Give them the time of day

As you're writing, you're probably more focused on the characters and the plot than the technical details. And that's how it should be. If you spent all your time in the little details in the first draft, you'd never finish it.

However, it does lead to an issue when you're revising, and you discover you've written one scene as taking place on Tuesday evening, and the one after the Monday before. Which would make sense if you were writing all your scenes backwards, but no so much if you aren't. Which is the more likely scenario.

This tends to creep in when you novel takes place over a long period of time, but even if it takes place within a week the timing can end up a little off.

For example:
Say your main character is the mother of an eight year old. Your main character drops her daughter off at school, then goes to pick up the dry cleaning. As she is leaving the dry cleaner's, she realises she's late to pick her daughter up from school and collects her.

See the issue here? Could she really have spent four to five hours at the dry cleaner's? Probably not (unless the dry cleaner is particularly chatty).

This example is a little exaggerated, but that sort of thing does happen. And it will mess with your reader's minds.
So, when you're revising, look out for when one of your characters has somehow spent the past seven hours in a cafe.

Oh, and remember your character needs to eat occasionally.

Revision, revision, revision

Now, it seems, is the time for revision, considering the amount of revision blog posts I've seen recently. I suppose it stems from NaNoWriMo.
But, whether it's your NaNoWriMo novel, or a project you've been working on for years that you've finished, here are some tips on revision.

By this time, you may hate your novel. You might think it's stupid, boring, whatever. Don't let that get to you. That's what first drafts a for. You've just thrown up an entire novel onto the page. No matter how long it is, that's a huge achievement. Now is the time to make your novel good, so remember what made you excited about it in the first place.

When you finish a novel, people often say it's a good idea to leave it a while. This step, I find, isn't necessary compulsory. For example, I found with my current project that I was having ideas for how I could revise it almost immediately. If I'd left it, I am likely to have forgotten my ideas, so I started right away. Really, you can do either. Which ever you think will work best for you.

First, it's a good idea to print out your manuscript. I know, it uses rather a lot of paper, but it allows you to see your novel with fresh eyes. Also, you can make notes in the margins in places you think could be written differently. Not grammar and spelling at the moment. That can come later. Look at the bigger picture.

My checklist goes like this:

1)  Is the plot exciting and believable?

2) Are the characters well developed? Do they ever act out of character?

3) Are there any areas where the plot drags, or is too fast?

You could also add ideas for new scenes or circle awkward sentences.

Next, considering the notes you made on plot, write an outline for your novel.

 

Yes, even if you already did one before you started. And no, don't just copy it out again. Actually think about it. Your ideas about how the novel should turn out may have changed as you wrote the novel. As it's the first draft, it probably won't have turned out exactly as you wanted it to originally anyway. Now is a good time to reevaluate how you want it to be.
I find Microsoft Excel really useful for this.

The headings I use for my outline are:
Chapter Number
Scene Summary
Setting
Characters
Conflict
Goal
Antagonist
Outcome
Day/Time
Outcome
1st line
Last Line
Notes

After you've done that, you may find you've rewritten or deleted or added some chapters. That's okay.

Now it's time to start revising your novel. Before you change anything, make sure you have a copy of the first draft saved somewhere, just in case. I tend to start at the beginning, but really, you could start anywhere.
At this point, don't worry about the small things. This is a major issues rewrite only - the time for adding, deleting, and reworking chapters and the plot, not spelling and awkward sentences. That's what comes next.

After the major rewrite, reread your manuscript. If you're mostly happy with the plot and characters, then it's time for the minor issues. If not, pinpoint the part/s you have a problem with and fix it.
However, don't spend too much time redoing it, or you'll edit it to death. You've got to stay excited about your novel.

Look through the novel for those run on sentences, places where there's way too much flowery description or next to none, badly spelt words, words you've used way too many times in one sentence, places that seemed to have exploded with commas, and its, it's, there, their, and they're. Correct them. Rework them until they sounds polished. Read them aloud to make sure they make sense.
Make sure the dialogue sounds realistic. Try reading just the dialogue in a little role play of the scene (it's okay to sound crazy. You're a writer).

Once you've done that, you're pretty much done! Give it another read through or two to check for any extra things you may have overlooked, and then sit back in the happy knowledge of a job well done. Eat some cake. Chocolate. Cookies.
You've just completed a novel. Not just the first draft. An actual novel.
Take a break. You earned it.