The Plot Beast

I’m now well into writing the tenth book in the series. In June, my seedling of anidea blossomed into the beginning of a story, and I doveheadfirst into the first half. Chapter after chapter flew down, characters took form and were brought to life.

And then last Monday,I opened the 41,000-word file, scrolled to the very end—and found myself staring blankly at the page.

I didn’t hit a wall creatively, exactly. I had plenty more to say, plenty of ideas about what would happen next. No,I’d come to...