Hey Im having a bit of a crisis over here cause I just finished my novel and now Im just waiting for my friends and family to have time to read it and help me correct it cause Ive been writing on it for so long that Im too blind to do that myself.... and so as I am waiting I feel very frustrated cause I havent started writing anything new yet and I try to substitute it by drawing and making other things but its not enough:/ Plus Ive just moved to a new city and I know nearly no one here yet AND I take classes online so I spend so much time at home... Ive never been bored like this before:O What do you all guys do when you have finished your work and havent started on anything new yet?
I haven't finished anything yet, but from what I understand, this may be a good time to try and find an agent who can help you get your work out in addition to any publishing company who will be willing to publish the story.
I put it away and try not to think about it for a few months. Then I'll come back to it, read it, and decide whether or not it's worth editing. Oh, and congrats on finishing!
Why not start brainstorming for ideas for the next? Or just take time to read more than usual, at least that is what I feel like after having spent months writing intensely. Take some time off and do what you want to do most, without feeling you 'have to' write if you don't feel like it. I know the feeling, I usually feel the same way!
If you just finished a novel, party! Celebrate! I'd start writing something else right away. I'm sure you must have ideas. Maybe a short story or two. Keep the writing habit up, so that when you're ready to tackle your next novel, you won't have to ramp up to it. I remember reading about a famous novelist - I think it was Anthony Trollope - who forced himself to write seven pages a day, no more and no less. If he finished a novel after six and a half pages of his daily quota, he'd immediately write the first half-page of his next novel. It kept him going, kept his schedule up, and kept him from being bored.
Thank you This is probably a good idea actually! kind of like a painting right? let it dry over night and look at it the next morning with fresh eyes? I wish I wasnt so impatient haha Hehe my brain is oddly dried out after this entire process. all I manage to do are other art forms but not writing. thanks though Thats not how it works in Norway you dont get an agent here haha but the thing is that I need to correct mistakes and organize some stuff better with chapter headlines and stuff before I hand it over to the publishers but Im too blind looking at it right now so I have to get help from others or like someone mentioned on here just wait and go through it again later Hehe I dont have any ideas right now not any ideas that I care to explore atleast. Thats interesting about Anthony Trollope. Yeah I should just celebrate hehe
I've never actually finished a novel so I can't speak from experience, but I like Stephen King's system. Apparently when he's done a first draft, he puts it away somewhere for at least six weeks and spends the in between time writing short stories or a novella, to keep himself fresh. Then he goes back and starts the first rewrite on the novel with a clear head and a more distant perspective.
Put it aside for "a while" and work on something else. How long you need toi set it aside for you will have to learn for yourself, but long enough that you can look at the writing more or less objectively. Friends and family are not sufficient for proofreading. For one thing, unless they are in the industry, they won't really know what to look for other than silly typos or punctuation goofs. But also, only you can really make the judgement calls for anything that isn't a clear cut flaw. As the writer, it is your job to be at least as good at editing as anyone you can persuade to edit it for you. The better you become at proofreading and editing, the less time you will need to set the work aside before editing it. Not to scare you away, but you will probably need to spend more on the revision stage than you did generating the first draft.
It sounds as if you are pretty well drained by the effort and don't have any other ideas to work on at the moment, so my advice would be to do something else that is creative. My other creative outlets are music and cooking, and I also dabble in photography. Also, make sure you do lots of reading, film watching and concert-going, if possible. The creative process is one of intake as well as outflow. And congratulations on finishing.
Thanks these are great ideas! I agree. For the other comments I see alot of people say the same thing, that I need to take a break from my novel and get back to it and make the adjustments I agree with you on this!
Well its not exactly the first draft, Ive gone through it many times thats why I find myself so blind now The reason why I want friends and family to take a look at it is that I feel like Ive read it so many times and is so into it and I know all the reasons behind why I wrote what I wrote throughout the book, and this leaves me to wonder if my ideas actually shine through in a way that other people can actually grasp it or if it is too mythical that only I can understand it Know what I mean?
