prologue would not stop me reading a book - and if I skip it, then it is my fault if I miss something. Epilogues can work. A nice teaser for the next book, a tying up of loose ends. It really depends.

As a reader I often leave gaps between books in a series and I don't always want to re-read an earlier book again before starting the next one so a recap is useful.

[David]

"Hatred"? I said dislike :D

[Philip (sarah)]

The book I have just finished had both prologue and epilogue and these added to the story No Way Back
The prologue revealed a scene not explained in the book till about half way through. It did grab my attention though.
The epilogue rounded up the plot nicely as there will be no sequel.

With the 'sample' and 'look inside' features available from Amazon I think appropriate use of prologues might be a useful tool enabling authors to reel the reader in!

[Elle]

i think the only book to have an epilogue should be the last book of a series or a definite stand alone book.

[Lance]

David wrote: "Can't say I've come across footnotes in fiction, but I certainly wouldn't read them if I did."

The footnotes in Josh Bazell's Beat the Reaper and Wild Thing are as funny and strange as the main text. You'd certainly be missing out if you didn't read them.

[Darren]

Penny Kilkenny Saves The Day had a prologue because it was a slow starting book and I wanted everyone to know that there was action later on.

I do also tend to put in scenes at the end to tie up loose ends and say goodbye to more minor characters who won't be appearing again in the series. Obviously, a series is more likely to have set ups for later instalments, especially if the story involved isn't standalone.

[David]

Lance wrote: "David wrote: "Can't say I've come across footnotes in fiction, but I certainly wouldn't read them if I did."

The footnotes in Josh Bazell's
Beat the Reaper
and
Wild Thing
are as funny and ..."

Perhaps a little impetuous to say I wouldn't read them, maybe I would. I just don't like the idea of being dragged out of the story. I've not read any fiction that has foot notes, but I can't help thinking that they would read like authorial asides. I just prefer to be immersed in the story, from beginning to end.

Not saying I'm right on all this either, at all, just personal preference, based on the books I've read to date. I think I'll be a little more cautious before starting another topic thread :~/

[Andy]

Going back to Jonathan Strange, the author framed the story as an (alternative) historical account of the time. The footnotes gave a lot of detail regarding magic leading up to the 19th Century, some of it completely superfluous to the main plot. I know some people really dislikes their presence in the book, but they are not required reading to follow the story, more an optional bit of extra reading (much like the appendices in Lord of the Rings).

[David]

I am just mapping out an outline for a new novel. It did have a prologue, but that prologue has now - apparently - turned into the first part of a trilogy, with the novel it was meant to be the prologue to now the second book in the trilogy.

As for footnote - I do have a habit of doing them, mostly - I hope - in the style of Pratchett.

What gets me is pages and pages of italics. I don't mind - at most - a sentence or two - but I've read books that have had whole sections in italics.

[Tim]

David, if that's on a kindle, it could just be badly formatted html. If you're feeling nice, you can go back onto Amazon and click on the Report a problem with this book link.

[David]

Tim wrote: "David, if that's on a kindle, it could just be badly formatted html. If you're feeling nice, you can go back onto Amazon and click on the Report a problem with this book link."

No that was an old-fashioned made out of paper book, years ago. Something I found in a holiday cottage - I think it could have been a Jackie Collins or something similar.

[Jim]

I have individual words in italics, in dialogue, to show emphasis

[Tim]

I wrote some dream sequences in italics, just to show they were different, and outside the normal narrative. But they were no more than maybe half a page.

I also use italics for some handwritten notes, although only in the kindle edition. The paperback uses a nice hadwriting font instead.

[Darren]

In One Small Step For The Man From U.N.D.E.A.D. I had two short chapters in italics because the book was first person pov and these bits were universal narrator. I could eaily see it being overused, though.

[David]

It is fine when it is used for emphasis, the odd word. or for a paragraph or two - say to represent a letter.

I just find italics at great length hard to read. A bit like trying to read several pages all in capitals, or in bold, or something like that.

Could be that I'm too fussy, though.

[Kath]

i especially don't like it when paragraphs of text are in italics and then the author uses normal, "upright" text for emphasis!

[David]

I recall coming across something similar once.

The character spoke in their own language. The surrounding narrative, reaction of other characters, and replies in English made it quite obvious what the non English speaking character had said. I recall thinking it worked well. Perhaps a glossary to back it up, for anyone who needs to know the exact words.

[David]

Kevan wrote: "Here's a situation:

Side characters speak a few sentences in a language other than English (because it is natural in the situation that they speak their native language). Such sentences are less t..."

The first thing I'd say is - why is it (the other language bit) there?

If it needs translating, I'd probably have some other character convey the information in some way (maybe interpreting the other for the other English-speakers.

