I Finished My First Draft. Now What?

If you’re like me, you’ve started multiple novels and never managed to finish even one. That was until you finally buckled down and pantsed your way through your first novel. Hopefully you went out and celebrated over chocolate cake and pretend wine like I did—or something similar—because a first draft is a hell of an accomplishment.

Now your draft is sitting at the bottom of your wardrobe, hidden beneath a pile of clothes, because Stephen King told you to put your draft away for at least 6 weeks. And in the meantime, you’re thinking—what next?

This is where I am now. It’s funny because I thought that finishing would be the difficult part.

In the course of writing Because Nani Said So, I changed directions multiple times.

I’ve always been a pantser, and I knew I needed to do something different this time. So what did I do? I created an outline—and refused to follow it.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to. It’s just that I started writing and my characters decided they didn’t want to go where I was taking them. And really, who am I to tell them what to do?

I know, I know—I’m the author.

But I’ve always been that person who thought that my characters have a life of their own. They decide where to go, I just listen and allow. Only, in the course of this draft, I realized that’s not a great mindset. At least for me. By giving away my agency to the muses and to my characters, I was saying I had to sit and wait for them to steer the ship.

This cost me.

It cost me months—maybe years, as my book was slowed down to a crawl.

Sometimes I’d wait for my characters to tell me what to say to start writing again. Sometimes I’d be waiting for weeks.

Sometimes I’d start writing and realize, this doesn’t feel right. I’d let the characters change course. And it was exciting seeing where they chose to go.

While I learned so much in the process, it also created plot holes galore.

And what happens when you have plot holes galore?

You have to go and fill them in, my dear.

With—I know pansters will hate this word—the dreaded “outline”.

Or in my case, reverse outline.

It turns out my characters don’t need control. They need direction.

So while my draft sits in the wardrobe, I’m not waiting for the muse anymore. I’m learning how to steer the ship.

Follow along to see what that looks like.