The heroes have defeated the ancient evil that threatened to overrun their peaceful world. The band of mercenaries battled the impossibly large force and somehow emerged victorious. The starship captain successfully completed another difficult mission thanks to her intellect and the competence of her crew. So, what happens now? As an author you will often be forced to decide and frequently re decide where you want to go from here. Sometimes the decision changes as things move along. As an example, when Jack Chalker finished book five of the Well World series, he was soon asked when book six was going to appear. He had chosen to end the story there and not continue so he said, tongue firmly in cheek, "Well, if I have an idea, and someone offers me [insert insane amount of money here], there might be another one." He finishes that story with, "You know when someone really does offer you that much, finding an idea gets a lot easier."

There are many options you can take when you've finished your story. I will present six in the following article. Please note that these do not represent a complete list. More importantly, as many authors have demonstrated, they are not mutually exclusive. You can always choose to do something else later, when you're more ready. Also, while my examples are from speculative fiction, that is only because that is what I read. These guidelines are suitable for any genre. So without further ado, the beginning of the end.

1) Just let it end and do something new. This is the choice for many authors, particularly those who write short stories. Once the story is over, it is over. There is nothing else to add to make it complete. Once this is done, the author can move on to other projects.

2) Write an epilogue. This happens a lot in long novels and in series of novels. Once the action is over, the author still wants to let the reader know what happened next. There is often a lot of aftermath in the events of these novels, so the author can show how the characters deal with what happened. A famous example of this is in The Return of the King, where the Hobbits return home, and are not happy with what happened to the Shire. (I won't go into detail here as some people may not have read the books, and these events are left out of the movies.) Following those events are the years when Frodo finishes his book, and finally the meeting at the docks when Frodo and Bilbo complete their stories together. David and Leigh Eddings also write epilogues in many of their books and series.

3) Write a sequel. This is also frequently chosen. For precision's sake, let's be clear what a sequel is. A sequel is a story set in the same world as a previous story, usually using the same characters or at least characters who are in some way connected to the characters of the previous story. The sequel has its own plot, however. The plot may be related to the previous story, but should be able to stand on its own. Sequels are set in the same world, but at a later time. As examples, the seven Harry Potter books are a single story, none of them are truly sequels of the others. The Lord of the Rings is also a single story, but it can be considered a sequel to The Hobbit. On the other hand The Hobbit might be a prequel to The Lord of the Rings. It can get confusing. Michael Moorcock wrote many sequels to his stories. Most of the Elric novels are sequels to earlier ones. Both Corum and Hawkmoon had three book series that had another three book series as a sequel to them. Terry Brooks wrote several sequels to his first Shanarra Trilogy.

4) Write a prequel. A prequel is like a sequel except it takes place at a time prior to the story at hand. Prequels often involve different characters from the original story, but may have some in common. The prequel generally explains the events that lead up to the actual story, however if they are to be successful they must be written in such a way that, while the final result (the initial story) is known, the events of the prequel are still gripping and tense. The Simarillion is a prequel to The Lord of the Rings, as it covers the history of Middle Earth from creation to the time of the War of the Ring. It succeeds because, while it is historical and sets the stage, it has an entirely different main villain and collection of heroes. Both Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress are prequels to The Belgariad, telling the history of the world from two different perspectives and focusing on two different sets of events. The Rivan Codex, also related to The Belgariad, would not be a prequel, as it was written as a more academic-style history of the world with notes from the author and other elements that are not a story at all. It does contain a story that was the seed of Belgarath the Sorcerer, and that part could be considered a prequel. First King of Shanarra is a prequel to The Sword of Shanarra. Most of you are also probably aware of the prequels to Star Wars, but don't let them discourage you.

5) Write new stories in the same setting. These stories should stand on their own and not rely on the reader having read the first story. If this is not the case then you are probably writing a sequel or prequel. The new stories can use some of the previous story's characters and settings, but the plot should be entirely new. The story can also have no connection to previous stories except for the broad setting. Steven King has written many stories in Castle Rock, but not as sequels to earlier stories. This can be a wonderful option for expanding and elaborating on places and people only touched on in the previous story, or for writing a story set in a different country or even continent of the previous world setting. Tolkien's Adventures of Tom Bombadil (of which only two selections in the book concern themselves with that character) is such a book.

6) Move on to something new. Many writers don't like to limit them selves to a single world. Jack Chalker had The Well World, the world of The Changewinds, the world of The Soul Rider and many more. Terry Brooks wrote stories set in the world of Shanarra, the modern day and in a parallel magical universe. The Eddingses wrote The Belgariad and The Malorean in one world, The Elenium and The Tamuli in another, and The Redemption of Althalus in a third, and then did others in other times and places. Just because you become famous for writing in one setting doesn't mean you can't branch out. Many authors adopt pseudonyms to write in other genres, so you certainly can too.

So, that's a whirlwind tour of the choices you have when you finish your story. All are good, and can be done if (and only if) they suit you the author. The only one I would personally not recommend is the unwritten -1, stop writing altogether. That would be a great disservice to you and all your readers unless you have genuinely run out of stories to tell. Then it may be time to quit, but nothing says you can't come back later and write some more.

Colin Neilson is a teacher, author and publisher. He has edited speculative fiction newsletters, written editorials and articles about writing, and written several speculative fiction product reviews. Readers interested in speculative fiction should go to Spectacular Speculations for a new electronic speculative fiction magazine. Authors will be interested in the author's page - http://www.speculativefictionstories.com/authors.