Story is finished, now what?

Put it in a folder for at least a week -- two weeks or a month is better -- before you go over it one last time.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, though I can't remember the authors is a great book to read during the week/month you are letting the ms. marinate.

Hi Wrangler. Welcome to AW.

We'll need some more info about the stories. Are they short stories or novels? The answers we can give you about what to do next is slightly different depending on what you've written.

Either way though, it's probably best to let them sit for a little bit then go back and edit them. You can have beta readers take a look too. If you've got short stories, you can go to the Short Story Share Your Work (SYW...password: vista) and post them to get feedback. You can post excerpts of your novel there too in the appropriate subforum.

Hope this helps.

It sounds like you are at the same spot as I am, which means I asked this question a month or so ago.

According to Stephen King, in his book On Writing, you should put your story away, until you can "look at it with fresh eyes". He says that a minimum amount of time for this is six week, but six months is not unreasonable. As luck would have it, I hit six weeks of "trunk time" today.

Mr King also suggests working on a draft or an edit for another project before going back to this one. He says "preferably something short."

I am thinking that you have to leave the book in the trunk until you stop really, really wanting to take it out.

As for a good book on revising and editing books, I just asked that question, and the answers I received were Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown and Dave King, which received excellent reviews by the writers on this board, The First Five Pages, By Noah Lukeman, which received mixed reviews, Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss which received mixed reviews, and Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon, which received a single recommendation, but a positive one.

I should note that there is a review of Makover on the Amazon page that favorably compares it to Self Editing, without mentioning Self Editing by name.

Hope that helps,
Dave

Of course. This isn't going to be the last project you do.

Dave

Beta readers are people who will read and critique your work. You can find more about them in the Beta Readers subforum here on AW.

You can head there and ask people to review your work. Ultimately, the next step would be to submit your work for publication. However, I'll let someone who has actually had success in the short story market tell you more about how that works.

Cheers!

It's all up to you. If you want to let the work rest, let it rest. If you want to edit immediately, edit immediately. If you want a beta reader, use one. If you don't, then do without one.

There is no right or wrong way here, though I'd say letting anything rest for six months is idiotic.

But you do what works for you, which means trying different things in different ways until you find what you're comfortable with.

I agree with what everyone else has said-- get beta readers, don't look at it for awhile, then revise, revise, revise. You'll find your rhythm.

I second the recommendation of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. I also recommend Between The Lines by Jessica Page Morrell.

Absolutely send it off for critiques. Find some good beta readers. You need to find people who write in a style that you admire, and also who are better at some aspects of writing than you are. This way, they'll always be pushing you to improve your work.

Don't just take on anybody as a beta reader. You need to find readers who will give you useful critiques.

And a beta reader must be another writer. While people who don't write may mean well, often their critiques are as good as useless to writers, who need to understand technical aspects of the craft in addition to simpler things like plot and character.

I'm not even big on revising. If there's one big myth in publishing, it's that you have to revise things to death before a publisher will take them on.

I have been letting my book sit for about ten days now. When I first finished the rough draft, I immediately wanted to get right back into it and revise and work on it. On the advice of a friend and a few of the folks here, I decided to let it sit for a while and then look at it with fresh eyes. One of the things they said may apply to you as well. When you are so familiar with something like your piece of work, after a while you start to skim and you don't see mistakes you may have made. If you are able to let it set for a while, you can go back to it and probably be able to see stuff you weren't able to see before. Also, find something else to work on. I started another story and I've found that it has helped me to keep my mind off of "my baby." Good luck!

Final edit? Few can do that after only one set-aside. A first self-edit, then maybe a beta reader or SYW post, then two or three more rounds, is more like it.

wrangler said:

So the stories have all been pumped out and are now finished, what's next? Do I go back through for a final edit? Allow someone to proofread my works? If so, who is the best person to proofread? Definitely not a family member or close friend I'm thinking.

Also, can anyone recommend a GREAT book on what to do AFTER the story is written?

Thank you!

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You're going to get many different answers to this one. What works for one person does not work so well for another. First off, congratulations on finishing your manuscript!
My own method is to set the manuscript aside for a couple of months and do something entirely different. For me it's gardening or working on nonfiction articles or collecting research material for another book. Distance allows me to return with a fresh eye, making revision work so much easier. Once I've revised it I give it to my reader who lets me know what parts work well and which ones need tweaking. I keep his comments in mind and do a further edit.
Some people don't need to make any changes at all. The first time around is what they go with. They're the lucky ones. I can always see room for improvement. Of course you can edit the life out of a story if you're not careful so I don't usually make my revisions too extensive.