So what next? What do you do after you’ve finished your novel and let it sit for a while?

In my world, I have very little time to let it sit. Usually I’m handing my novel to an editor who will start to read it and make notes. But you might not have an editor in your life. What do you do?

Start editing the book yourself.

There’s a great book called Self-Editing For Fiction Writers by Browne & King. Check it out. It has some awesome suggestions.

Here are a few of my own suggestions when I go back into my novel to edit/tweak/change/delete (and I’m not going to mention the obvious, like checking spelling and grammar and all that).

–Make sure voice and style are consistent throughout the entire novel.

–Get rid of the dull parts or rewrite them.

–Apply logic and reason to your story.

–Make sure the story threads line up the way you first intended them to.

–Does the scene still move you as much reading it as it did when you wrote it?

–Are you using chapter titles and/or section/part titles to your advantage?

–Are the primary storylines divided up the way you wanted them to be?

–If this novel were to be published tomorrow, is it exactly how you’d like it to be?