Writing Notes: Die, Draft! Die!

I hate endings. Not because it's "the end", but because once I know what the end is going to be, my brain tries to cut off the creative flow, and move into analytical/production mode. This makes the end of most books tough to write because as far as my brain is concerned, the creative part is done. Getting the rest of the story out of my head is *work*.

I started The Biker's Wench last summer, and fully expected to have it done long before now. I just got distracted with other things, took a couple months off from working on it, and just let it sort of drag along behind me. Now I'm finally near the end - I'm pretty sure the next scene will be the last – and it's like pulling teeth to get myself to work on it. I know how the story ends now. Writing it out is just work.

Obviously this means I generally rush my endings. At this point, when I'm so very close to "done", I just want to move on and get to the clean-up stage. I want my characters to just take their happily-ever-after already, and leave me in peace to work on the technical side of things.

Is there a cure for this? Danged if I know. I think this will be the ninth novelish-length draft I've done, and I still don't have any idea how to keep that magical, "new" feeling all the way to the end. I even get that way with shorter stories, albeit not nearly as bad. So rather than fighting it, I force myself to write through it. I've never been a big believer in just "let it come" for anything in life…I'm more of a "make it happen" kind of girl. And that's exactly what I have to do with the last part of every draft. Make it happen.

To The Biker's Wench I say: "Die Draft! Die!"

Anyone else have issues with "the end"? What's your problem spot in the drafting process?

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