After spending weeks to years writing a novel, it's difficult to finally come to the last chapter and call it done. You'll sit there in a mindless daze, staring at nothing in particular as the same thought runs through your mind over and over again: It's done. Finished. Perhaps for the rest of the week, you'll be constantly trying to bring yourself back to reality.

However, everything else is still the same, especially these things all fiction writers know to be true.

1. Our characters are our babies.

There's a reason why we go to Nameberry and other name websites to browse through their extensive lists of names and meanings. We legit spend hours trying to give our characters the right name that has just the right feel.

2. We're not all sadistic when we hurt a character.

We're not drinking tea with the devil — it's a choice we make. Does everything in life end with "happily ever after," or do tragedies actually happen? The characters are human to us, and we're just playing it out how it would really go. Miracles don't always happen, love.

3. Every character has to have a flaw.

No one can be a perfectly perfect Prince Charming who sweeps his princess off her feet in less than a second. That's what makes them realistic and human-like. It's what makes them endearing. It's sometimes frustrating that they have that flaw, but who doesn't have one?

4. No one knows WTF is happening until you tell them.

And don't rush the plot by giving into your reader's supplications. You know a good, gentle flow until you finally drop the bomb that kills the calm and ties up all the loose ends is the way to go. Readers aren't supposed to know what's happening until you decide at that one point that it's the time to tell them. What's there to good prose when there's not a little bit of mystery as to what's going to happen?

5. You give the value to your work.

It doesn't matter how many reads, comments, followers or whatever else you have. You could have a fan club of over a million people ranting on and on about how they're in love with your work and whatnot. It all doesn't matter if you don't love your work.