Or have the other speak in a mixture of English and own language.

If it is just there for something like colour - like swearing - then I would leave it untranslated.

[Elle]

confession time; i ignore italics.

[Will]

I'd have one character ask what the ethnic stuff meant, and have a bilingual character translate...as appropriate.

[Jim]

I've had an occasion to have people using what's left of their original language, normally just a few which will be dropped into conversation. I got round this by someone telling a visitor that the words he needed to know were the following, and that any others were merely vulgar abuse and could be ignored :-)

[Andy]

Elle wrote: "confession time; i ignore italics."

I too have on occasion skipped past Tom Bombadil harping on about Goldberry and such.

[Kath]

Oh, lordy! It's the bloody relentless iambic pentameter of Bombadil that wears you down!

[Tim]

Elle wrote: "confession time; i ignore italics."

Up to you of course, but that's about as sensible as ignoring every word beginning with the letter f.

[Tim]

Kath wrote: "i especially don't like it when paragraphs of text are in italics and then the author uses normal, "upright" text for emphasis!"

That's just normal nesting. No different to using single quotes inside double quotes for speech. Part of regular English. Rules of grammar and so on.

[Paul]

You can't go wrong with the first choice -

1. The author writes the English version but mentions that the character spoke X language

[Elle]

Tim wrote: "Elle wrote: "confession time; i ignore italics."

Up to you of course, but that's about as sensible as ignoring every word beginning with the letter f."

actually i find it completely different. fucking italics are hard to read. they hurt my damn eyes and i refuse to give myself a headache because someone is overzealous with their HTML. J R Ward is one of my favourite authors and she has been known to write several pages in italics

FUCKING WHY?!

[Tim]

Have you tried changing the font? I agree they can be pretty hard on the eyes in some fonts, and a relatively crappy screen like the kindle's can make it worse.

[Jay-me (Janet)]

Andy wrote: "Elle wrote: "confession time; i ignore italics."

I too have on occasion skipped past Tom Bombadil harping on about Goldberry and such."

Yes, I skip that


actually I skip all the poetry throughout the whole book.

(& I don't know why so many people actually wanted Tom Bombadil in the films.)

But I have read the whole of the appendices of LOTR on at least one occasion.

Re epilogues - I read someone's review & they were complaining that Pride & Prejudice didn't have an epilogue

[Tim]

Jay-me (Janet) ~plum chutney is best~ wrote: "(& I don't know why so many people actually wanted Tom Bombadil in the films.)"


I didn't. Tom Bombadil and all the dreary poetry is the reason it took me 5 goes to read LOTR. And I only succeeded in the end by skipping those bits, cos my brains kept dribbling out of my ears...

[Kath]

Anyone - even JRR Tolkien - who has to write Tom Bombadil-o so it'll rhyme with willow, isn't writing poetry.

[Will]

Bombadil is hard going, I agree, but I do like a lot of Tolkein's poetry.

Particularly the more formal dwarf stuff. It's vary saga-esque.

[Jim]

Tim Benzedrine from 'Bored of the Rings' was the best take on him :-)
But seriously somehow the whole Bombadil is somehow too far out on left field to sit comfortably with the rest of the book

[A.L.]

I don't mind the Tom Bombadil stuff but I tend to agree with Jim, it doesn't really fit with the rest of the story. The first time I was expecting him to be a bit more active later in the book but he seems to vanish from the scene and play no more than a distracting role.

I like Sam's songs and poems in LOTR.

[Andy]

I like the concept of Tom more than the execution. To have a character too old and detached from the worldly goings-on regarding Sauron and the One Ring was a nice insight into Tolkien's environmental leanings.

[David]

I have just finished reading The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson, a brilliant book. It seems I have to take back some of my opening post. This book ends with an epilogue that, for the first time, I enjoyed reading, and it was a necessary part of the narrative. To my mind, though, it wasn't an epilogue (even though it was titled as such), but a final chapter chapter. I, therefore have to accept that there will be prologues that are the same, I just haven't discovered them yet. Oh, said epilogue also has a large chunk of italics.

[Andy]

I'm going to include an epilogue all in italics with small caps, strikethroughs and animated GIFs.

[Rosemary (grooving with the Picts)]

Please don't forget the footnotes Andy...

[Andy]

Rosemary wrote: "Please don't forget the footnotes Andy..."

They'll be available in a zip-on attachment.

[Elle]

the book i just finished last night had a fantastic prologue!

[Patti (baconater)]

I like a good prologue. Sets the mood for a book, I reckon.

And I love a good epilogue. Deeply satisfying to have all loose ends tied up.

But when they're bad, they suck royally.

Guess I'm saying it depends on the book.