If your manuscript has been lying in a drawer this time, that is a great start. I recommend putting the text aside for as long as it takes to be able to come at it as if for the first time. I.e., you've forgotten enough of it to be surprised.
Maybe you've decided your first draft was sh!t? That's also great. First drafts are supposed to be sh!t. Why? Because Hemingway said so.
Once you've put it aside and read it, you should be able to determine if you have something you could edit into a novel (that's how sh!t blooms into gorgeous flowers), if you have something you need to add more structure to, perhaps via a synopsis, or if you have no ideas for what to do, what could be fixed and improved, or what is great. If so, maybe put it away again and write something new, perhaps based on what you found lacking in your process for this first manuscript.
But in reality, every author has their own process. Apart from what might be harmful, it doesn't matter what that process is as long as it creates something you like and, as an added bonus, something other people like... all depending on your goals, etc.
So. How did this go?
If your manuscript has been lying in a drawer this time, that is a great start. I recommend putting the text aside for as long as it takes to be able to come at it as if for the first time. I.e., you've forgotten enough of it to be surprised.
Maybe you've decided your first draft was sh!t? That's also great. First drafts are supposed to be sh!t. Why? Because Hemingway said so.
Once you've put it aside and read it, you should be able to determine if you have something you could edit into a novel (that's how sh!t blooms into gorgeous flowers), if you have something you need to add more structure to, perhaps via a synopsis, or if you have no ideas for what to do, what could be fixed and improved, or what is great. If so, maybe put it away again and write something new, perhaps based on what you found lacking in your process for this first manuscript.
But in reality, every author has their own process. Apart from what might be harmful, it doesn't matter what that process is as long as it creates something you like and, as an added bonus, something other people like... all depending on your goals, etc.