A Good Stopping Point

Sometimes you get into something and you lose all track of time and it's awesome. Sometimes you know you have to stop because you know you need to go to sleep before dawn comes or because your eyelids keep closing without permission. When you know this time is approaching, the question is what is a good stopping point?

If you're reading, chapters are always good stopping points, as are any other break that has a visual component. If not, then either the end of a page or right before a long paragraph is the next best thing.

If you're writing, it ends up being pretty similar. A stopping point is really necessary when you're in a groove because you won't be in that groove when you sit down to write again. Here, I think the best stopping point (and the only acceptable one) is when you have finished whatever scene you are working on. You really need to maintain the continuity of style within the scene and to flesh out all the events and actions that you plan.

Of course, a story is more than a collection of scenes, and you really want a uniformity of style and feel throughout. This is why I recommend taking a bunch of notes as you start to wrap up. Leave reminders as to what your thought process was, where it was going, and key events or dialogue you want to happen along the way. The more you set up the feeling for the next session, the more quickly you will get into the groove again and avoid aching over what you wanted to have happen last time.