have you ever felt your enthusiasm flag for a story right as you hit the ending?

Susan asked this in Bitches, since we were both in there. I told her I'd move over here to answer long form.

I have felt this, although I'm wondering if enthusiam is the right word, at least for me. Of course, when I'm writing to deadline, which I invariably miss (bad writer, no biscuit) I'm usually chugging to the end, out of breath and cranky and wanting very much for it all to be over.

In your case, I'm going to venture to say you're having that kind of "homesickness before leaving" some people experience. You are passionate about this story and these characters, and when you're reaching the end of the book, it can be a wrench to let them go. That might be part of it, no?

Feeling like the last chapters and epilogue are an afterthought might also be because you've hit the high point of the resolution too soon, at least psychologically. My advice is to write them, let them sit for a week, and then go back and see how they read. Of course you're not going to let them go now!

In your case, I'm going to venture to say you're having that kind of "homesickness before leaving" some people experience. You are passionate about this story and these characters, and when you're reaching the end of the book, it can be a wrench to let them go. That might be part of it, no?

Definitely. I really do hate the thought of letting go of them and moving on to the next book and the next set of protagonists. I wish I could just keep writing about their lives indefinitely. They're just such lovely imaginary people. Before I wrote this story, I never understood what people meant when they talked about the "books of their hearts." I always thought whatever the current project was automatically took over. But this is different than my first book. Something about the characters and plot and everything in it just resonates with me on some soul-deep level that makes all my other story ideas, and I have plenty of them, seem like mere intellectual exercises. Hopefully that'll change once I start writing them, but I don't think all or even most of what I write from here on out is going to grab me in the same way.

Feeling like the last chapters and epilogue are an afterthought might also be because you've hit the high point of the resolution too soon, at least psychologically. My advice is to write them, let them sit for a week, and then go back and see how they read. Of course you're not going to let them go now!

I think that's there, too. In some ways it feels rushed, like I'm dismissing real sacrifices they're making to be together with handwaving, and like I haven't done enough to repair them after putting them through hell in the third quarter of the story. But that's a craft issue, so hopefully it can be fixed on editing. Though I'm still not comfortable with just writing things and planning to fix them--I'm still more used to whipping out essays or term papers in one draft than working with these big complex unwieldy things that take months to write and more months to polish and even dismantle and reassemble.

I'm still more used to whipping out essays or term papers in one draft than working with these big complex unwieldy things that take months to write and more months to polish and even dismantle and reassemble.

No shit. I'm peeved right now because I wrote two chapters of a proposal for one of Harlequin's new lines, and I *knew* the conflict wasn't right. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't change it -- if I were going to try and sell it as straight fiction, in other words. And the idea of changing everything, even just shifting things here and there and refocusing, makes me tired.

I can be a lazy writer.

SusanW: I feel this with you.The feeling that it is all just typing from here to the end.

It is a good sign, though. It signifies that the thing is done. Now, shock yourself. Turn all of your resolutions back against themselves.

Hmm. I wonder if my problem isn't that I'm trying to tie things up in too neat of a bow. Maybe all I need to do is make it clear that they will solve all the obstacles they're facing, having decided they'd rather have a difficult life together than simple ones apart. And here the dreaded epilogue (I know some readers and writers hate 'em) may work in my favor, because I can show that several months or a year on, they're happy and satisfied with the life they're building together, even if it's in some ways still a work-in-progress.

Maybe all I need to do is make it clear that they will solve all the obstacles they're facing...

Gah! Romance ending alert.

Do they feel connected, in that moment? Good enough. Future obstacles are for ... the sequel.

I like having a little bit of messy at the end, Susan. It's more reflective of real life and I can always use my own imagination to fill in the blanks after the story has ended. If it's wrapped up too neatly, I feel cheated.

Future obstacles are for ... the sequel.

Well, except that I don't see them breaking up and getting back together or anything like that--they're in it for the long haul. But I can certainly see them showing up as important secondary characters in future stories. The only problem will be not letting them take over.

Susan, I'm with Sail: I'm fairly fond of the messy at the end, myself. I tend to want to smack writers who tie everything up; much rather have something, anything at all, left to my imagination. As to the writing side (rather than the reader side), I have yet to feel the "going through the motions" at the end, but I do get it quite often in mid-book.

That said, I didn't get it at all in either of the Kinkaid books, which isd one reason I think they're what I ought to be writing.

Amy! Pet me! I did nearly 2,000 words on Cruel Sister today and the damned advance cheque hasn't even arrived. I wanna biscuit.

British or American? Biscuits. Because I like both and need to know whether to bust out the butter or the chocolate.