As for endings, many years ago Nutty gave me some wise words: for a lot of stories, you can just have someone say, "OK, let's go," and then they go, the end. Possibly not the most poetic ending, but sometimes you just gotta give yourself permission to stop.

Mostly, yeah, and definitely for fanfic, but my unfinished stuff is all proper novels and screenplays, and those feel like they really need an actual nice clean definitive shape and all the stuff I'd set in motion needs to be resolved.

As a voracious fanfic reader, I have never ever read a fic where I thought "Oh, this is longer than originally planned? That blows!" A fic that's longer than planned is like finding a $20 in your coat pocket.

I would agree with Steph.

A fic that's longer than planned is like finding a $20 in your coat pocket.

Ha! Absolutely true.

JZ, I'm super excited that you're writing fic! If you want a beta at some point, I'd gladly volunteer. I assume this is for OFMD?

In my (not so) copious finished pieces there are two where I didn't recognize the ending and just kept going, until I took a breath and went, "Wait--" turned around and looked back, and the story had finished. Back there. Sometimes that can happen too.

If you want a beta at some point, I'd gladly volunteer.

I'd love that! I think it may be done fairly soon.

I assume this is for OFMD?

Yep. The completely G-rated childhood backstory Pushing Daisies crossover I described in the other thread.

As a voracious fanfic reader, I have never ever read a fic where I thought "Oh, this is longer than originally planned? That blows!"

I agree. Although I have gotten to the end of something and thought "what? That's it? So soon??"

Done, at almost 12.5K words. I literally don't think I have completed any work of fiction in any form, with a nice distinct beginning, middle and end, in a quarter century. Hec very kindly let me spend the entire weekend deep in my own head, but now that I'm out again I feel a little wobbly.

*cheers*

You had fic Pon Farr.

I just miss writing. I used to do it all the time and feel like this all the time, and now I do it none of the time, except just now. And it was only playing with someone else's toys in someone else's sandbox, but it was words and words and words, and they fit together so beautifully, and I have SO many purely original pieces I've never finished. I still feel gnawing dread that I'll never be able to do it again, but I had a moment near the end of this where I almost stopped too but I pushed through it, so if this, then maybe those?