Harry Potter Epilogue/Writers Block

[doc_3]

 
So, after my post about fandom discoveries, I made another discovery based on the comments:  

1.  Everyone hates the Harry Potter epilogue, it's not just me.  

I find this so heartwarming, because I've always felt like it was blasphemy to voice this opinion.  Yay for us that we all agree "it sucked ass", to quote lerdo .

So, random thinker that I am, I'm wondering what would ya'll have preferred for an ending.  Just an ending with no epilogue?  Or a different epilogue?  What would you have wanted to happen in said  "replacement epilogue"?

On a totally unrelated note, I'm working on a story idea, thanks to all the encouragement I received from everyone.  I don't know if it will see the light of day, but it's a start.  Many hugs and thanks to all my encouragers.

Comments

[fangirlgonewild.livejournal.com]

The thing my roommate and I keyed in on about the epilogue was that it told us all about the lives of characters we hadn't followed around for seven books. So what if Harry's son has some wacky name? We wanted to know about what happened to Weasly family after the loss of their son, etc.

I always thought it should have been set later than the events of the actual book, but not as late as the actual epilogue. Like, at Ron and Hermione's wedding reception or something.

It did suck ass. I think it was almost universally hated or at least considered disappointing.

[doc-3.livejournal.com]

See, I so agree that we should have picked up the story so much earlier, not when everyone was old and married. I felt cheated that we missed out on the twentysomething years. And it was a little ... boring ... with everyone ending up with the first person they kissed. I'm so glad I'm not the only one that wanted something else. Ron and Hermione's wedding reception... do I smell fic or what?

[bertie456.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I don't know what I'd want instead, but I'd definitely like an ending sentence that didn't sound like it was written by a seven year old. Seriously, after selling a gazillion and one books, shouldn't she be ab;le to come up with something better than the equivalent of "And they all lived happily ever after..."? *sighs* :)

Yay for you getting partly over your writer's block though! *applauds*

[doc-3.livejournal.com]

yes! That's exactly how I felt, like I had suffered through all those books and ups and downs to read the equivalent of "happily ever after"? Wtf? She spent ten gazillion pages writing about the "real world" and the fact that bad things do happen even to kids and then she copped out with that? So not the real world.

Thanks for the vote of confidence on the new writing endeavor. I feel so much better now, even if what I'm working on never makes it to daylight. *hugs*

[pharmduh.livejournal.com]

Great question.
Being a H/Hr shipper, I would've liked something a little less etched in stone (regarding the relationships), but that's just for the purposes of the ship.

Story-wise, I didn't like how everything just went back to the way it was before, with the house rivalries and whatnot. Did fighting the war change nothing in terms of the need for unity?

I don't have the book on me, but I remember reading the part where Harry tries to sneak out of the Great Hall after the final battle and asks Ron and Hermione, "Will you come with me?" or something to that effect.

And I thought, how beautiful. After all this, all he wants is his best friends, the ones who have been with him through thick and thin. I wouldn't have minded if the book ended somewhere around there, with the trio looking forward together. They were the ones I cared about, moreso than Lupin's son or "the next generation".

[doc-3.livejournal.com]

Amen. Something less etched in stone indeed. I would have much preferred it to have ended at the end of the battle, with those three facing whatever comes next together, just like they had faced everything else.

[ggjunkie33.livejournal.com]

Yes, the epilogue was disappointing. I just really wanted more info on what everyone was doing, and I didn't really like that Harry's kids were name after his parents, even though it's a sweet sentiment...at first when I read it I was a bit confused.

Anyways, glad you found an idea to work on! :D
Yay!