After "THE END" - #MFRW 52-week blog challenge

Authors of e-books within the romance genre have jumped on the trend of not ending their books at the conclusion of their stories. I do not refer to the invidious, pernicious act of publishing books in installments in order to suck more money from readers. I refer to epilogues, which happens to the be this week's topic for the #MFRW 52-week blog challenge.

Many readers like epilogues. Otherwise, I would think, writers wouldn't ride that bandwagon. Or maybe they would. I don't consult other writers when I write my own stories. I do my own thing and suffer the consequences.

Regardless, epilogues conclude the story after the story supposedly ends. I think it's cheating. I won't say I've never included an epilogue in my own books; I will say that I seldom indulge in writing them. I like that when I mentally include "FINIS" or "THE END" as the last words in the manuscript it really is the end. I don't extend the story unless I'm building on another character to give that character his or her own story, like I did the Twin Moons Saga, the Russian Love series, and the Tree of Life trilogy.

Seeing "Epilogue" in books I read does not fill me with gratitude or excitement. I don't consider it  free "bonus" content. I do wonder why the author couldn't wrap up the story without adding a chapter after THE END. If I didn't necessarily care for the book, I don't bother reading it. Occasionally, the epilogue satisfies by wrapping up any loose ends, but not so often that I recommend using them.

Overall, I think they're lazy.

Finish your story, damn it. Then you won't need an epilogue.