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First Draft Finished: Now What?

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
So the messy, long road of finishing my first draft is done. After years of trying and failing to get a full length novel finished, I have finally done it. So I stare at my first draft, thinking, "OK, now I have to edit."

...

Is this really what I should do next? Is there anything else that I should try to do before I dive into editing?

My thoughts are this:

1. Go through my manuscript and find any scenes that don't work. Write these down. (Scrivener helps me a lot in this regard)

2. Write down scenes that I'd like to add.

3. Uh...what else?

Thoughts?
 

Ankari

Hero Breaker
Moderator
From what I've gathered, you do the following:

1) Shelf you book for a good amount of time. Anywhere between 4 to 8 weeks.

2) In this lull, take an actual week or two break.

3) Resume (start) writing on another project after you've taken your break.

4) Read your completed first draft and look for:
A) Grammar mistakes.
B) Character inconsistencies.
C) Pacing issues.
D) Word choices.
E) Clarity of description.

5) Once you've completed the second draft, send it to a select handful of beta readers.

6) While you're waiting for their feedback, resume the project you started in point 3.

7) Wait for all beta readers to send you their comments. Read and weigh the beta readers' comments. Incorporate what you like and throw away what you don't. This process is longer than it sounds. You'll be going back and forth with your beta readers to get a clear understanding of their intent in some instances.

8) With your third draft in hand, it's time to shelf it again for another two weeks. Work on your new project!

9) Read your novel as a reader. Only make obvious corrections (Wait, that character is dead!) , or minor ones (I called her by a man's name!).

10) Send it off to publishers or self pub.
 
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Sparkie

Auror
You forgot something, Phil...

Celebrate!!!

Yea, woohoo! Phil just finished his first draft!


That being done, what I've seen suggested over and over is to let your first draft sit idle for at least 4 weeks. 8 weeks would be better, perhaps.

Let's say you've already done that. In that case, don't disregard the value of just sitting and reading your own work. Read it all the way through without making edits or notes. Get an idea of what you have first, then work on it.*

*Please note that this is probably the most uneducated and inexperienced opinion you'll get. If I were you, I'd ignore me.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Thanks for the suggestions. And yes, thanks for the congrats also. I have celebrated. :)

I think your points are pretty good, Ankari. I think using your plan will be the best bet for me. I have plans to start working on something new and I'm pretty excited about that, so it'll be cool to get started on planning that as well. I always have liked when authors give advice to not waste too much time, but to get started on writing something new. I don't want to be a "one book pony" for sure.
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
Ankari hit the nail on the head. That's almost exactly what I would have suggested.

My only addition would be to #3, and it's a personal addition. When starting the next project, make it something different from the draft you just completed. You don't want it to be a sequel (or I least I don't) because you want to gain some distance from the story you just finished. Similar settings or characters intrude on that for me so I try to write very distinct stories that have little to nothing in common with the one tucked away for revision.

And yes...Congratulations!
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
That's a good point as well. I hadn't planned for this book to have a sequel as I hope it can serve as a stand-alone, but it's left open enough to have the potential for a sequel.

I already have two ideas I'm contemplating on doing next. I've thought about having them in the same world, but having a whole new cast of characters. And if any of my characters from my first novel did appear, they'd be in brief cameo roles.

But I'm mostly leaning towards trying something completely different. Maybe even a really simplistic novel. Since my first one was 130,000 something words, I think I may want a shorter one next.
 
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Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
First congrats. Now do a jig and take a breath. You've earned it.

Since you're using scrivener, I'd suggest a quick pan-over of your whole novel in the binder view. I give names to each of my chapters as I write, so just by glancing at the short name descriptor, I know exactly what's in each scene. So, as I pan over the novel, I play out the story in my head but never look at the actual text.

I found that this was a good way to take in the entirety of the novel/story without getting distracted by the minutia of the text. As I do this, the big inconsistencies tend to pop out and ideas on what to add or take away start to form. I also get a sense of pace and where scenes could be shifted, deleted, and if there are possible redundancies.
 
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Butterfly

Auror
Perhaps add to no..4. Work from a printout, and also look for plotholes.

Might help your revision if you make a scene map so you can see at a glance what needs work. It should point out anything that is a plothole or surplus to what you need as well as inconsistencies with characterisation and events.
 

Ophiucha

Auror
Congrats! The first draft is often the hardest, just because you've got nothing but your notes to work with. It's Pi Day, so you should go get yourself some congratulatory pie.

I agree with Ankari on how to start this. Tuck it away so you clear your mind. If you try to re-read it right away you'll just remember how you wrote half the lines and how you want things to read, so much so that sometimes you'll miss when it didn't come out the way you had it in your head. Since I personally always write at least two drafts, I don't bother with editing in the technical sense. Dotting the 'i's and crossing your 't's is more important when you're about to send it to a publisher. But I do look out for the things I really loved - the perfect metaphor, a fantastic line of dialogue, the bits of writing you want to repeat. Take those, write them down in another document, and work on those. Fine tune those and keep them ready to toss back into draft two.

