Long to finish a story and get paid (5)
I believe the answer is:
yearn
'long' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'finish a story and get paid' is the wordplay.
'finish' suggests the final letters.
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'get paid' becomes 'earn' (I've seen this in another clue).
The last letter of 'story' is 'y'.
'y'+'earn'='YEARN'
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for yearn that I've seen before include "Mark of injury" , "Have strong desire" , "Desire strongly" , "Desire, want" , "Feel desire" .)