Epilogue Woes

[bashfullyshameless]

So I'm trying to write an epilogue for my (first?) series...

If I try to tie up all loose ends -- and I am intentionally leaving room for sequels -- then it gets too long.

If I use all the characters I would like to use, it would be too long.

There are justifiably at least three romance/sex scenes that could happen here, along with a couple of other "just for fun" sex scenes.

And yet I always think of an epilogue as a single-scene piece.

Clearly, my readers would be perfectly happy for me to go long rather than short & sweet, yet I feel the need to try to make this at least marginally artful.

Feel my pain, o' Author Hangout! FEEL MY PAIN!!

 

[Weird Harold]

There are justifiably at least three romance/sex scenes that could happen here, along with a couple of other "just for fun" sex scenes.

And yet I always think of an epilogue as a single-scene piece.

This suggests to me that your series isn't ready for an Epilogue -- or possibly that an epilogue isn't needed.

On the other hand, my favorite Fantasy series includes epilogues in each volume that are like a collection of Flash Fiction essays or Vignettes with several different POVs. They seem to work well (each novel in the series is nearly as many words as medium length series here at Lit) and do what you seem to need done; they tidy up plot and timeline issues and leave readers wanting the next volume in the series.