So, I finished the first draft of my very first novel last night (yay!). After 7-8 months of feverishly working on it, I reached the final page and wrote the final sentence. It’s an odd combination of science fiction, horror, and romance with a heavy emphasis on the characters and their growth, and it’s a bit long at 105k, but I’ve loved writing it.
My problem is I don’t know what to do next.
The common advice is to set it aside and then come back to it later on. What I’m tempted to do though is polish it up right away and find some beta readers, then set it aside. I say that because I have significant questions about the overarching plot and character decisions that I’ve made, and I can’t answer them on my own. I feel that I’m going to have the exact same questions for beta readers no matter whether I take a break from the manuscript or not.
It would be more work to revise the first draft, but I feel it’s necessary before giving it to beta readers to avoid wasting both their time and my own. The best way I can describe the novel right now is, “lumpy.” There are parts that I absolutely love, and other parts that I struggled to write. Some parts have been revised repeatedly (I wrote nearly four incomplete drafts of the story before this, and I revised material from them) and a lot of other parts are brand new for this (finally) completed draft.
All the scenes are essentially complete in their current state, but I need to do a drastic line edit to get the novel down into the 90,000’s and tighten up my writing. Plus, there are things I absolutely know will need fixing, like some continuity and characterization issues that I know beta readers will comment on. I worry that it'd be wasteful to send it off without first fixing the problems I can identify on my own.
I guess my choices are this:
• Revise the manuscript right now, find beta-readers, and use the gap of time while they read it to take a break from it.
• Send the manuscript to beta readers in its current rough form and take a break.
• Take a break, revise the manuscript, and then send it to beta readers.
Thoughts/advice?
My problem is I don’t know what to do next.
The common advice is to set it aside and then come back to it later on. What I’m tempted to do though is polish it up right away and find some beta readers, then set it aside. I say that because I have significant questions about the overarching plot and character decisions that I’ve made, and I can’t answer them on my own. I feel that I’m going to have the exact same questions for beta readers no matter whether I take a break from the manuscript or not.
It would be more work to revise the first draft, but I feel it’s necessary before giving it to beta readers to avoid wasting both their time and my own. The best way I can describe the novel right now is, “lumpy.” There are parts that I absolutely love, and other parts that I struggled to write. Some parts have been revised repeatedly (I wrote nearly four incomplete drafts of the story before this, and I revised material from them) and a lot of other parts are brand new for this (finally) completed draft.
All the scenes are essentially complete in their current state, but I need to do a drastic line edit to get the novel down into the 90,000’s and tighten up my writing. Plus, there are things I absolutely know will need fixing, like some continuity and characterization issues that I know beta readers will comment on. I worry that it'd be wasteful to send it off without first fixing the problems I can identify on my own.
I guess my choices are this:
• Revise the manuscript right now, find beta-readers, and use the gap of time while they read it to take a break from it.
• Send the manuscript to beta readers in its current rough form and take a break.
• Take a break, revise the manuscript, and then send it to beta readers.
Thoughts/advice?
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