After that, look for the points that work and the points that don't. Write an outline, write down some character profiles. You might already have those, but forget them for a minute and write one based only on what is written down in the text. Compare them to your notes if you have them, and ask yourself if everything works. Make sure everything is possible - that the timelines match up and there are no glaring inconsistencies. Look to see if you have any themes popping up, or any ideas that need a bit of tweaking or expanding. Adjust your notes and outlines accordingly, then write draft two with all of that beside you.

Rinse and repeat until you are satisfied with a draft (which may be your second, or it may be your eighth), then do all the technical editing and formatting and send it out, publish, and bask in the adoration of your thousands of fans! Or you can do what I did and just shove it in a folder and pretend you didn't spend three years working on it. Whichever works for you.
 

Nihal

Vala


Congratulations!

(^See? It's fancy!)


I don't have much to add, I'm not experienced in this field anyway. Everyone gave excellent advices, like stepping away - valid for other kind of artistic creations also - and I would go with butterfly's suggestion of working with a printout at this point. Kinda personal choice, but I can see a good number of benefits of this approach.
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
Perhaps this is just me, but I try to distance myself by letting it sit when going from decent draft to final draft, not from rough to decent.

My reasoning:

There are a lot of things to fix from the rough draft. In addition to technical issues, there are a lot of characterization and plot issues. Frankly, it's easier to remember these when you're closer to it. A couple of months from now, you're not going to remember that Joe needed to pick up the gun in the first chapter so that he could kill the bad guy at the end (okay, stupid and simplified example but, hopefully, you get the point).

I'm a big fan of distancing yourself from the work. However, I think it works best before the final polish. I think the concept is to be able to read it as much as possible like a reader instead of a writer.
 
So the messy, long road of finishing my first draft is done. After years of trying and failing to get a full length novel finished, I have finally done it. So I stare at my first draft, thinking, "OK, now I have to edit."

...

Is this really what I should do next? Is there anything else that I should try to do before I dive into editing?

First of all: Champagne.

Second: Let someone read it and tell you what they think of it.
 
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Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I like your suggestion as well, BW, but I think for me, it's already paying off not looking at it. I just feels the longer I don't look at it now, the better I feel about editing it. I think if I started editing now, I'd get really annoyed because I've been looking at this material so much. So I think taking a break from it helps me personally.

I'm already excited about my next project, so I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. I don't want to get too excited about it and forget about my first novel. But I don't want to worry too much about my first novel and not focus on writing anything new.
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
I like your suggestion as well, BW, but I think for me, it's already paying off not looking at it. I just feels the longer I don't look at it now, the better I feel about editing it. I think if I started editing now, I'd get really annoyed because I've been looking at this material so much. So I think taking a break from it helps me personally.

I'm already excited about my next project, so I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. I don't want to get too excited about it and forget about my first novel. But I don't want to worry too much about my first novel and not focus on writing anything new.

The important thing is to find what works for you. It's great to hear what others are doing, what works for them, and why, but, at the end of the day, each person's creative process is different. Take suggestions if they're helpful, but don't ever try to force something just because someone else did it.

One final note, though:

Putting off editing can be attractive for two reasons that aren't necessarily good ones:

Authors can sometimes get trapped into thinking that producing that rough draft is too important. "I accomplished something today; I finished my rough draft." I agree that it's an accomplishment. You're now getting close to a third of the way to having something that you can sell. Until you actually finish, though, you haven't actually produced anything.

Second: Editing is hard work. In a way, converting that first draft to something readable is harder than creating the first draft. To me, creating has its own reward whereas editing the first draft is just TEDIOUS. Sometimes it's easier to put it aside to avoid the work.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I think that's true if I was waiting a month or two months to start editing. I'm going to wait maybe two weeks or maybe even a little less. I realize now I've got the big ball of clay and now I have to mold it into something that resembles a novel. I think putting a little bit of distance between myself and the novel will help. I agree, putting too much distance can be counterproductive, but I think two weeks isn't that long. I'm thinking of some things that I want to change about it already and I'm going to start jotting notes down. That way when I go to edit, I'm not going in completely cold. I think you have a good point to keep it fresh in my mind, so I'm kind of meeting in the middle in some ways. Trying not to forget about it completely, but not delving right into it either.

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions!
 

Butterfly

Auror
As a suggestion... you could join Camp Nano for April and work on your next novel during that month and then edit your first after it. That's what I'm planning on doing.
 
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BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
I think that's true if I was waiting a month or two months to start editing. I'm going to wait maybe two weeks or maybe even a little less.

Gotcha. I misunderstood.

My goal was to put 8 weeks of distance between the last draft and the next one for my book, and I wondered if that was enough time. (Ends up I only have time for 7 weeks. We'll see.)

To me, you're talking about taking a quick break. Nothing at all wrong with that. Rest and recharge. Good call.
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
Like Brian said, you'll have to find what works for you.

I wouldn't go into it with a set number of days or weeks until you know how long it will take to gain the distance you need. For me it falls in the 6 to 8 week range. That's how long it takes to flush away my everyday thinking on that project and focus on the new one. Without that shifting of focus, I don't achieve the objective distance required to perform good revision.
 

jax

Scribe
Read it out loud, or better still get someone else to read it to you, you will hear where you need to change. Also this is the perfect time to do a synopsis of the whole thing. It is a right pain to get a request from a publisher for this and you have to start reading it again to get it straight in your head.
 
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