The wait

[Chad32]

But, a burger, even a complex one, has a pretty simple recipe. Sometimes the author can write themselves into a corner and not know how to get out. Or their muse can flee. These things, only time or forced words can fix. For some, forced words may be ok, but to me they'll ring hollow. Stephen Kings "Dark Tower" comes to mind. The accident that nearly killed him made him fear that he would die with the books un-written. I believe the writing suffered for it. "The Wind Through the Keyhole" is the best written post accident "Dark Tower" book in the series. Not originally being an intended part of the tale, he didn't feel pressured to "get it done before he died" and the writing style is much more relaxed and in tune with the pre-accident books.

All said and done, it's still just my tuppence.

Maybe my analogy wasn't the best. In the Animorphs books I mentioned before, half of them are ghostwritten, and when K.A. Applegate comes back to do the last couple of books it seems she's lost sight of what the characters and such are about. She kills one off at the end for "realism", and the ending for the rest seem to be determined by how much they actually wanted to fight the Yeerks, as Applegate tries to force an anti-war message. Then she sends most of them off to a Bolivian Army ending to send the message that "stories never end", when I'm pretty sure they do.

While giving extra time can allow an author to bring good quality work, taking too long with your story can make you lose sight of it.