The biggest question/complaint I hear from fellow writers is how to finish a novel. I use three approaches and have gotten good results with all three. Finishing a novel-size project for me is primarily a matter of managing my energy level. The three approaches I use for finishing off a novel are:

1. ‘Puzzle-building’

2. Sprinting

3. Pacing

This an ‘architectural' style of writing in which I tackle the story a piece at a time often writing it out of order, with the last chapter first, and piecing the story together. This approach requires a lengthy front to back edit to assure consistency. This works best for me in stories with a large number of protagonists, and/or that are part of a series of novels that require checks for consistency with previously written works.

My last four Sunset Saga novels—including the epic length one currently in progress—were written in this manner. Beyond these factors is my energy level which is mostly related to other commitments. This is a good way to plug away at something that I cannot commit a lot of energy to at one time. The only novel I had to write in this manner because of complexity was God’s Picture Maker. The other efforts I undertook according to this method were done in this ‘puzzle-building’ fashion because I had numerous other concurrent writing commitments.

I write all my novelettes like this, flat out from front to back. For me to accomplish this I have to forgo other fiction projects so that I do not have to reset my imagination when I open the file back up, but just start typing. I did what I believe is my best full length novel, Thunderboy, in a sprint, one manic 5-week month of hitting something like 20,000 words a week, with the pace building to a 27,000 word final week. With the ghostwriting and blogging commitment I have had since 2013 I can no longer afford to write a full-length novel in one all-out dash.

The best thing about the sprint method is that it builds momentum and does not require much rereading of your earlier material. Novels that do not qualify for this method are ones that require ongoing research or to which I have not effectively imagined the ending.

This is also a linier front to back method, which begins paced at my leisure and then builds momentum as I get more invested in the story. There will come a time when it is the place to tie together and tie off the story threads. When I hit this spot, I take a step back—a breather. After I am well-rested and have written something else I will go ahead and write 1-3 word story hooks, bookmarks, chapter heading, and heading quotes, getting everything that does not write quickly, out of the way for the rest of the book. I am now set up for a finishing dash. I make sure I build the energy for this by not permitting myself to write this novel every day, by not doing more than one bookmark a day, and by doing a lot of short unrelated writing that does not take research or much imagination.

There will come a day when I am really edgy about the story, really wanting to get at it—not get it over with—but get at it. I do not go into the final fast-writing ‘sprint’ portion of the novel when I am feeling like I want to get it over with [as that indicates a lack of energy], but when I am feeling like I miss writing it, that I miss the characters, that I’m curious about how it’s going to conclude. I never workout all concluding details ahead of time for this reason; to maintain my narrative curiosity; I want the ending to be fun to write, not entirely pre-scripted.

I have used this for novels short and huge. I did it with Of The Sunset World, and I have just done it with Forty Hands of Night, which will serve as a good illustration.

I posted the first 50,000 words on the site as Fruit of The Deceiver #13 thru #48 between June 4 and July 2.

Between July 3 and July 12 I wrote Chapters 12 and 13 which amounted to 9,000 words, bringing Forty Hands up to 59,000 words.

This morning, on July 14 I wrote Chapters 14 and 15 and the Epilogue, bringing the book up to 67,641 words, putting down just as many words in six hours as I had done in the previous 10 days.

To clean this up will not be difficult. The front 50,000 is very tight and has already been proofed by one of my readers.

I will go over the last 8,500 words the day after tomorrow, then let the thing sit.

I will come back a week later and proof it all in one sitting, primarily with an eye on continuity.

I’ll let it sit again, waiting to do the final proof after I have gotten deep into another project, or after I have updated all of my ongoing fiction serials. Then it gets one last proof read focused on rooting out remaining typos.

I hope the above methods for finishing a novel might provide some of my fellow writers an additional angle or more for getting their own work past the final stages. Imagining your novel is about as satisfying as day-dreaming about Miss Murphy in English class was for me. Finishing a novel is a writer’s version of an orgasm. Editing it—well that’s more like being the housekeeper with the linen cart at the motel.