I just finished the first draft of my novel, and Im going to put it away for at least a month.
The book has a lot of spelling / grammatical errors, as in true Nanowrimo style, I kept typing without fixing anything.
When I return, what should I focus on: Fixing the spelling and grammar first?
Or, should I read through the whole book, and look for plot/characterisation holes?
I know there is this question, but it focusses more on editing other peoples work, not your own.
Answer
There's no point in polishing work that you're not going to keep for the final product. I'd work through at the macro level first, cutting/adding/moving big chunks, and then I'd go back and look at the medium level stuff (style and flow, etc.), and then polish up whatever's left.
That said, my first drafts are pretty clean. If your spelling and grammatical errors get in the way of your critical reading, you may need to fix them first just so you can see what you've got for the bigger issues.
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