{{{}}}} I'll be sorry to see it end, but I also look forward to some closure. And now I'll feel free to poke you about the model'verse or even your Big Valley'verse (Let me say this is the first time EVER that I've wanted more of a western-flavored fic. Ever.), neither of which I've wanted to mention for fear of distracting you.
On the not much practice part, the only way get to get the practice is to do it. At least in this case you seem to have some idea of where you want it to end and it will help with finishing some of your other ones that have proved harder to bring round.
On the make or break part, be sure you know what questions your story sets up and that you provide some sort of answer, even if not definitively. I think the reason that everyone is complaining about you not having finished your AU where Sam gets taken by CPS is that you set up questions in it, especially "what does Sam make of being found?" and to a lesser extent "what does John make of Sam being found?" The latter you could get away with being unanswered if you did enough with the former or if this story was the first of a series of stories, as it is you bring things round full circle enough.
This comes to my last thought. If one of the reasons the end of this is hard is that you don't want to leave the characters, remember than ending a story doesn't not require ending a 'verse. You can always revisit it later in anything from drabbles to further epics if you want to spend more time with them. Or not. And you don't have to decide on that part now, or perhaps ever.
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On the not much practice part, the only way get to get the practice is to do it. At least in this case you seem to have some idea of where you want it to end and it will help with finishing some of your other ones that have proved harder to bring round.
On the make or break part, be sure you know what questions your story sets up and that you provide some sort of answer, even if not definitively. I think the reason that everyone is complaining about you not having finished your AU where Sam gets taken by CPS is that you set up questions in it, especially "what does Sam make of being found?" and to a lesser extent "what does John make of Sam being found?" The latter you could get away with being unanswered if you did enough with the former or if this story was the first of a series of stories, as it is you bring things round full circle enough.
This comes to my last thought. If one of the reasons the end of this is hard is that you don't want to leave the characters, remember than ending a story doesn't not require ending a 'verse. You can always revisit it later in anything from drabbles to further epics if you want to spend more time with them. Or not. And you don't have to decide on that part now, or perhaps ever.