: Re: So I finished my novel. Now what do I do? A few days ago I finished the first draft of my current novel project after a few months of work, finishing at 83,212 words. Now what should I

@Frith254

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Let it sit and start a new one.

Do not touch it for at least two weeks. Maybe even longer, you have to get distance. Do not give your raw draft to your beta readers. You do not want to let them point out all the obvious mistakes, which you can easily find yourself when reading it with that distance. Because it is likely that they will stop there (not reading, but telling you) and you miss the deeper problems.

Make the novel as nice as possible for your beta readers. They should concentrate on the story. You can also think about questions you want to ask them. You probably have some chapters where you are not sure if they really work the way you want. But don't show them the questions before they read the book.

But this you have to do after the two weeks. Start now a new project and make a list of publishers/agents you want to show your work. Read about self-publishing, prepare the next step. That creates distance to your work.

And congrats :)

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