the last third

quietglow · May 2, 2013

Does anyone else find themselves to complete the last third or so of their draft at breakneck speed? I am just across that point now, and I am once again greeted with the desire to call in sick to work etc. so I can write for 12hrs a day until its done. I forget, but this happens to me every time.

Any votes for "don't do that, it's better if you resist and do it carefully?"

WriteMinded · May 2, 2013

Buffysquirrel · May 2, 2013

For some reason I usually slow down near the end. Although with the white-hot-heat-of-creation novel I probably was writing 12 hours a day, tore through it, then three-quarters of the way into another before I crasht. Finishing the second novel was almost impossible.

kkbe · May 2, 2013

I'm having a completely opposite experience with this one. Although I have written two, or three at that insane pace, knowing the story start to finish, racing to get it the hell OUT. . .

But this time? Lord have mercy.

sohalt · May 2, 2013

Get it all down in a mad dash. "Careful" is for the next draft.

quietglow · May 2, 2013

sohalt said:
Get it all down in a mad dash. "Careful" is for the next draft.

In the first draft, without a doubt. This happens to me in later drafts as well (this one is essentially a third draft). GET IT OUT is the feeling, alright. It's actually oddly similar to the feeling of finishing reading a book I'm very involved in -- not wanting to put it down. Except that in this case, it's in slow motion.

BethS · May 2, 2013

quietglow said:
Does anyone else find themselves to complete the last third or so of their draft at breakneck speed? I am just across that point now, and I am once again greeted with the desire to call in sick to work etc. so I can write for 12hrs a day until its done. I forget, but this happens to me every time.

Any votes for "don't do that, it's better if you resist and do it carefully?"

I know a writer who goes into what she calls the "final frenzy" when she gets near the end. She writes for long hours for a couple-three weeks or so.

I keep waiting for that to happen to me...

Susan Lanigan · May 2, 2013

Quietglow, I'm with you. I'm on the final strait and the urge to keep going and clear the deck of all interruptions is almost uncontrollable.

TheWordsmith · May 2, 2013

I'm sorta with Buffy on this one. The closer I get to the end, the more I see my "friends" pulling away from me. My part of their story is coming to an end, so to speak. I already know what is going to happen and how the story will end, but I get so comfortable with the characters that I hate to see it end.
Sometimes, however, I do get so into it that I just rip through and I'm at -30- before I realize it!

Jamesaritchie · May 3, 2013

Only if I'm behind on a deadline. Otherwise, I write exactly five hours per day, five days per week. This is usually broken up into two sessions, with one for novels, and the other for short stories/articles.

So it's two and a half hours per day, five days per week, whether I'm starting or finishing a novel.

Robert Gonko · May 3, 2013

I start going pretty crazy when I get close to the end, especially on the first draft. By that point I've finally figured out where I'm going and want to get there.

JFitchett92 · May 3, 2013

I'm approaching the final third now, and I can't see myself speeding through. It's taken me 3 months to get this far, but my writing muse very rarely shows themselves >.>

jeffo20 · May 4, 2013

I'm not sure if I actually write faster, but I definitely get anxious during that last third or so. Not out of any great fear of finishing, but out of desire to be done.

Putputt · May 4, 2013

I only get that way during the final two chapters. Otherwise, nah. The last third of my books are usually the climax scenes, which I find really tiring to write. Emotions running high, action all over the place...phew! I need to take it slow and easy.

NeuroFizz · May 4, 2013

In my experience, every story is different. Each has a different writing pace, a different rate of intellectual development, and of course, each has to survive a different set of outside influences. In some, the ending seems to materialize as fast as my fingers can move, while in others (one of mine in particular), the last part was so critical and creatively tangled, it required short bouts of writing between periods of thinking through the remaining progression of scenes and mentally experimenting with ways to (attempt to) craft those scenes to tweak the reader's experience and thrill the reader's intellect.

eleutheria · May 4, 2013

I'm definitely going faster now, mostly because I had the previous 2/3 to work out all the plot details, which is always what slows me down (how do they get there?). I'm doing 9-10,000 a week, which is quite a bit!

JQ377 · May 4, 2013

It really depends on what I'm writing. It was like this for the project I'm editing now but I really dragged near the end on the project before that.

crunchyblanket · May 5, 2013

that's usually where I struggle and break...all the pressure to tie up the loose ends in a satisfactory way.....aaaaaagh

LFisher · May 5, 2013

Yes! I find that happens when I first start and then again when I'm reaching the end.

Pammie Simon · May 5, 2013

I get anxious and rush, to the point where I think my manuscript suffered. Two months after the fact I actually had to go back to the manuscript and write in two additional chapters to write an ending that basically wasn't, "And then they all went home the end."

The entire time I was writing the manuscript I wanted to lock myself away for 12-hour days and do nothing but write.

the last third

quietglow

chocolate. stat.

WriteMinded

Derailed

Buffysquirrel

kkbe

Huh.

sohalt

quietglow

chocolate. stat.

BethS

Susan Lanigan

TheWordsmith

practical experience, FTW

Jamesaritchie

Robert Gonko

JFitchett92

jeffo20

Tyrant King

Putputt

permanently suctioned to Buz's leg

NeuroFizz

The grad students did it

eleutheria

JQ377

crunchyblanket

the Juggernaut of Imperfection

LFisher

Pammie Simon

Pammie