Amplify your fictional worlds with epigraphs

How to wield the power of quotations like a pro

Bad days happen to everyone, but when one happens to you, just keep doing your best and never let a bad day make you feel bad about yourself. ~Big Bird

My four-year-old son stands facing the Kindness Corner at our local playground, and he’s reading me a quote by Big Bird. I hold my breath, not wanting to disturb the moment. I’m keen to let the unconventional reading session happen because the previous evening my attempt at story time was met with a mix of indifference, disdain, and crash landing onto his bed.

My son and I explore quotes by Big Bird, Dr. Seuss, Mr. Rogers, the Beatles, James Barrie, and Lin Manuel Miranda. Those are the quotable celebrities my son and I most love. The Dalai Lama and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are on the board, too. My eyes sting at the Big Bird quote because I’ve just navigated several days recently I didn’t consider particularly good. I’m almost in tears by the time I get to a quote by Amy Wright:

I would not change you for the world, but I would change the world for you.

Quotations speak to us in powerful ways, especially when paired with other quotes on a similar theme, or when synergized with art. Experiencing all those quotations in our community Kindness Corner sparked my interest in epigraphs.

Epigraphs include quotations transcribed on buildings, statues, coins, and—apparently—on playground walls. As a bookworm, when I think about epigraphs, I think of their use as the opening quotation in a novel used to set the tone or mood.

Engaging with the epigraphs in the the Kindness Corner left me burning to review how authors have used quotations to set the tone for some of my favorite novels. I wanted dig into what epigraphs do for a story and how they do it.

Epigraphs Referencing Real-World Quotes

As I explored my personal reading for epigraphs, I quickly learned there are two types sources from which fantasy epigraphs are drawn: fictional or factual. Since much of what I read is speculative fiction, I thought I’d find mostly fictional epigraphs. To my delight, I learned that many my favorite fictional stories begin with factual epigraphs.

Here are some of my favorite books that begin with quotations from real-life people.

1. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. In The Hallows, Rowling juxtaposes two quotations: one from The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus and one from The Fruits of Solitude by William Penn. These quotes draw on the same classicism that was the inspiration for Rowling’s world building. The quotes bring the specter of Death to the forefront and hint at the inner strength which will be needed to transcend it.

2. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman. Pullman begins his story with a quote from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The quotation also evokes the foundational classicism of his world building, but emphasizes a different theme, one exploring what we know and how we know it. Perception, epistemology, belief. It’s all evoked by the quote.

3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury begins with this epigraph: "If they give you ruled paper, write the other way." by Juan Ramón Jiménez. In this science fiction read, the words by the Spanish poet evoke the power of the written word and its potential to fight for freedom.

Epigraphs Referencing In-World Fictional Quotes

1. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin begins with fictional poetry from the oral tradition of the world. It gives us a sense of the world’s historical as well as cultural depth. It makes the world feel real, inhabited by many generations. It mentions power of words, which will become an important part of the magic system, and evokes the themes of light and dark, death and life.

2. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir also uses a fictional poem from in-world literature to give a sense of historical depth and breadth. The poem introduces readers to the concept of the numbered houses, which is pivotal to world building and its magic system. It also centers on the struggles its main character will struggle through: discipline, tradition, fidelity, truth, beauty, salvation.

Chapter Epigraphs

Many of my favorite fictional epigraphs don’t appear at the beginning of the novel, but rather set the tone chapter-by-chapter. They use fictional works of literature or scholarship as their basis.

3. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson opens each chapter with quotations from a variety of sources: the final words of a deceased person collected as prophecy, from letter fragments, from sayings, and from historical documents.

2. Dune by Frank Herbert heads its chapters with quotes drawn from Princess Irulan, which ground us in the history, politics, philosophy, and outlook of its fictional civilization.

3. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Naylor is a science fiction novel that begins its chapters with quotes from scholarly and scientific reports written by fictional characters.

How Epigraphs set stories up for success

Epigraphs set the tone and mood for a story. They tantalize readers with an interesting hint about the plot, world, magic system, or a hidden secret readers can delight in hoping to discover. Epigraphs suggest the story’s theme and clue readers in to the struggles characters will have to fight to overcome. When paired as multiple quotes, these effects are amplified, just as when all those quotes in the Kindness Corner at the playground moved me to tears.

Epigraphs make fictional worlds feel more real by connecting the reader to glimpses of a greater setting and time period than the narrative of the story will allow. They tie stories to something bigger than the protagonist’s journey can describe. Whether epigraphs are fictional or factual, at the beginning of a novel or at the beginning of a chapter, epigraphs fulfill so many functions with so few words. I’m eager to try amplifying my fictional worlds with epigraphs.