At the moment you have a beginning and an end, with some characters thrown in and a plot for some strange reason. Now you turn those 100,000 or so words into a novel.
Some parts of the first draft will appeal to you, others won't. So make sure you know which parts of your story you like and if you need to edit one of those partsm then so be it. If it will make your story become better, then by all means do it. But a writer should always be happy with their work. You won't publish a novel if you think it's a load if sh*t.
Ok. So a first draft is a first draft. First drafts are written to be either thrown out, or revised and created to be wonderful. The second or third drafts won't be perfect either, or complete, but that is why writers edit, that is why writers revise.
So, first draft is done. Where to now?
Ok. Honestly, I haven't finished a novel of my own yet so I can't answer that with a personal anecdote, but, I have done research and now I know that there are many things to do once a first draft is finished. Check grammer, check spelling, make sure the plots flows, make sure the timeline doesn't skip days or miss days, there are many things you could do.
This is a list composed John Hewitt at http://www.poewar.com/.
Read the novel as it sits from start to finish while taking notes but not editing
Perform a “light edit” (spelling and grammar) on the novel
Reorder the novel so that it follows a chronology
Read the novel again while taking notes AND editing
Assemble a Style / Information Guide
Re-evaluate the novel and determine goals
Create a revised plot outline
Write new scenes
Revise old scenes
Edit with an eye toward continuity
Have someone I trust read and evaluate the novel
Go through the whole process again
Ok. So now you may have some idea of what to do. Some agents tell you to place your novel down and just read and broadly or as widely as you can. Read as much as you can. This is because while writing your novel you will have read you're own writing a lot and to read someone else's work is very good for your mind and how you write. You discover new techniques or new phrases as you read and these may be picked up by yourself as you write.
Don't read for too long though. If you put your novel off for too long you may forget about it or lose the love of writing that drove you to complete the first draft. Don't just let it sit at the bottom of a draw, collecting dust or being used as a weight.
Once a first draft is finished, whether it be on computer or written by hand, it should always be stored in a safe place. If typed on a computer, save a copy to the computer, perhaps many copies, and save a few on seperate CD's, as backups. If you wrote your novel on paper, store all your writing in a folder and place the folder on top of your desk or in a safe if you are really protective about it. Just place it somewhere where you'll remember it and is safe from anyone that may break into your house or any unwanted intruders reading your novel.
That said, I think I may go read a bit myself. I plan on writing more towards Resurrection on Friday night and the weekend, whenever I have time, but I am mad with books and once I begin a book I must get passed the first few hundred pages before the feeling of curiosity wears off. That feeling is the driving force for the first few chapters of reading a book but yes, it does wear off, no matter how good the book is, unless the reader is intrigued by the story for a long period of time, it is likely that he/she may put it down and forget about it or just become too lazy to pick it up again and continue reading.
Well...I guess this is bye.
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