Another type of story add-on that irritates me is the emoting epilogue.  Over a few pages, the character has a slug of whisky or a sip of tea, depending on the genre, and reflects on what just happened.    It seems the main purpose is to give the character one last scene where he/she can 1) explain emotions that should have already been evident, 2) regret what took place in the previous three hundred pages but realize it couldn’t have gone any other way, and 3) decide to let the scars heal and move on because, hey, that’s life.  To me, it forces you out the door and locks it behind you, instead of letting you continue to roam around in the story, examining it for yourself.

Coming soon:  the Second Novel Epilogue