I just finished a sequel to a very good book. I had thought it was an equally good book, until the last 60 pages or so, when things got so rushed that it became only a good book instead of a very good one. Relationships became simplistic, plot was convoluted, and then it was over!
   I just read and edited the first draft of my third-to-last chapter of my contemporary Gothic, The Grange. When I was done and turned the page to the second-to-last chapter, I was disappointed as a reader by how far I'd jumped toward the end. Had I done the same thing? Or was my book essentially complete except the big bang ending at this point? How does a writer know?
   What's the difference between going on too long and cutting it too short? Many a book appears to have deadline syndrome - meaning that the reader can only assume the author gave the end short shrift due to a looming deadline, but I'm not faced with that on this unsold project. So how do you know if you've tied it up too fast or too slow?

 

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