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Just finished a first draft of a novel... any advice?
5 years ago
General
"Does aₘᵢₙ=2c²/Θ ? I don't know, but wouldn't it be fascinating if it were?"
At the end of last month, I started a mid-year NaNoWriMo thing, to start regaining some decent writing habits by writing a terrible novel. (The point being to get a novel written; if it's not quite as bad as all that, so much the better.) It's relatively hard SF, with a number of furry characters; if anyone wants to help with beta-reading, I can PM you a link to the GDoc.
I find myself in a novel (ahem) situation, now. I just finished up the first draft; there's still plenty of fixes, tweaks, and general touching-up I'll want to do before making it public. But as far back as I can recall, my previous attempts at writing have generally taken the approach of shoving the first draft out the door as soon as I finished typing it out; so I'm a bit inexperienced about what I should do next. Anyone have any advice? For example, would you recommend a thorough re-read to fix every last detail I notice needs improvement, or starting some other project, or just throwing the barn doors open for anyone to read and comment, or posting to RoyalRoad / FictionPress / FurAffinity / etc, or something else entirely...?
I find myself in a novel (ahem) situation, now. I just finished up the first draft; there's still plenty of fixes, tweaks, and general touching-up I'll want to do before making it public. But as far back as I can recall, my previous attempts at writing have generally taken the approach of shoving the first draft out the door as soon as I finished typing it out; so I'm a bit inexperienced about what I should do next. Anyone have any advice? For example, would you recommend a thorough re-read to fix every last detail I notice needs improvement, or starting some other project, or just throwing the barn doors open for anyone to read and comment, or posting to RoyalRoad / FictionPress / FurAffinity / etc, or something else entirely...?
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/patpahootie/
He's a scarred, grizzled, novel-writin' veteran of the Publishing Wars.
... Which somehow makes if feel a bit weird to get in touch out of the blue for authorial advice.
There are vanity presses, and then there are more comprehensive agencies like Xlibris who will offer editing and review services as well as marketing plans. They deliver what they promise, but a lot of the costs are hidden and not revealed until after you sign in on a contract. You can end up paying nearly double what they initially claim it will cost you.