How Many Drafts of Your Novel Should You Write?

Just like an essay, your novel will take you more than one draft before it's ready to be considered complete, but how many drafts should you go through before it's time to put down the pen?

Some writers swear by a ten-step revision process while others believe three is the magic number, but I'll be honest…

There is no perfect number.

The amount of drafts your novel is going to need is going to depends on you, your writing skills, and your ability to let go.

I haven't had a single novelist friend who told me they ever believed their book was 100% done and perfect when it finally left their hands for the last time. They thought maybe it needed more tweaking or another round of line edits, or their characters needed new names.

They had a hard time letting go of their child, not ready for it to face the harsh realities of the world without making sure it was fully prepared. 

Here's my answer for how many drafts you should be writing of your novel before it's time to send it off to the world. This process works for me but may need adjusting to work best for you.

First Draft/Fast Draft

This is your base story, whether you are writing by the seat of your pants or constructing your story from a fully written outline, this draft is nothing but you getting the words and the story onto the page.

After this stage print out your story so that you can sit around with friends, family, and supporters with a nice dinner and a few drinks and celebrate the fact that you have finished writing your novel.

(Tie a ribbon around it so that no one can read it. It's not ready for that yet) 

Now place it on a bookshelf or in a dark drawer for a while, somewhere out of sight and out of mind.

After it's had long enough, a month at the minimum, take it back out and dust it off to get ready for the next step.

Second Draft/Rewrite 

Now that you've had the time to develop some separation from the story, now is the time to give it a read-through. Notebook and pen at the ready for anything you might need to change, add, or edit. Read the story all the way through as if you were a reader and see what sticks out to you. 

After you've read it front to back, now you can go back through the story and fix any plot holes or take away passages that just don't fit. 

When you've finished with your personal readthrough and edits hand it off to a friend or editor for them to give your novel a look with fresh eyes.

No matter how good of a self-editor you are, a pair of fresh eyes will always be able to catch those small details you missed. My lovely sister was able to point out that I changes the eyes of my main character three times in the story and I never noticed while writing or when I did my read-through. 

Third Draft/ Feedback 

In this draft, you should incorporate the useful feedback you received from beta readers, sensitivity readers, and editors. This could be as simple as changing a few things or changing an entire aspect of your story

After this step print out your novel and pick up a red pen.

Fourth Draft/ Grammer Edit 

Sometimes called lined edits, this is the part of the drafting process where you are going to go line by line and check your novel for things such as grammar mistakes and tense shifts. Triple check your there, their, they're's, some grammar checkers will pick these up, but some word processors won't. 

This should be as many drafts as your novel needs but if you would like to include more it's up to you.

Just remember there needs to be a time when you send it off to the world and let it live its own life. You may never feel ready for it, but there is such a thing as over-editing your novel. 

Keep writing.

With love, 

B.K. xo

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